Did you know that your diet is likely fueling sugar cravings? Depending on what you’re eating (or not eating, in many cases!), you could find it almost impossible to quit sugar. If you’re not eating enough of certain food groups, it can make sugar cravings a lot more likely. Here’s what to think about from a diet perspective to help you kick those hard to beat sugar cravings.
Protein and Sugar Cravings
Protein actually helps slow down the rate that sugar is released into your bloodstream. If your protein intake is on the low side, your blood sugar can fluctuate quite a bit. And this means significantly more sugar cravings!
It’s your body’s way of trying to get a quick energy boost. According to studies, eating a high-protein diet can reduce night-time snacking by as much as 50%. If you find yourself reaching for sugary snacks in the evenings and towards bedtime, eating more protein during the day can help you stop that habit.
Smart protein choices include lean meats, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, nuts, seeds, tofu, and some cereals.
Fiber and Sugar Cravings
Fiber is another way to really slow down the absorption of sugar in your body. Fiber often passes through your digestive system without being truly digested, which means it doesn’t have adverse effects on your blood sugar levels. And, just like eating more protein, it can certainly help you get rid of many sugar cravings!
Fiber also helps keep you feeling fuller. If you’re genuinely satisfied after eating, you’re less likely to have sugar cravings, especially if you’re also eating a ton of protein, and healthy fats.
Fruits and vegetables are another great source of fiber. That alone is a fantastic reason to eat the rainbow and make sure you get plenty of fiber-rich fruits and veggies to help keep those sugar cravings in check!
Simple Carbs and Sugar Cravings
Eating sugary foods is not the only other way to end up with pesky sugar cravings. Carbs can have much the same effect since they’re broken down into sugars in the body and cause the same blood sugar fluctuations as actual sugar does. White bread, pasta, and rice are common culprits for this, along with refined starches like crackers, bagels, and potato chips.
Simple carbs get in your bloodstream super quickly. The outcome? An equally fast spike in your blood sugar levels. This is why you can get an instant “sugar high” from eating a sweet treat.
The trouble is, it’s quickly followed by a blood sugar crash as your blood sugar levels dip. Your body tries to deal with this by looking for a quick energy fix and guess what it chooses? More sugar!
Eating a ton of simple carbs but not eating enough protein, fiber and healthy fats, will cause constant sugar cravings.
And when you start to cut out simple carbs, you may get mega sugar cravings — in the short term, at least. After that, it gets easier to reset your body’s expectations -once it learns how to get energy from other sources (not just sugar).
Try swapping simple carbs for complex carbs that don’t have negative effects on your blood sugar levels. Think brown pasta, brown bread, and brown rice.
Healthy Fats and Sugar Cravings
As your body gets accustomed to fueling itself with fats (not just sugar and carbs), it can break fats into ketones and use it for energy! Because it’s not using glucose, this keeps you feeling fuller longer and it also turns off the sugar and carb temptations you undoubtedly experience now.
As a bonus, it also keeps your brain supplied with the fats it needs to function well. Since your brain is largely made up of fats, this is super important for a happy and healthy brain.
If you tend to lack focus and have “brain fog” more often than not, looking at your intake of healthy fats could help with this as well as your sugar cravings. Stock up on avocado, fatty fish, nuts, seeds, olive oil, and coconut oil to get more healthy fats in your life!
Artificial Sweeteners and Sugar Cravings
Swapping sugar for artificial sweeteners might seem like a sensible choice. They have lower calories, so they must be better, right? Not always! Be very careful with what you choose here.
According to studies, you’ll still get sugar cravings — sometimes even more extreme than those you get from consuming real sugar. Research has indicated that artificial sweeteners can change the way your body uses glucose, which has a knock-on effect on sugar cravings and calorie intake in general.
They can fool your mind into “needing” more calories. The end result? You can wind up eating way more calories than you realize.
Instead, consider giving stevia a try next time you want to reach for the sugar 😊!
It’s quite ironic given that people often switch to artificial sweeteners to lose weight and avoid the effects of sugar, right?
