Craving sugar sucks, and it’s more scientific than you think. Your body actually gets hooked to the sugar-high!
Thankfully, you can employ these methods to break sugar cravings naturally. In this article, we focus on natural remedies to cut your desires.
If you want to get rid of sugar cravings without taking some “magic weight loss pill,” keep reading for top health and nutrition tips.
First, it’s important to know some background information on why we crave sugar so much.
What exactly is sugar?
Sugar is a substance extracted from plants like cane and sugar beet, which is refined into a white crystalline-like substance. The only reason I bring this up is that this is the same process in which flour is made. Flour is obtained from the grinding and refining of grains into an oddly similar white substance since their effect on the bloodstream, Insulin, and brain are virtually the same; they’re both considered sugar.
Why exactly is sugar so addictive?
Sugars are addictive because they cause a supernatural release of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is the primary neurotransmitter involved in addiction. Multiple studies have now revealed that sugar and sweet rewards can not only substitute addictive drugs like cocaine but can even be more rewarding and attractive.
The brain chemistry of those addicted to drugs and those addicted to sugar are virtually identical.
5 Steps to Break Sugar Cravings Naturally
Sugar can be a significant roadblock for anybody who’s trying to lose weight, burn fat, and get fit. Be patient with yourself, but attack the problem head-on.
Some people find that they can stick to a sugar-reduced diet for a day or two or even a few weeks, but they eventually end up cycling back into old habits and cravings.
It is especially hard to get rid of grain/bread sugars from carbohydrates like pasta and bread and cookies.
1. Get the Right Foods in Your Diet
The first thing you have to do is to start adding in food that balances out blood sugar levels and helps balance out Insulin.
Now, Insulin is a hormone in your body that is secreted from your pancreas and helps out by balancing blood sugar levels.
People with diabetes have the problem of not producing enough Insulin (or none at all). That means that their body cannot absorb sugars properly. So Insulin is critical!
If you want to overcome these sugar cravings, you’ve got to work with Insulin, and so you’ve got to keep your blood sugar levels stable- to do that, there are three things you must add to your diet.
3 Things to Add to Your Diet
In every single meal, you need healthier fat, protein, and fiber.
These three things will help balance out those blood sugar levels. They’ll help keep you full longer and help you overcome sugar cravings.
- Proteins
Protein in your diet is a great way to balance out the blood sugar levels to reduce sugar cravings. If you have trouble consuming protein, get a protein powder like Orgain Organic Protein.
- Healthy fats
Eating more nuts and seeds like sprouted chia and flax seeds helps you a lot.
Almonds are a great source of fat, along with coconut oil, avocados, ghee, or clarified butter. So again, getting healthier fat is crucial to balancing out your blood sugar levels.
- Fiber
Never leave this out of your regular diet. Your best sources of fiber are from vegetables, nuts, and seeds, as well as berries.
2. Limit the Grains and Regular Carbs In Your Diet.
If you want to overcome sugar and food cravings, you’ve got to get the sugar and grain levels reduced. Otherwise, you are always going to be in the vicious cycle:
The more sugar you eat, the more your body starts to crave it.
The more you crave sugar, the more you eat it.
The first couple of days are the hardest. What I would encourage you to do is slowly wean yourself off of sugar, and then find some healthy replacements that help satisfy the craving.
Drink some green tea during the day and control the exposure to unhealthy carbs. It is much harder to resist if you have a cupboard filled with Flintstone cereal, chips, cookies, and donuts.
Flavored protein powder can also help. But again, you must eliminate as many sugars, starches, and especially grains to break your sugar cravings.
3. Take the Natural Supplements To Help Balance Blood Sugar Levels.
There is a trace mineral called chromium, which is incredible, especially if you have diabetes. Taking 200 micrograms of chromium picolinate three times a day can help balance out your blood sugar levels.
What you may consider doing is going online, finding a high-quality chromium supplement, and taking that with your meals three times a day.
It will help you to break those sugar cravings faster. Also, B vitamins help. Taking a high-quality B complex vitamin can help you overcome sugar cravings—especially vitamin B12 vitamin B6. So taking a high-quality B complex vitamin and those are some of the top ones.
The third would be a probiotic supplement. Probiotic supplements help reduce sugar cravings because they help get rid of yeast and bacteria in your system. Yeast and bacteria feed off of sugar. The probiotics are going to help keep that nice balanced in the body.
So again, the best NATURAL supplements are going to be doing a high-quality chromium supplement, a high-quality B complex vitamin, and a probiotic supplement.
If you want to break sugar cravings fast, adding a high-quality fiber supplement or just adding a few tablespoons of sprouted flax and chia in your diet will help.
4. Start Doing the Right Kind of Exercise
Doing the right type of exercise will help a lot with your cardiovascular system.
Focus on exercises like HIIT to burn excess fat/calories. They will help you to use the energy you do have available (fat reserves).
Yoga or Pilates can help you burn a lot more calories than you think, and they stabilize blood sugar levels.
Doing moderate to intense exercise can balance out blood sugar levels and help you to feel better about yourself during the day—goodbye sugar cravings.
5. Sleep More and Speed Up Your Metabolism the Healthy Way
Believe it or not, getting proper sleep affects your metabolism, so getting adequate sleep is a must.
Click here to see how to speed up your metabolism and burn calories while sleeping!
When you have a more balanced lifestyle, your body can recognize when you are starving, and when you are just craving sugar and excess food.
Here are 7 BONUS steps for if you’re really serious about breaking your sugar addiction:
BONUS #1 Realize What’s Going On With Your Brain, Your Body, And Sugar
People often stop consuming obvious sugar culprits like sodas and candy bars and trade them for pieces of bread and pasta. Those bread and pasta cause the same problems as sugar. The brain is still getting its fix of a significant dopamine release from these items, and it’s still producing all the harmful effects of sugar consumption.
If you want to break the addiction, you have to understand how the brain works and seeks out the sugars.
BONUS #2 Understand Levels Of Addiction
Not everyone who drinks becomes an alcoholic the same way that not everyone who eats dessert becomes a sugar addict. We’re individuals with different brain chemistry. And the important thing is recognizing your level of addiction. If thinking about giving up sugar seems like a bleep dark and unhappy world, understand that this is very similar to how addicts feel about the substances they abuse.
Some of you may be very addicted to sugar. However, it’s much more likely that you have a slight sugar addiction, only a tiny percentage of people have a genuinely addictive brain, and the next steps will work for the majority of people.
BONUS #3 Detox
You need to spend time completely away from sugar and those dopamine spikes to break the addiction. The detox process often involves an initial period of headaches, hormonal fluctuations, and just feeling like poop for a little while.
The detox process can last anywhere from three to 21 days. The good news is that on the other side of the detox is a much healthier and happier place.
BONUS #4 Become A Nutrition Label Ninja
Sugar is hiding in all sorts of places that you wouldn’t expect yogurt, pasta sauce, and protein bars often have tons of added sugar. You need to become a pro at reading nutrition labels.
BONUS #5 Balance Blood Sugar Levels By Eating Balanced Meals
During the detox process, you need to focus on having balanced meals to keep your blood sugar levels steady and prevent crashes. You do this by eating meals that combine protein, fiber, and healthy fats, whole egg omelettes with lots of veggies chicken salads with olive oil dressing, and grass-fed beef stew are great examples of this protein, fiber and healthy fat at every meal.
BONUS #6 Heal Your Gut
In an exciting study in Switzerland, men who are separated into two groups based on chocolate cravings, the men who crave daily chocolate had different colonies of bacteria. Start paying close attention to your gut health.
You do this by eating balanced meals as listed above, avoiding sugar and processed foods, and getting healthy probiotics into your diet.
BONUS #7 Pay Attention To Other Sugars As Well
What about honey and agave nectar, because how the brain works, the more you eat sugar, the more you crave. Well, these sugars do have mild health benefits. If you are struggling with even a regular sugar addiction, you need to cut these things out for a while. What about fruit? Fruit in its natural state, as in whole apples, berries, and oranges are not addicting and are fine to eat when breaking sugar addiction. This is because they contain fibers, water, vitamins, and minerals.
So what about artificial sweeteners like stevia, most of the studies point to artificial sweeteners as being generally safe. At the same time, previous correlated evidence told us that artificial sweeteners caused additional sugar cravings and even cancer, better studies have shown us otherwise. Randomized double-blind studies, aka the gold standard of a scientific research report that artificial sweeteners help us become less hungry, consume fewer calories and don’t stimulate additional sugar consumption.
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Conclusion
Cravings can kill gains and weight loss goals. By using these tips, you should be much closer to breaking sugar cravings and avoiding unwanted eating mistakes.
You should consult a health professional- especially if you have a preexisting health condition, such as diabetes or if you are pregnant, etc.
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