8 Ways To Stop Sugar Cravings
When you’re trying to eat healthy, cravings are your worst enemy. They feel like intense, uncontrollable urges for specific foods, often the processed and sugary kind that you’re trying to avoid. Many people report feeling like there is one voice telling them to go for it and the other voice telling them to stay away - talk about being pulled in two different directions.
If you’re struggling with controlling your cravings, you’re not alone. Millions of people experience this every single day. In fact it’s the reason why many people have problems losing weight and keeping it off, so it’s a good thing that I have some tools to share with you. Here are my top 8 tips to prevent sugar cravings.
1 | Wait 3 minutes for the craving to pass.
Literally set a timer on your phone and distract yourself with a healthy activity such as a breathing exercise, quick exercise set with weights or a resistance band, or even go for a quick walk around your yard or block.
Many of my clients find that their cravings have disappeared when their timer goes off.
For the cravings that have not gone away…
2 | Drink Water.
Many times thirst is confused with hunger. Next time you feel a craving coming on, drink a big glass of water that is at least 2 metric cups and then complete tip 1 of setting a timer for 3 minutes. You may just find that the craving has faded away because your body was thirsty, not hungry.
What’s great about this is that water is required for literally every bodily function, organ, tissue, and cell - and it’s extremely important for weight loss. Not a huge fan of the taste of water? Want to spruce up the flavour a bit? Add lemon, lime, grapefruit, or orange slices and allow it to sit for 1 hour to overnight before drinking. Adding cucumber slices is a true crowd-pleaser, and herbs are delicious too - try mint, basil, or rosemary.
3 | Never Grocery Shop When Hungry.
This is one of the worst things you can do when you’re trying to stop eating certain foods. The grocery store is filled with temptation, literally, and once you have those foods in your kitchen it’s nearly impossible to avoid eating them.
4 | Eat Protein With Every Meal.
Especially with breakfast! Eating protein for breakfast sets you up for a day with stable blood sugar and reduces your appetite, helping you feel full and satiated for much longer than if you ate a simple carbohydrate like a muffin with coffee for breakfast.
In fact, even drinking coffee first thing in the morning could be enough to send you into a day with unstable blood sugar and ravenous cravings. Aim to drink your coffee WITH your meal instead of beforehand.
5 | Meal Planning.
Eliminating the uncertainty really helps eliminate cravings for sugar and processed food. If you’ve had a long day and can’t find the energy to decide what to eat... even though you have a kitchen full of food, planning is going to be your new best friend. If you can plan out your whole week, great. If not, make an effort to at least plan the next 2 days so you can ensure you have all of the ingredients.
If you don’t have to think about what you’re going to eat next because you already have it planned out, you’re much less likely to fall victim to sugar cravings.
6 | Avoid Extreme Hunger.
This one might sound obvious, but if you’re ravenously hungry you’ll reach for just about anything. Eat your next meal before you get to that level of hunger and ensure you always have healthy snacks such as: trail mix, a piece of fruit, celery and almond butter, healthy bars, or veggie sticks.
This can help prevent the cravings from showing up - at all!! Wouldn’t that be nice?
7 | Stress Management.
If you’re stressed out, and many people are, it can easily induce sugar and processed food cravings. Life will probably never cease to provide stressful situations, so it’s important to find ways to manage them.
You can practice meditation, yoga, breathing, heart coherence, take yourself to the spa, go for a walk in a park or even in your neighbourhood. You could take a bath with candles and relaxing music, diffuse calming oils such as lavender, watch funny movies, kick back with a book, do crafts or home projects… there are literally endless things that you can do to help manage your stress levels and they all have one thing in common: YOU are at the centre.
As long as you’re putting yourself first, that is what matters. This may seem impossible but trust me, even Moms and Dads need to put themselves first. It sets an excellent example for the children, too.
8 | Sleep Well.
You have many different hormones that fluctuate throughout the day, and some of those hormones control your hunger. When you are deprived of sleep, your hunger hormone fluctuations are stronger and can lead to stronger cravings.
Many people struggle with sleeping well, and there are many different things you can do to help improve your sleep. One of the biggest and best things you can do, no matter how difficult it is, is turn off the electronics before bed. This may sound impossible to you, so start small.
Are you the type that falls asleep with the TV on? Make one simple change and turn it off just before you fall asleep. The next step would be turning it off 15 minutes before, then 30 minutes, then 1 hour, and eventually working your way up to 2 hours of no electronics before bed.
There are sooo many other relaxing things you can do before bed that do not involve electronics, refer back to point number 7 for ideas.
Being aware of your cravings and pulling out the tools in this list are going to be key to overcoming those cravings. After practicing them for long enough you will start to notice that you haven’t had as many cravings, and they will slowly wean away. Even if it feels impossible right now, keep making one simple change. Remember - progress, not perfection!