sugar cravings

What Your Food Cravings Are Trying To Tell you!

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food cravings

Food cravings can occur for a variety of reasons including emotional ones.  Perhaps you are dissatisfied with a relationship, stressed, bored, or lonely?  Maybe your unhappy with your job and you have uncomfortable emotions/situations?  Regardless of what your emotional trigger is, you find yourself looking for solution.  Instant gratification, and for many, they seek balance through food.

It can provide you with a temporary form of relief.  A kind of escape when you are under pressure.  However, many of us feel even worse and guilty after eating.  This is why using food as a way to fulfill areas of our lives that are unsatisfied is not a solution.  The result is often the same and the effect temporary.  The emotions return and it leads to an unhealthy cycle.

Food Cravings & Triggers

It is important to identify your emotional eating triggers.  What situations, places or feelings make you reach for the comfort of food?  Is it Emotions (Anger, fear, sadness, anxiety, loneliness, shame…)?  Boredom or feelings of emptiness?  Perhaps social influences, stress or fatigue?  Really take the time to understand what may be triggering your cravings.  For further information, click here to discover Top Tips To Manage Your Emotions.

Healthy Plates

Well-balanced meals with fiber, protein and healthy fats are more likely to keep you satisfied.  Protein requires more work for the body to digest and fibers keep your blood sugar levels in check.  Hence why those macronutrients will make you feel full longer.  Click here to read everything you need to know about macronutrients.

Diets

If you are eating less than usual or if you are on a diet and cutting out on an entire food group, you may have more frequent feelings of hunger.  According to research from the University of Toronto, restrained eaters are more likely to experience cravings and to overeat the “forbidden” food when given the chance.  Due to this reason, it is important to not deprive yourself and enjoy your favorite foods in controlled portions.  Click here to learn How To Find The Best Diet For You.

Stay Hydrated

Mild dehydration can affect your metabolism, the rate at which you burn calories and compromise your health.  Drinking water increase the body’s ability to digest food and convert it into energy.  Furthermore, staying hydrated helps to reduce cravings and may help regulate the amount eaten.

Mindfulness

Eating while you are also doing other things (watching TV, playing with your phone etc.) does not allow you to enjoy your food.  Your mind is not focus on what you are doing/eating.  Therefore you will not feel satisfied and will continue eating even when you are no longer hungry.

Eating more mindfully can help you to focus on your food and the pleasure of the meal.  Try these simple strategies;

  • Take time to sit down at the table
  • Eat your meals with no distractions
  • Allow yourself at least 20 minutes per meal
  • Take small bites and chew them well
  • Put your utensils down between bites

Stress

Stress can play a large role in hunger cravings and it can cause some people to crave foods that are sugary or more calorie-dense.  Breathing exercises, walking, meditation and yoga can help the body to refocus and calm the mind.  Click here for 5 Natural Solutions For Coping With Stress!

Hormones

Menstruation, pregnancy or menopause makes testosterone and estrogen levels fluctuate. Therefore it may cause unique cravings.  Allow yourself to feel uncomfortable emotions. Allow yourself to have all kinds of feelings.  Cravings are not the core problem.

If you have negative emotions you can take steps to control cravings such as keeping a food diary.  Also, try to distract yourself, take a walk, snack healthy, DO NOT DEPRIVE YOURSELF and most important of all; Get support.

If self-help does not help you to control emotional eating or your cravings, consider talking with a health professional.  Click here for information on Unraveling Emotional Cravings.

Finally Quit Your Sugar Addiction With These Top Tips

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Finally Quit Your Sugar Addiction With These Top Tips

Do you feel like sugar rules your life? Is it all you can think about? Do you just get finished eating one meal and you can’t stop craving something sweet to finish off the meal?  Some call it a sweet tooth, others call it a sugar addiction. 

Luckily, there are ways to eliminate sugar from your diet and get the addiction under control before it wreaks havoc on your health and weight.

So why do sugar cravings tend to kick in just after a meal? The balance of sugar and fat in the body intricately impacts your cravings. Think back to the last heavy meal that you ate. Maybe it was a greasy burger or a steak and potatoes, or a high-fat, creamy pasta dish. Almost immediately upon finishing the meal, did the sugar cravings kick into high gear? But why is that? Well, consuming meals that are high in fat tend to create an immediate craving for sugar. In comparison, a healthy salad, or lower fat content meal usually doesn’t create the same wicked sugar cravings.

Eating frequent high sugar meals or snacks can also create a cycle of sugar cravings that recur throughout the day. For instance, you eat a sugary cereal for breakfast, and then mid morning, your energy crashes and you are craving something sweet, so you eat a granola bar or donut, or drink a high-sugar beverage. Then, again mid-afternoon, your energy crashes, so you reach for a chocolate bar. Breaking this cycle is key to getting a sugar addiction under control.

Break the Sugar Addiction

The best way to get your cravings under control is to break up with sugar. Easier said than done, I know. But with these tips, you’ll be on your way to getting a handle on the sugar addiction.

  1. Identify what food sources your sugar consumption comes from. Beverages can be one of the worst culprits of sugar.  Focus on drinking lots of water and eliminating (or at least limiting) the consumption of coffee, specialty coffee drinks, tea, pop, juice, alcohol, milk and energy drinks.
  2. Stop buying sugar laden foods. Things like cereal, granola bars, yogurt, processed foods, and baked goods are all extremely high in added sugar. Although many of these foods are touted as healthy options, the added sugar content dictates otherwise.
  3. Substitute with fruits and vegetables. Although fruits and vegetables naturally contain sugar, they are much more easily assimilated by the body and utilized for energy.
  4. Change your routine. If you tend to move right from dinner to dessert without a breather in between, it may be time to change up your routine. Take a walk, do the dishes, prepare your lunch for the following day, meditate, or sit outside and enjoy the fresh air. Give yourself a minimum of thirty minutes between dinner and dessert. Usually during that time, the sugar cravings will have subsided.
  5. Identify why you gravitate towards sugar. Is it a coping method that you use to combat stressful situations? Do you use it as a reward after a long hard day at the office? Changing your relationship with food will allow you to mentally distance yourself from it.