Curbing Sugar Cravings With 5 Tips
Sugar affects not only weight but also mood. Reducing sugar consumption can be surprisingly challenging, as craving for sweets is very common. So how do you curb sugar cravings? Keep reading!
Sugar addiction arises quite easily and has a huge impact on human health. It is considered an addiction. White sugar can cause a chemical dependence where a person feels the need to eat sugar on a daily basis.
Listed below are some tips to help you curb your sugar cravings more easily. But first let’s look at how excessive sugar intake affects health.
This is how sugar affects health
1. Sugar is bad for teeth
According to Carole Palmer, a professor at Tufts University School of Dentistry, the bacteria that cause holes live on simple sugars. They can produce acid that destroys tooth enamel.
2. Sugar can lead to uncontrolled hunger
Some studies have found that fructose (a type of simple sugar) affects the hormone that regulates hunger, leptin. Studies have found that constant intake of fructose causes resistance to leptin, which contributes to the development of persistent hunger.
3. It promotes weight gain
Several studies have shown that although high-sugar products are high in calories, they do not satisfy hunger properly. In contrast, foods low in sugar reduce hunger more.
According to these studies, people aiming to lose weight should start by reducing their consumption of high-sugar products. However, researchers and doctors agree that obesity is a complex disease that is not only affected by excessive sugar intake.
4. Increases the risk of diabetes
One major risk factor for diabetes is eating soft drinks, energy drinks, sweets, and other sugary products. People who consume such drinks one or two a day have a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
In addition to diabetes, consuming such sugary drinks can also cause weight gain.
5. Sugar can lead to malnutrition
People with more than 18% of their calories from sugar are deficient in essential nutrients for the body, such as folic acid, calcium, iron, and vitamins A and C.
Curb your sugar cravings with 5 tips
1. Eat more protein
Replacing sugary products with protein is a good way to balance blood sugar. Depending on the food, a protein-rich meal reduces sugar absorption and prevents blood sugar spikes, which reduces sugar cravings.
Increasing your protein intake doesn’t mean you should eat more meat; protein is also obtained from legumes, lentils, beans, fish, eggs and dairy products.
2. Curb your cravings by eating more fiber
Adding high-fiber foods to your diet is easy. But if the goal is to curb sugar cravings, foods should contain natural soluble fiber found in, for example, nuts, flax seeds, fruits and vegetables.
The fiber in such foods slows down the rate at which food is digested, which in turn balances blood sugar. This effectively curbs sugar cravings and the risk of diabetes.
One of the benefits of a high-fiber diet is that it prolongs the feeling of satiety because the food melts more slowly.
3. Curbing sugar cravings with bitter foods
Sugar cravings can be curbed by eating something bitter. Many bitter foods contain a lot of probiotics, or organic acids, that help increase good bacteria.
A good option is, for example, lemon or lime pressed into water. The acids in these fruits help slow down the digestion of food, which helps keep blood sugar steady and prevents sugar cravings.
4. Curbing your craving for sugar is easier when you are cheerful
We tend to fight fatigue by eating sugary products. Thus, adequate sleep intake helps eliminate sugar cravings caused by fatigue.
5. Focus on the rest
Whenever your mind does something sweet, try to think of something else. Opinions usually only last 10 to 20 minutes, so if you manage to focus your attention on something else during that time, your mind will disappear. The more you practice this, the easier it is for sugar cravings to be ignored.
Excessive sugar intake is harmful to health. These five tips make it easier to curb your craving for sugar and reduce your sugar intake.
