7 Hot Tips for Reducing Your Sugar Cravings
Sugar, sugar, sugar. We all love sugar. But have you ever stopped for a second and asked yourself why we love it so much? Sugar is a drug. It is an addictive substance and refined sugar is far more addictive than cocaine. Recent studies have shown that sugar is 8x more addictive than cocaine and Dr. Mercola of Mercola.com reported that in animal laboratory studies where rats can mutually-exclusively choose between sugar and cocaine, 94% will choose sugar. Why is it considered addictive? After consuming sugar most people want more and eliminating it from the diet it can trigger withdrawl symptoms like headaches and mood swings, cravings and fatigue.
Sugar can hide in your food under different names. When reading ingredient lists you may find sugar labeled as sucrose, glucose, dextrose, fructose and high fructose corn syrup to name a few. These sugars are generally derived from sugar cane, sugar beets and corn, most of which are also genetically modified and laden with chemical pesticides and herbicides so they can be grown in abundance. The US Government offers subsidies on corn, so corn based sugars like fructose and high fructose corn syrup end up being cheaper and more readily used in most prepackaged food items. You will find these ingredients in unsuspecting foods ranging from yogurt, bread, cereals, and granola bars to items like ketchup, mayonnaise, juice and jell-o.
When you have a diet high in sugar it will repress you immune system and your ability to fight against infectious disease. Sugar feeds cancer cells and has been linked with the development of certain cancers. Sugar intake is directly related to increased insulin levels, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease and premature aging.
One of the top sources of sugar intake globally is soft drink consumption. The USA is ranked #2 worldwide for soft drink consumption with 154 liters per capita and Mexico is close behind in the #4 spot consuming 137 liters per capita. These numbers are outrageous and are directly linked to the increasing diabesity epidemic. According to the American Journal of Public Health the global obesity epidemic has double since 1980 and currently close to 2 billion people are overweight and the number of people with diabetes has risen from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014.
Ask yourself: do you or your family constantly get colds, feel run down, have any skin issues such as eczema, feel tired and lethargic? Do your children have excessive tantrums or been labeled with ADD/ADHD? If you answered yes, then I might suggest taking a closer look at the amount of sugar in your family’s diet.
Follow this list of tips to get your sugar cravings under control:
1. Get you sugar from natural sources like fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables. Fresh fruits and vegetables are naturally high in fibre, vitamins and minerals. Fibre slows down the digestion process, slowly releasing the natural sugar into the bloodstream. The fibre will help to keep you feeling satiated for a longer period of time than a simple sugar.
2. Crowd out sodas and sugary drinks. By crowding out, I mean to gradually eliminate sodas and sugary drinks by replacing them with healthier, more satisfying options like water, fresh fruit flavored water, home brewed iced teas and lemonades. I have a client who complained of extreme fatigue, inability to sleep at night, inability to lose weight and constipation. By simply replacing his daily soft drink intake with water or natural fruit water he lost 3kg in one week, no longer needed a daily nap, started going to the bathroom two times per day and slept soundly through the night.
3. Get enough sleep. Getting enough sleep is essential to brain function. When the brain doesn’t get the recommended 7-8 hours per night the side effects include loss of memory, heightened anger and food cravings, as reported by International Journal of Occupational Health and Medicine. Often you will crave caffeine and sugar to wake you up or get you through the afternoon lull, and you will find yourself at the closest convenience store grabbing a snickers bar to get you through. Essentially, you will feel good for a short period of time as your body grabs on to the glucose and uses it for energy sending your blood sugar level soaring, but what goes up must come down. After ingesting sugar your body produces insulin in an effort to stabilize the blood sugar level, but the body must produce more than it usually would to compensate for the spike in the blood sugar level, so it over produces insulin to force the blood sugar level back down, but the insulin level drops below normal and during the time the insulin and blood sugar levels are regulating the exhaustion sets in once again.
4. Eat healthy fats. This statement completely contradicts the last 30 years of healthy diet information we have received from our governments, doctors and scientists, but there has never been such a monstrous misconception about food as there was about fat. Fat is essential to brain health and body development. When you have a diet rich in healthy Omega 3 fats you will have more energy, feel more alert and crave less sugar. Dr. Mark Hyman notes in his new book Eat Fat, Get Thin, that a diet rich in healthy fats you can speed up your metabolism, make your brain work better and balance your hormones. Healthy fats for cooking at high temperatures include coconut oil and avocado oil. The properties of these oils are not damaged by high heat. For low heat cooking and salad dressing it is recommended to use organic olive oil or other healthy oils like walnut, pumpkin and hemp. Dr. Hyman goes on to list some healthy animal fats including organic grass-fed butter, ghee, wild fatty fish like salmon, sardines and mackerel, and shellfish such as shrimp, scallops and crab. Vegan sources of healthy fats include raw nuts and seeds such as walnuts, almonds, cashews, chia, hemp, and fruits like olives and avocados.
5. Take a good probiotic. A probiotic is a bacteria in your digestive tract that helps your body absorb nutrients and fight infection. According to Dr. Josh Axe, the top 7 probiotic killers are medications and antibiotics, sugar, tap water, GMO foods, grains, stress, and chemicals. When you supplement your diet with a top quality probiotic or probiotic rich foods not only do you boost your immune system and improve digestion, but it will help to curb your sugar cravings. Some great sources of probiotic rich foods include, kefir, sauerkraut, yogurt, kimchi, miso and kombucha.
6. Avoid artificial sweeteners. After giving you several reasons to vilify sugar, you might be wondering if using an artificial sweetener is a better way to go. The answer is NO. There are many names for artificial sweeteners including aspartame (Nutrasweet and Equal), saccharin (Sweet’N Low), sucralose (Splenda), AcesulfameK, or Acesulfame Potassium and Neotame. In fact, using an artificial sweetener is actually worse than using sugar. Artificial sweeteners are called so for a reason. They are artificial, made up of chemicals. The human body does not know how to process artificial sweetener. The brain does not understand how to use it. According to Dr. Mercola when you eat something sweet the brain releases dopamine, which activates the brain’s reward area. But, when the body eats something that tastes sweet but doesn’t have any calories to curb the craving, the brain keeps sending the signal that it wants more, increasing the sugar cravings. Artificial sweeteners actually worsen insulin sensitivity to a greater degree than sugar. Some all-natural sweeteners that are better options are: raw local honey, blackstrap molasses, 100% pure maple syrup, and 100% pure liquid stevia.
7. Get Moving. It has long been known that when you exercise your brain releases endorphins, those little feel good chemicals that keep us happy and smiling after a good workout. It is also important to point out that during exercise your muscles utilize glucose for energy and over time, regular exercise can lower your blood sugar levels, in turn aiding the insulin to work more efficiently.
There has never been a more important time to reduce our sugar intake and take charge of our own health and fitness. Follow these tips to help reduce your sugar craving, or if you would prefer one on one consultation that speaks to your own bioindividuality, please contact me for a free consultation.
