Sugar cravings are awful. It feels like an enemy army torturing you until you feed them jellybeans. There are many people who struggle with having a sweet tooth. Sugar can be addicting, and difficult to resist. The uncontrollable urge to eat sweets may have anxiety around it. The three most common causes of a sweet tooth are…
1. A “cheat day”
mentality-Oh the cheat day: this can be a
tough habit to break if you are used to viewing food in terms of ‘good’ or
‘bad’. One question to ask yourself if you take this all-or-nothing type
approach is: Have you ever known
someone who does a cleanse on a strict diet? If yes, what was their eating
pattern like on the day after it ended? Chances are it involved
seriously overdoing it on all of the foods that weren’t “allowed.”
This
isn’t a long-term strategy and can promote bingeing, guilt, and a vicious cycle of feeling out of control around food.
In fact, the cheat day mentality sabotages your attempts of finding balance in
your healthy behaviors, can be destructive to your relationship with food, and
might even result in you constantly thinking about foods that are off limits
(such as sweets).
It’s more important to develop sustainable
eating patterns rather than having a chaotic, extreme view of your food
choices. So
now the question is, what action steps can you realistically take to move past
these cravings?
2. Lack of sleep-Another potential culprit of increased sugar cravings (or
increased appetite in general) is a less-than-ideal sleep routine. Research
strongly suggests that insufficient sleep results in decreased
levels of leptin and increased levels ghrelin. These are two hormones that play
a role in our hunger and satiety signals, and this particular combination
results in a stimulated appetite, decreased satiety after a meal, and decreased
energy expenditure.
3. Under-eating-While
each of us may deal with indulgent foods differently, most cases of sugar
cravings are the product of under-eating. Pay closer attention: have you ever
noticed that you feel seriously tempted by afternoon sweets on days when you
don’t pack enough food to get you through the work day?
When
that happens, your body essentially needs fuel, but your biological hunger may
be misinterpreted as a sweet tooth. The same can be said for those evening
snacks. If you are cutting way back on carbohydrates at dinner, you might be
back in the kitchen searching for something sweet an hour or two later.
[i] Sources used:
· “4 Reasons Why You Have Sugar Cravings” by
Nutritious Life
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