Beat Sugar Cravings: Why Do I Have Sugar Cravings?

Sugar is found in almost everything we eat, and the sugar found in most foods is nutritionally scarce and refined. Refined sugar = empty calories. So it may seem like the craving for sugar doesn’t have a nutritional basis, but it does, we just choose to choose the wrong kind of sugar and within this is an emotional or addictive property, not a nutritional one.

Having a sweet tooth is natural. Satisfying that sweet tooth should be with fruits, as they are full of natural sugars that provide energy and nutrition. Fruits contain almost all the nutrients that the human body needs. You also won’t have a sugar crash with fruits like you do with refined sugar. If you are on a high fat diet this may cause fruit to be a problem for you, but for health reasons cut out the fat, not the fruit!

Fruit is a great way to beat sugar cravings. For breakfast, eat 5-6 pieces of fruit or have a big banana smoothie. You will find that this sustains you for quite a long period of the day. For lunch and dinner, eat as much fruit as you like at the beginning of the meal.

By doing these few simple things, you should see a dramatic decrease in cravings and feel much better about yourself.

However, sometimes eating a lot of fruit is not enough on its own to help us overcome sugar cravings. Many of us crave sugar because an emotion has triggered it and we have a phantom hunger. Phantom hunger is when we FEEL hungry but we are not. It is our emotions that are trying to come to the surface and phantom hunger arises because we have learned to deal with emotions by suppressing them by eating lots of sugary fatty foods (for some of us it may be other things).

In order to overcome our emotional sugar cravings, we must first address what emotions trigger our sugar cravings and what types of situations. Many people experience phantom hunger more after work when they are at home, bored and restless in front of the television. Once you know your trigger points for sugar cravings, sit down and write a list of things you can do instead of eating to calm or overcome that emotion. Sometimes just feeling the emotion is enough.

However, this can be difficult in and of itself, so it’s important to have the support of someone you trust. A nice walk may suffice, you may want something more invigorating. Most of us don’t indulge in our creative side enough, so doing something like drawing and coloring (yeah!) can work wonders. I know I found my joy in art when my son first started coloring. Perhaps you prefer to listen to music, create music, or do other things. Anything you like to do write a great list.

This is a good starting point for addressing your emotions. Emotions can be very hard on us and overwhelming, so take it one day at a time and remember that a little progress is good. Don’t rush it because it can lead you back to sugar cravings and binge eating.