Are you one of the people who cannot live a day without anything sweet? Are sweet treats something you are very helpful for overcoming difficult life situations? May be you are starting your day with a cup of coffee with something sweet and delicious and cannot imagine a different way of having your breakfast? Is your day filled with sweet snacks? All of these dietary patterns can be related to a sugar addiction which might require a real will power from you to get rid of them.
Reducing sugar consumption or resigning from consuming it at all is a good idea for everyone and especially for people who are trying to lose weight or diabetics who absolutely have to forget about sugar. However, how can you do it?
Causes of a sugar addiction
Some people resign from believing in the fact particular kinds of food can cause addiction, however, this is the truth whether we like it or not. One of the general mechanisms working in this case is feeding particular kinds of microorganisms living in the gut with the food you eat frequently. the more residual of particular food there is in your stomach, the more this particular species is proliferating producing substances which are triggering the urge for this particular product even more. For that reason, some people can easily eat sweet things from time to time not having any sugar cravings even though they genuinely enjoy sweet food. At the same time, there are people who cannot stop eating sweet products no matter how much they have already consumed.
Yet, this is not the only one thing working in the case of sugar addiction. The psychology of addiction is rather strong here as well.
Needless to say, for many people having tasty food after a particularly stressful time is one of the easiest ways to comfort themselves. Sugary food is one of the best means to do it.
When it comes to sugar, it cause one more type of a mixture of a physical and psychological addiction. Actually, many people are addicted to the boost of energy which is released after consuming easily digestible carbohydrates present in sugary food. In this case, such food is working for them in the same way coffee is working for others. Of course, while combined, coffee and sweets or pastry can give a lot of fuel for moving on to you.
Tips for getting rid from a sugar addiction
Try to understand what exactly do you like about sugary food. It might be not thus simple, but you can distinguish some patterns in your behaviour including the times when you are craving for sweet products most of all.
Understand when you are really hungry
One of the crucial things you can do is learning to distinguish real physical hunger in your body. If you feel you are ready to eat absolutely anything even though you might prefer something sweet and yummy, it is an indication of you being really hungry. This means you should not stuff yourself with cookies or sweets and just have a normal meal. If it is not possible, you can choose a non-sugary snack.
If your body is giving you a feeling you need to eat exactly a piece of cake and nothing else, it is psychological hunger. In all likelihood, it is your sugar addiction giving you a craving or you are just bored by the work you are doing right now and your brain is trying to distract you from a dull activity. Providing you are able to recognise such a feeling in yourself, you will be able to stop yourself from having that piece of cake.
Find the major source of sugar in your diet
Certainly, it is obvious where the major amount of sugar is coming from if you are consuming whole bars of chocolate and kilogrammes of cookies during a day. Still, many people are not aware of all the sugar coming form soft drinks and even with sweetened tea or coffee. Unfortunately, the fact you are not eating anything sweet does not change anything if you have five cups of tea each with three spoons of sugar a day.
Of course, do not forget about all of the sweetened sauces, fruit yogurts, juices and even sausages which sometimes also have sugar.
Reduce the amount of consumed sugar gradually
It is recommended to cut the amount of consumed sugar out gradually without resigning from it all together. Of course, if you feel your will power is strong enough, you can do it like this, however, the majority of people can benefit more if they start reducing the amount of sugar slowly. You can try creating a plan for getting rid of sugar in your life at all for a month or you might need more time. Let your body to get adjusted to a less and less amount of sugar you are allowing it to consume.
Be attentive about the alternatives to sugar
One of the frequent mistakes many people are making while trying to reduce the amount of sugar they are consuming is switching to a different type of sugary food, for example honey which seems to be ab example of healthy food due to all its vitamins and micronutrients. Unfortunately, it is still sugar for your body and will not change anything if you start adding honey to your tea or coffee instead of regular sugar.