Sugar is the new cocaine. It’s a slow addiction. As per researches, it makes similar chemical changes in the brain as any drug or alcohol would do.
Human brain not only craves sweet but refined foods too. Refined flours, biscuits, breads have the same effect as sugar. They too are addictive!
HOW DOES SUGAR WORK ON YOUR BODY?
Our brain loves sugar. It uses sugar as a primary source of energy. So, when you consume normal amount of sugar, your body converts that into glucose giving you a sudden rush of energy. When consumed in excess, the excess glucose is converted into fats by insulin. This leads to sudden low in energy and spikes your craving for sugar again.
Reasons for sugar cravings:
- Most of the people misunderstand the difference between Hunger and Cravings. Both are quite similar but different at the same time. When one feels hungry, tends to crave for wrong foods especially the sweet or the refined ones. In that case, if one fills up with better options then the cravings would disappear.
- Poor planning of the meals- Skipping meals, not carrying the food, no fixed time for eating.
- Stress- emotional eating is so common today
- Poor lifestyle- sleeping late night, waking up late, sleep apnea, late night parties every weekend.
- Genetics- This has only 10% effect on one’s body and 90% is under control
LOW CARBOHYDRATE, HIGH FAT DIET HELPS TO REDUCES SWEET CRAVINGS:
- Brain is made up of 60% fats and it needs minimal glucose to function. So, a high fat diet is far more important for brain functioning or any brain related disorders than carbohydrate.
- As per one study, our brain consumes only 120gms of carbohydrate per day. That’s it! This makes it only 3 servings of carbohydrate per day, which is like a low carbohydrate diet.
- Fat and fibre intake was way to higher in our ancestors diet and the higher form of sweet we consumed was carrot. Sugar never existed then. This fat and fibre paradox is well explained in this article.
HOW CAN YOU STOP/CONTROL SUGAR CRAVINGS?
- Planning your meals in advance (Free organization tools)
- Schedule your meal every day, every week.
- Never skip any meal. Set a reminder to eat on time.
- Be more disciplined.
- Intake of Fats shows a visible reduction in the sweet craving.
- Fibre too to some extend helps one to stop the high and low energy. Simple logic to this is that fibre, releases the glucose slowly into the blood (fibre supplement << Shop)
- Few more studies have shown that chromium supplement improves carbohydrate craving. Have 200mg before meal per day. (Shop Chromium supplement << Click here)
- In some cases, even L- glutamine supplements work (Shop Glutamine Supplement << Click here)
- Another article writes about even high salt/ sodium intake too can lead to high sweet cravings.
- Never opt for fruit when craving, it would do give the same effect as sugar (fruit are natural sugar too).
- Go for dates, or dark chocolate instead. Dark chocolate lacks sugar, and is rich in antioxidants which shows a drastic reduction in cravings (you can shop dark chocolate from here: SHOP)
- Reduce stress- take counseling’s from psychologist, meditate, workout especially weight training, as this is shown to drastically reduce stress levels and increases.
2 NATURAL & HEALTHY SWEETENERS
Here are the 2 natural ones available in India:
BREAKING THE SUGAR ADDICTION WITH MINDSET:
- 28days rule- It’s the mind which decides everything. If you decide to give up on sugar for continuously 28days, it develops into a habit. It takes time but it has shown to reduce cravings in many of my clients. But first set your mind.
- Mimic sugar- You can replace sugar with natural stevia extracts. Never go for aspartame, sucralose replacements. Stevia is the best option.
Important: Always, take care good care of yourself because what matters is a quality life.
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