How to Live Sugar-Free and Overcome Cravings
How to overcome sugar addiction?
Are you that person that can always been found with a cookie in your hand? Are you the one who hovers around the sweets tray at the party, poaching whatever is left, gobbling up anything with any sort of sugar inside? Do you have more than five cavities because you just can’t say no to the sweet stuff? Well you aren’t alone. Hundreds of thousands of people succumb to sugar addictions on a daily basis. Whether it’s the sweet taste of Coca-Cola that you can’t do without or that delicious pie your grandmother makes, all of it is slowly but surely eating away at your body. Fighting sugar addiction is a difficult battle, perhaps even more difficult than stopping tobacco consumption. But you aren’t alone in the world. Here are a few tips to help you overcome your sugar addiction to live a healthy and sugar-free lifestyle and overcome those cravings.
1) Substitute to Survive
You may not be aware that white bread contains sugars and further feeds your addiction. If you are a white bread eater, make the switch to wholegrain wheat breads and never look back. Additionally, try to substitute other sugary aspects of your diet, cereals, for instance with oats. Rather than snacking on something like cookies, choose fresh fruit. Making these essential substitutions will help reduce your cravings. At first you may experience frustration and even mood swings (as with battling any other addiction) but making these substitutions should help ease the transition and moderate the intense chemical swings your body will be undergoing.
A large secret to defeating addiction of any kind is to change your habits. For instance, if you drive a certain way to work every day and stop in for doughnuts everyday at the same store, choose an alternate route, even if it is slower. It is highly unlikely you will be able to drive that same route repeatedly without stopping at the store due to the pattern of behavior you have developed. This can extend to many different aspects of your including nightly snacks, cooking, breakfast, etc. Any facet of your life which incorporates sugar intake, seek to eliminate or replace with something healthy.
3) Replace Your Nutrients
Cravings are born out of your body’s dependence upon a substance to function the way you instruct it to. Once you teach your body that it needs nicotine to relax and function, it will demand to receive that substance. A sugar craving is no different. The best way to supplant this urge is to meet your body’s demands with healthy alternatives. Chromium deficiency is one area that many who attempt to go sugar-free face. However, chromium can be found in broccoli, cheese, chicken and dried beans. Try replacing the sweets which formerly filled this craving with one of these healthier alternatives.
These three tips are only the beginning to a long war you are about to embark upon. Fighting sugar addiction can be stressful and frustrating, and whether you like it or not, your body and moods will be affected by the denial. However, for your long term the best option is to fight away the urges, introduce new, healthier activities into your life and shun the sugary sweets which you love so dearly.
Photo by Greencolander/Michelle Tribe
