How to stop craving sugar

Craving sweets must be one of the hardest things to fight, simply because there are so many of us who are fighting it! Why do we crave sugars?

We were definitely not designed by nature to eat loads of cake, chocolate and all these processed foods. Still we crave them. I liken it to how an insect gets attracted to a light bulb. It’s not really healthy for the insect, but it just can’t stop flying towards the light!

So, how then do we stop ourselves ‘flying’ towards sugary foods? How to stop craving sugar?

There are many ways of combating this though. We can think about this, because are brains are bigger, and we are much, much smarter than flies and beetles.

So with our bigger brains we have come up with a huge list of ways to beat our sugar cravings. Things like meal replacement drinks, artificial sweeteners, will-power, meditation, hypnosis, eating special foods, prayer, cosmetic surgery, lap banding, take pills, oh and diets.

But which ones work?

Well, in my experience, the main issue is in the mind. Because the vast majority of the time, we are doing the right thing. I mean, 90% or more of the time we have it all under control. It is the moments of weakness that are our undoing. It does not take long to gobble down that massive piece of cake or that bar of chocolate. And it only takes that one moment of weakness to do it.

This is why willpower in itself does not work for most of us. You have to have an insane amount of it, and how many of us are perfect in that respect??

So what’s the answer? I have been looking around the internet and came across a huge list of approaches and products (congruent with our big brain capacity), and I found a neat list of professional approaches, created by an Australian dietitian.

Here’s the link, check it out: How to stop your sugar cravings.
It lists some real strategies you can use, and recommends some commercial products. And artificial things like surgery and pills are NOT INCLUDED, because really, we should stay away from them as much as we can.

I for one will never go and mutilate or poison my body to get healthier – it’s a contradiction in terms. There is a better way, so check it out!

February 4, 2010 Posted in: Expert Corner