Almost everybody struggles with cravings in some capacity. We here at Nommy have come up with a few research-based tips to help you eliminate sugar and other cravings from your diet.
Almost everybody struggles with cravings in some capacity. It’s nearly impossible to completely avoid sugar consumption and even harder to get rid of the cravings. Grocery store shelves, checkout lines at gas stations and vending machines are all loaded with high sugar snacks and drinks. As I’m sure you can relate, I can hardly go anywhere without being constantly bombarded with tough food choices. It’s simply unavoidable -- even those foods you thought were clean are often full of hidden sugar (a couple servings of ketchup or a bowl of granola both have well over 15g of added sugar). Even tomato sauce on a gluten free, vegan pizza has more sugar than a serving of Oreos! We here at Nommy have come up with a few research-based tips to help you eliminate sugar and other cravings from your diet.
Unfortunately, and somewhat insidiously, the sugar industry makes it very difficult for us to avoid sugar, often using crafty ways to distract us from the true sugar content of their products. Food labels will often contain multiple names for sugar, making it difficult to identify and immediately recognize. They market products as “low sugar” or highlight other key features of the product such as gluten free, high protein, or even organic to mask sugar content. Just because an item is gluten-free, high protein, or organic certainly doesn’t mean that it’s truly clean or low in sugar.
And this isn’t the first time the sugar industry has used less-than-honest tactics to drive sugar consumption (and thereby profit). In fact, in 2016, researchers discovered a huge sugar industry scandal, proving without a doubt that sugar lobbyists sponsored phony Harvard research in the 1960s. Turns out the sugar industry paid Harvard researchers to suppress findings on the detrimental health effects of sugar, and instead turn the focus on the false “role” of naturally-occurring fats in heart disease. The result? The average now American consumes 137 pounds of refined sugar per year, and 31% of Americans have prediabetes or diabetes.
So why does all of this matter? And just how bad is sugar for our bodies? As I’m sure you already know, doctors now have irrefutable evidence that overconsumption of sugar is the leading cause of cardiovascular disease, liver diseases, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, hypertension, and obesity, among many others. For example, did you know that Alzheimer’s is now considered by many doctors to be “Type 3 Diabetes”? Or that research shows that sugar is a major catalyst for many types of metastatic cancers? That’s how strong the link is between sugar consumption and overall health. Furthermore, numerous studies have shown that sugar is even more addictive than substances such as nicotine and even cocaine. In fact, leading doctors have discovered that it can actually take over six weeks to overcome withdrawal symptoms from even a minor dependency on sugar -- that’s how bad it is.
So while it’s no easy task to cut sugar completely, the benefits of limiting intake are overwhelming: sleep tends to improve, hormonal imbalances dissipate, weight management improves, mood stability increases, skin complexion grows clearer, among numerous other benefits.
Having struggled for years to kick sugar and fast track my own health, I’ve come up with a few research based “hacks” along the way that I often offer to patients and friends. Whether you’re plagued by an afternoon sweet tooth or outright addicted to added sugar, I’m 100% confident you’ll find these tips and tricks come in handy next time you’re faced with those unwanted cravings.
This is hands down the most important tip I can give when it comes to cutting sugar and eliminating cravings. It seems simple but its value to our health is continuously undervalued by my patients. In the technology centric, high speed world we live in, most of us are chronically sleep deprived on a day to day basis. Sleep deprivation (even 6.5 hours) means significantly decreased brain function and substantially less willpower, which inevitably results in poor diet decisions. And sleep deprivation isn’t just something you can ultimately “power through.” Indeed, what researchers call sleep debt (chronically getting less than 6.5 hours of sleep per night) has substantial adverse effects on human health.
First, poor sleep leads to bad decision making. One night of less than 7 hours of sleep negatively impacts the frontal lobe of our brain, which is responsible for our decision making abilities. Simultaneously, sleep deprivation stimulates the part of our brain that regulates our desires and motivations, thereby making it easy for us to succumb to our cravings. Researchers from UC Berkeley have found that individuals who sleep 6.5 hours per night or less tend to eat significantly more sweet and salty food, as opposed to those who get a full night’s rest.
Second, physiological changes occur in the body that strongly affect our ability to process sugar and burn fat. Getting less than 6 hours of sleep for even one night decreases insulin sensitivity by 50% and raises cortisol levels throughout the day (your stress hormone). Heightened cortisol levels and decreased insulin sensitivity ultimately leads to the body’s chronic inability to burn fat efficiently. Indeed, chronic (or acute) sleep deprivation results in a substantially increased risk for type 2 diabetes, obesity, and a plethora of other diseases and health issues. In fact, oftentimes individuals struggling with weight loss (despite strict dieting) find that simply changing sleep patterns from 6 hours a night to 7-8 hours per night results in a complete reversion to a healthy weight and BMI (and kicks the heavy sweet tooth). I can’t stress enough the importance of getting 7-8 of sleep per night.
This is one tip I share with my patients that’s incredibly easy to implement: drink 20-30 ounces of water immediately upon waking up, and then stay very hydrated throughout the remainder of the day. You should consume at least 0.5 ounces of water per pound of body weight each day.
There are two key reasons this works to reduce overall hunger and eliminate sugar cravings.
First, it’s important to understand that hunger is simply a byproduct of dehydration. The same part of your brain is responsible for both hunger and thirst signals (the hypothalamus). So, usually you’re simply confusing sugar cravings with a need for water. Additionally, when you’re dehydrated, your brain is actually less capable of exerting willpower, making you less likely to resist tempting foods and more prone to choosing sweet and salty foods.
Second, water also fills our stomach, so drinking more water can reduce our calorie consumption throughout the day by up to 20%. You’re essentially tricking your body into wanting less calories. Because water is an appetite suppressant, drinking it before meals will make you feel fuller, therefore reducing the amount of food you consume. Research shows that drinking water before meals results in an average reduction of 75 calories consumed per meal. As you can probably infer, this principle holds true throughout the day -- if you get an unwanted craving for sugary sweets, down a big glass of water to get hydrated and suppress your appetite. And if you’re someone who can’t stand to consume large quantities of plain old water, simply grab a seltzer water or sugar free sports drink.
We all have a sweet tooth, some of us more than others. How do we resist that sudden urge to bite into a chocolate bar or office donuts? One of the quickest ways to kill a sugar craving is to brush your teeth and rinse your mouth frequently with a strong mint flavored toothpaste and mouthwash. Put simply, no one wants to eat candy, cake or cookies with a strong minty aftertaste in their mouth. And there’s even science to back this up...
Toothpaste contains sodium laureth sulfate, which suppresses our sweet taste bud receptors and strengthens taste buds that detect bitter flavors. This is why many flavors taste different and less appealing after we brush our teeth. After brushing your teeth, any indulgence in sugary foods simply won't result in the same pleasurable dopamine rush to the brain. If you aren’t in a place where you can brush or rinse your mouth, try chewing on a stick of mint flavored gum as it creates the exact same effect. But make sure your gum is sugar free...
How do we begin to break a bad habit? It takes some intense determination and focus. Curbing sugar cravings is, at its core, as much a mental process as it is a physical one. In order to make good decisions and strengthen our ability to focus and achieve our goals, we need to improve our mental capacity. Well, it turns out that mindfulness meditation has incredible potential to alter the way our minds and bodies work, leading us closer to our goals.
Research on meditation shows that it can reduce cravings and improve our diets in two ways.
First, daily mindfulness meditation of just 5 minutes significantly increases the size of our prefrontal cortex through a process known as neuroplasticity. The prefrontal cortex (“PFC”) is the decision-making center of the brain, and many neuroscientists refer to this region as the “CEO” of the brain. Therefore, an increase in the size of the PFC naturally lends itself to better decision making and more willpower to resist temptation.
Second, mindfulness meditation significantly reduces cortisol, the primary stress hormone. As discussed above, elevated levels of cortisol result in the body’s inability to efficiently burn fat and significantly hinders metabolic function. Research also indicates that daily meditation can improve blood sugar levels, decrease blood pressure and reduce chronic inflammation along with so many other benefits. A more peaceful, relaxed mind doesn’t just feel good, it’s good for you.
If you’re new to meditation or find it a bit “odd”, I’d urge you to simply think of the practice as “exercise for the brain”. Some of the smartest, most successful people in the world practice meditation daily - Bill Gates, Will Smith and Michael Jordan to name a few. Bill Gates recommends the iPhone app Headspace and uses it every day for a 20 minute guided meditation. Some other great iphone apps you can try are Waking Up, 10% Happier and the Calm app.
This is the easiest and most effective long term solution for curbing sugar cravings and eliminating any junk from your diet. Simply clean out your house of everything that’s filled with sugar, artificial sweeteners or any other unhealthy additives. It’s much easier to give into cravings if all we have to do is walk to the kitchen for a sugar fix. Any items with high sugar content should simply be tossed in the trash. Then moving forward, as a general rule of thumb, don’t purchase any products that have a form of sugar listed in the first five ingredients on their label. If you still crave something a little bit sweet, look into natural sweeteners such as stevia, agave, and monk fruit extract to replace the sugar.
Also, make eliminating sugary foods from the household a family affair. At the end of the day, you should all be working together towards a healthier, cleaner and more active lifestyle. It’s going to be extremely difficult to cut the sugar if your family members aren’t on board. Continued education and awareness around the detrimental effects of sugar is an effective way to gain family buy-in to your pantry clean out. And when the cravings come, make sure your pantry is stocked with delicious, clean and low-sugar alternatives that still satisfy your sweet tooth. You can try fresh fruits, naturally sweetened gluten free cookies / brownies, and other low sugar snacks.
One of the most important tips I can give you is to read up and learn as much as you can about the food that we consume and the food that our bodies need. The more we know about sugar and the negative impact it has on our bodies and lifestyle, the less we’ll crave it. As humans, our minds naturally avoid cognitive dissonance -- we don’t feel comfortable when our values and actions don’t align. The more we ingrain in our own minds that overconsumption of sugar is “wrong” and detrimental to our long term health, the more difficult it will be for us to reconcile reaching for a sugary snack with our own value system. By continuously reminding ourselves of the negative effects, saying no to that next donut or candy bar will be a LOT easier...
At the end of the day, we’ll never fully eliminate sugar cravings. Cravings are natural in all of us and often unavoidable. The solution when they just won’t go away? Stock up on naturally sweetened, low sugar, high protein alternatives. Not only will this allow you to feel indulgent when the feeling arises, but the high protein content will curb hunger and limit further cravings. In fact, studies have found that increasing protein by 25% in your diet can decrease cravings by up to 60%.
Check out some highly recommended products to help indulge cravings on the go, satisfy your sweet tooth, and increase your protein intake, all while consuming only real food ingredients.
So next time you feel that hankering for something sweet, I hope these few tricks can help you kick that craving, and help you make better choices to live a healthier lifestyle.
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