#145: (Replay) 12 Scientifically Proven Tips to Rid the Sugar Cravings!
Do you get to 3 pm and crave sweets to get you through the arvo?
Do you try, oh so hard to eat well all day but then find yourself binging on all the wrong things come dinner time?
Do you WISH you could stop this so that you could actually stop caving all the time and see some progress?
You can! But there's something that needs to happen first....
What's most likely holding you back here is an addiction to sugar.
Those pesky sugar cravings make it so incredibly hard to stick with a weight loss plan when they’re around!
So, how can you manage them? Or, how can you totally eradicate them?
Here are my 12 best tips to cut your sugar cravings so that you can finally stay consistent with your efforts and see the results you deserve!
Links:
Download my FREE eBook with 4 15 minute meals: click here
Start your weight loss, gut healing and anti-inflammatory journey now with my 3 Week Body Reset
Continue your journey and figuring out YOUR own balance in the Health with Bec Tribe
Explore my free recipes & website: Click here
Follow me on instagram: @health_with_bec
Read This Episode:
Today I'm going to be talking you through 12 of the most scientifically proven tips to rid your sugar cravings, because unless you get on top of your sugar cravings, it can be really hard to lose and maintain weight. I swear that having sugar cravings really impacts your willpower to be able to be conscious of your calories and to be able to control what you're eating throughout the day so unless you get rid of them first, it makes the process so much harder.
So this is one of the most downloaded episodes from my first or second year of the podcast and that's why I'm replaying it for you again today. Now, before I get into the episode, I want to thank you so much for your listens and your subscribes because Body Bites with Bec is growing to a level that is just beyond my wildest dreams. So currently at the moment and I'm so excited to say this, I am number three in Australia on Apple Podcasts in the health and fitness category, so that is incredible. I was hovering at six to eight all of last year and I've never been higher than that. So number three is just wild to me and I just want to take this moment to thank you so much for your support, your listens and your subscribes, because that's what helps me stay in the top charts and in turn inspire other women.
I really want to get this into as many ears as I can so that I can continue to grow my dream, which is really to help as many women in the world as I possibly can. So if you would like to keep supporting me with this podcast, it would mean the world to me. Hit subscribe, leave a rating and review and let me know what you think about the podcast, because I do it all for free for you. It takes a long time to plan and record and advertise and upload and all of that, so your support does mean the world and that is how you can show your support back to me.
So let's get into the podcast now where I'll share my best 12 scientifically proven tips to rid those sugar cravings …
Tip #1 - Don't confuse hunger with cravings. It's really important to realise that a craving is not actually the same thing as hunger. A craving is not your body calling for energy. It's the reward system in your brain calling for something that actually releases a lot of dopamine. When you get a craving when you're hungry, the feeling is difficult to resist because you're hungry, plus your brain is wanting that reward system to be rewarded. So a craving combined with hunger is a powerful drive that most people have a hard time overcoming. It's very hard to overcome.
Now, if you get a craving while you're hungry, one of the best tricks here is to simply eat a healthy meal immediately. So stock your kitchen with lots of healthy snacks or pre-made meals and always have something on hand so that if a craving hits and you recognise that it's actually hunger as well, eating a protein-rich whole foods snack or meal can really curb that hunger and then get rid of that craving or just reduce that craving a lot.
Tip #2 - Go cold turkey. If you're looking to really get rid of those sugar cravings, like if you're sick of constantly giving in to that 3pm crash where you just reach for sugar or you keep eating chocolate every night and you just can't stop eating it, it's not your fault. It's really hard to have the willpower to overcome sugar cravings because they're a real thing and they're hard to fight.
Sugar is an addiction and to get rid of the cravings for most people, we just actually need to get rid of the sugar in general, because what sugar is doing is rewarding your reward center in your brain, then your brain is releasing dopamine, giving you that high, and it's the same area of your brain that gets activated when you actually take cocaine. To get someone off cocaine, you can't just say, just have a little bit here and there. No, you need to go cold turkey. With sugar, it's exactly the same and I truly believe in this. So I really think that everyone who has sugar cravings should get rid of them completely by actually cutting sugar out of their lifestyles and making it a lifestyle change, or at least just doing it for a couple of months and then when you don't have sugar cravings anymore, perhaps you can then slowly introduce small amounts back into your diet.
I really help women do this safely and easily in the 3 Week Body Reset and I guide them through all the different withdrawal symptoms that you might get because that's a real thing, but the exciting thing about going cold turkey is that once your sugar cravings are gone and it can take anywhere from five days to two weeks at the most. Once your sugar cravings are gone, life is bliss. You can walk down the chocolate aisle and not cave. You can far easily say no to foods. You don't have to have the willpower of a bloody superwoman to resist it. It's just a lot easier to make healthy choices. Also, if you're looking to lose weight or drop your calories, or make any kind of change to your diet It's really hard to do when sugar cravings are around, so I always recommend that you should actually get rid of the sugar cravings first, go sugar-free and then you can think about cutting your calories or trying some intermittent fasting or do what it do whatever it is that you're trying to do. If you're trying to make changes, get rid of the sugar first, go cold turkey, get rid of the cravings and then start making more changes. That is really going to help you.
To help with this, you can try to replace a sweet treat with fruit or 85% dark chocolate. Bonus tip here - have fruit or dark chocolate with nuts or nut butter because that really helps to slow down the sugar into your blood and keep you fuller for longer and your cravings at bay as well. You also really want to make sure that you're having protein and healthy fats with your main meals whilst you're going cold turkey and ongoing.
Tip #3 - Try a Chromium supplement. Chromium can really help if you are going cold turkey and you're trying to balance your blood sugars to get rid of your cravings. If you haven't already tried that, give it a try. It can definitely help. A brand that comes to mind straight away is JS Health Metabolism + Sugar Support Formula. Jess makes a blood sugar balancing supplement that contains chromium as well, so you might want to give that one a try because I've heard really good things about that.
Tip #4 - Watch your sleep and stress. I'm not going to go into all of the tips specifically here, even though I will in future episodes, but just so that you're aware if you're sleep-deprived and you're not getting at least seven hours of sleep consistently each night, you can wake up tired and that is a recipe for sugar cravings. When your body is tired, your body craves really quick sources of energy and that's exactly what sugar is. So if you're someone that isn't a good sleeper, doing the best that you can to improve that is in turn going to help with your sugar cravings.
Same with stress, the more stressed you are, quite often, the more likely you're going to crave sugar because your body is once again, looking for really quick sources of energy to help you with that stress. That is what causes sugar cravings as well. So look at your life, look at your sleep, look at your stress, and if you're a big sugar craver, how can you start to make changes to improve your sleep and to lower your levels of stress because when you really start to do that is going to really help with your sugar cravings too?
Tip #5 - Watch your alcohol consumption. I'm not just talking about the actual alcohol in itself on the day, even though of course, alcohol does make us crave the wrong foods and lowers our inhibitions and I'm also not really talking about just that one glass of wine, because that's okay, but if you're having any more than one, two or three glasses of wine (or whatever type of alcohol you're drinking), it's going to disrupt your sleep and it prevents you from actually getting into your REM sleep. So that's your deep sleep and it's your really restorative sleep. When you drink more than one glass of alcohol, you don't sleep as well. You don't get that deep sleep and what that does is it makes you wake up. Without quality sleep, that is going to lead to sugar cravings and not only that, we all know what it's like to be hung over and it makes us want to choose the wrong foods. It makes our cravings worse. Next time you're out to dinner or you're considering drinking, it's fine to have more than one occasionally, but if you're doing it a lot, maybe try to look at that habit and think - ok, do I really want this? How am I going to feel tomorrow?
If you're serious about giving up the sugar cravings and making some serious changes to your diet, then you really want to look at your alcohol consumption and forward think about how it’s going to make you feel tomorrow because it's definitely something that's going to increase your sugar cravings and make it really hard for you to stick to your healthy eating plan.
Tip #6 - Make sure you're hydrated. Quite often when you're craving something and you're craving sugar, you're actually thirsty, so drinking a glass of water may help.
Tip #7 - Go for a brisk walk outside or even better if you're a runner, go for a run. Two reasons for this -
One is that it actually distances you from that food that you're craving, so that's a tick.
Two is that exercise will release endorphins in your body. They're your feel good chemicals in your brain, which can in turn, turn that craving off. When your body is craving sugar, it's craving that dopamine hit. It's craving those feel good hormones and those feel good chemicals in your brain. So if you do exercise instead, what that does is it can negate the craving for sugar because you're getting the endorphins from exercise which your brain loves.
Tip #8 - A lot of people get surprised by this one, but it's backed by science - Take a hot shower. Some people who experience sugar cravings have found that hot showers or baths provide relief. The water must be hot, now obviously not so hot that it burns your skin, but hot enough so it's on the verge of feeling too hot, and let it run over your back and shoulders so that it really heats you up and stay there for at least five minutes. By the time you step out of the shower, you're likely to have a bit of a dazed feeling or as if you've been in a sauna for a long period of time and by that stage, your cravings will likely be gone.
So if you're at home and you're craving that chocolate, maybe just jump in the shower to see if it helps.It's easier than going for a run. Depending on what time of day it is, you could try that.
Tip #9 - Avoid certain triggers. If you get triggered by shopping when you're hungry, for instance, and you walk down the chocolate aisle and it's really hard to resist, then avoid that. Make sure you go shopping when you're full or better yet, maybe you could even try online shopping. Also, a trigger could just simply be keeping the wrong foods at home. I truly believe that out of sight, out of mind is something that really is helpful. So really think about where your cravings come about and how you can do your best to avoid those triggers.
Tip #10 - Read your list. I always like to recommend people to write a list of reasons why they want to make changes. Write a list of reasons why you want to give up sugar or why you want to lose weight because when you have that list of reasons close to you and you read over it, it can remind you of what your goals are and it can help you resist that craving, so that can be really powerful.
Tip #11 - Talk to a friend or be part of a community. Talking to a friend who gets it and who can support you can really help give you those words of encouragement, snap you out of that craving state and remember what your goals are too. Just having that support can be really helpful. As soon as you're alone, it's very easy to give in, isn't it?
Tip #11 - Make sure that you're eating enough protein and healthy fats with all of your main meals. Protein and healthy fats really help with satiety, so they really help keep you full and in turn, prevent cravings later in the day.
So they're my 12 super quick tips to help you give up sugar. I go through this in a lot more depth in my 3 Week Body Reset. If you haven't got involved in that yet, I just wanted to mention that I really help you get off the sugar in an easy and do-able way, so I hold your hand through it.
If you are not quite ready yet to invest in my 3 Week Body Reset, I have so many other free resources for you to get a really good feel for what my approach is and to really try some recipes that taste sweet, but aren't, which also really helps you get off the sugar. You can find free recipes on my website, which is healthwithbec.com. You can get lots of inspiration from me always on my Instagram, which is @health_with_bec so make sure you come over and follow me there.
I also have recipe eBooks on my website as well, and a free 4x 15 minute dinners eBook as well, which gives you four 15 minute dinners to try through the week to get a bit of a taste for my approach as well.