We all know that eating food with added sugar isn’t great for us if done on a regular basis. But sweet stuff has a way of calling to us and demanding our attention unlike any other food! And once we eat the sugar we crave, it seems to turn into a cycle of eating too much of it – trying to stay away from it – then craving it again and overindulging.
I was a daily ice cream eater for at least a decade – not to mention diet coke and cereal addict – and I know how sugar cravings work. But, those days are in the past, and though I love a good treat, I also know that to really enjoy sweets, you need to stop craving sugar on a regular basis.
So how do we stop craving sugar?
I’ve seen tips that range from giving sugar up altogether (which scares a lot of people) to eating frozen fruit or other “healthy” frozen desserts to attempt to satisfy the craving without going for the Ben & Jerry’s or Hershey’s. Clearly there are things that work for some people and not for others. Today, I’ll let you in on 5 steps (and a bonus!) that helped me stop craving sugar for good.
1. First, completely cut out the “hyper-sweet” food you’re eating.
Apologies in advance for this because I know it’s not what you want to hear. But processed sweets, sugar substitutes, and foods that are definitely more sweet than they should be (lots of added sugar) taste that way because they are designed to make you crave more. If you want to stop craving you have to eliminate these foods and drinks completely. You probably already know which ones you’re eating that are “addictive.” The list includes cookies, candy, regular and diet soda, sweet baked goods, most cereals, you know, all the “good” stuff. When I first did this I swear I felt like there was a part of my mouth missing. Kind of weird, but describes how the sweet taste has its grip on you.
2. Eat more fat.
When I stopped eating sugar I suddenly realized that I wasn’t eating enough food! I had been eating more for taste than for actual nutrition and was missing basic key nutrients in my diet. I quickly realized that fat was a big void in my meals. I had been “fat phobic” for years based on conventional wisdom that told me a low fat diet was the key to health. But fat is essential for satiating true hunger, once a sweet taste is not what you’re after. Start eating more olive oil, butter or ghee (clarified butter), unsweetened nut butters, coconut oil, fatty fish, grass-fed beef and fattier cuts of chicken (skin!) and even bacon, yes bacon. You will quickly realized that some of your “sugar cravings” were really malnourishment in disguise! Fat is delicious, satiating, and darn it – it IS good for you!
3. Eat whole, unsweetened fruit.
Once you’ve given yourself a solid week off of the “hyper-sweet” stuff you might start to notice that fruit actually tastes REALLY sweet when it’s good and ripe! There is a reason they call it nature’s candy, but if you’re still eating actual candy and diet soda there’s no way you’ll know this. A big caveat here is that if you are still struggling with major sugar cravings, do not turn to fruit to try to satisfy those cravings – because it won’t. Fruit can really enhance the flavor of meals and be a great dessert once you are no longer having intense cravings. A good way to figure this out is if you are eating fruit but not feeling satisfied, you probably still need more time away from the processed and hyper-sweet food before you can fully enjoy fruit in all its glory.
4. Watch what you’re drinking.
To really stop craving sugar, water is absolutely essential. Drink lots of plain (unflavored) water throughout the day when you remember and you will be even less likely to crave sugar. For reasons I don’t completely understand, thirst sometimes manifests as a sugar craving. This might be exaccerbated by how our brains are so used to craving the stuff that we manifest other physical sensations as a desire for sugar. I’m not sure, but what I DO know is that along with the other steps, keeping hydrated helps a lot!
5. Be aware of the “sugar associations” and break them if you wish.
The psychological pull toward sugar seems to be the last to go in my experience. I always ate ice cream or sweet cereal after the kids went to bed and this association has been the hardest to break. Even when I am clearly not hungry I will usually have some fruit or coconut butter at this time because it just feels comforting. And you know what? I acknowledge the association, and make the call whether I want to go with it or ignore it. The thing is that now, it just doesn’t have the pull on me that it used to, it’s a CHOICE! So some nights I think, “I’m full I’ll just brush my teeth now” and other nights it seems like the right time for some fruit and coconut butter. But the cravings, as I once knew them, are gone!
* Bonus. Recognize and understand the difference between ending your sugar cravings to improve your health, and depriving yourself of food with the hope of losing weight.
If you want to quit sugar to lose weight and do not have other health goals in mind, these steps will not work. Why? Because you will go into it with a “diet” mentality and an attitude of deprivation. Ending sugar cravings is not about depriving ourselves of sweets. It’s about nourishing ourselves properly and thoroughly without the distraction of the cookies, ice cream, and other zero-nutrition junk calling to us. With this in mind, think hard about how much nutrient-dense food you eat during the day and if you notice yourself skimping on food, work on adding more fat, protein, and unprocessed carbs into your meals. A happy and well nourished body and mind is a lot less likely to crave sugar!
Do you struggle with sugar cravings or have you in the past? How have you approached it?
This is such good advice! Sugar is my thing (like give me dessert over the main course any day) and I’ve found eating more fat helps kill the sugar cravings quickly. Love this!
Glad you enjoyed! When I look back I can’t believe I restricted fat for so long. It’s become a hugely important part of all my meals and snacks now. Without it I don’t feel satisfied.
Girl! Got me on this one lol. I’m actually usually really good about sugar intake. One desert night a week is my go to. Keeps me looking forward to a treat but it’s not enough to make me crave it every day. But lately, ooh, I haven’t been as good. Love the point about water. I drink it all day and it totally helps. That and sometimes a cup of decaf coffee in the afternoon haha.
Water and a good snack filled with fat and protein and I don’t think about sweets anymore or crave them! It’s one of those things that’s easy to slide back into once you start having a bit more.
Huh. I wonder if this is why after never liking fruit for my entire life it suddenly tastes sweet and yummy to me. I still eat sugary stuff on occasion, but I cut a whole lot of it out of my diet last year. And now apples and cherries are like dessert to me!
Same here! I never really appreciated how good fruit is until I stopped eating all the other stuff. Now it’s more than sweet enough to be dessert for me! The strangest stuff tastes sweet now to me – like raw cashews – I would have punched myself in the face for saying that a year ago 🙂
I crave sugar after an intense workout… which makes sense as I have depleted my energy stores and my body wants immediate replenishment. I have been known to eat a small bowl of Lucky Charms or chug some apple juice immediately following a long run. Then I shower and dig into some chicken breast and some sort of slower digesting carb. Now, this is just me. Obviously someone who is overweight, is addicted to sugar, or is diabetic may not want to take this route. But an otherwise healthy athlete shouldn’t be afraid to consume sugar after an intense training session as it will get to your muscles quickly and recovery will be faster. Oh, a big glass of milk is a great way to get some simple sugar post workout too!
That’s a good idea and something I usually do after a very long run! After a normal run for me though I don’t crave anything but the usual. Now in the past, every single one of my breakfasts was sweet and I “needed” my diet coke every couple of hours. Crazy life I led.
I am with you on the diet coke thing…. I recently got back in the habit and am determined to kick it. 🙁 I could blame it on stress but that’s just an excuse
Great post! I couldn’t agree with all of these more. I cut out sugar several years ago when I was losing weight. You do not miss it and like you mentioned, you realize that you’re craving more real food when you’re hungry. Another interesting thing I’ve experienced is now when I do eat sugary treat, it does not taste that good anymore.
This is a great post! I am really trying to wean myself off the sugar–not real sugar—but the artificial crap! I eat really well opposed to that. I do notice that if I overtrain and undereat my sugar cravings come out big time! I am working on getting more healthy fats in for sure! Hopefully that will help!
I used to eat so much of that stuff and now I really look at it as worse than real sugar. It makes you crave sugar in the same way plus it promotes a restrictive diet mentality which I’m really fed up with in our culture! I had to really just eliminate it all at one for it to work. Otherwise I would slide back.
Oh my goodness, I have read this at just the right time…I am a long life sugar addict. I consider myself healthy, but my permanent cravings for bread, starch, sugar, chocolate and ANYTHING sweet after a meal or at certain times of the day is not normal…You had a really blunt statement in there which really woke me up – I seriously do eat for taste over nutrition!!! I envy these people who can choose medleys of vegetables and meat without having to base the entire meal around a starch! Ugh. Thanks for writing this so indepth, it has really inspired me to get a move on with it! I totally agree with eating more fat – Eating meat really does fill a big gap in your stomach that you never knew was even there until you fill up on meat rather than carbs. Thanks again!
Tash x
Very glad you could relate to this and found it helpful! For some people who really feel “addicted” to sugar the best thing is really to just stop eating foods with added sugar altogther! Tough at first, but after not much time at all the cravings really disappear. Hope you have success with this!
This is a great post Michele – so relevant to so many of us! A couple of thoughts occurred to me regarding some of the reasons we crave sugar so much. One is that, as babies, sugar was very important to our healthy growth and breast milk actually is sweet. To be more specific, the breast milk at the front end of a nursing session is sweet and thin, quenching the baby’s thirst, while the milk at the end of the session has less sugar and more fat, providing needed nutrition and comfort. My guess is that’s one source of the comfort associations you mention about having something sweet at the end of the evening. So to some extent we’re programmed to like sugar, but in combination with fat. A big mistake we make, as you’ve pointed out many times, is removing the fat and then getting in trouble with sugar. Another thought I had was your mention of our bodies getting confused between thirst and sugar craving. Again a guess, but I think this may be related to our energy level. I know personally when I feel tired I used to go for something sweet but lately I realize that drinking a bottle of water brings back my energy. I think we’re sometimes dehydrated, which causes fatigue, and we mistakenly think it’s sugar we need when it’s actually water. We mix up thirst with sugar. Just a guess.
Jo-Ann
The energy thing might be a piece of it for sure. I think the main problem is that companies have taken the science behind our preference for sweets and created processed “hypersweet” food that is designed to be addictive both physically and psychologically so we continue to come back for more and they get more $$$. That’s another reason I believe that the cheap high fructose corn syrup appears in everything. Once people realize that they can stop eating these products that have zero nutrition and be satisfied with fruit and other nutrient dense foods, it is very freeing and of course much healthier. I know you know about market research mom!
I definitely agree with all of this! Not only do I not crave sugary stuff but I don’t even really like it anymore. I find that fruit is plenty sweet for me! While I enjoy baked goods I prefer to make my own with natural sweeteners like bananas or honey. When I’m offered cake or something at a social event I don’t feel like I want it and I know I’ll feel gross after if I eat it. There are a few things that I know have added sugar and I still enjoy from time to time- like ice cream or my mom’s pumpkin bread:) I think I just gradually got to this point by cutting out the sugar- and I’m so glad I did!
That’s awesome! And it’s amazing how quickly we can go from craving the cookies/cake to truly being satisfied with fruit once we just stop eating the processed stuff. It’s a great feeling!
Wow, this is such a fabulous post! I am so thrilled I came across it via Amy’s blog (and so happy that I discovered your blog this way– I will definitely be back for more!). I am so impressed by your balanced tips and overall wellness mentality. It is SO TRUE that if we go into it with the goal of losing weight, we will slip up because we will feel deprived. Going into it with the goal of FEELING BETTER and feeling completely healthy overall is 110% the way to go. I have been experimenting quite a bit with all of this myself, and I am definitely going to incorporate some of your tips into my healing process. This rocks! Xox
So glad you found me and related to the post! Overall I feel like most of the advice we get on health is still slanted with a weight loss/diet focus and that just makes us feel bad about ourselves, deprived, and clouds the true benefits of living a healthy lifestyle and eating well. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on this, it’s great to connect with like minded people!