If you find yourself feeling out of control around sugar, you are not alone. And you are not crazy or broken. You are normal and there is actually a physiological reason you can’t say no to that ice cream in the freezer or the homemade cookies you’ve tried to hide from yourself. I’ve found myself in that situation many times, and I want to empower you to know how to break sugar addiction fast, so that you can get back to making those food choices that get you closer to your goals, rather than further from them.
Why is Sugar so Addictive?
There are a lot of different studies and theories about sugar addiction floating around, but let’s talk about why you may feel addicted to sugar. Figuring out why sugar has its grip on you can play a huge role in loosening that grip!
- Emotional Eating. It’s easy to reach for sugar for that dopamine rush to not deal with what’s really bothering you. If the dopamine rush occurs, you do feel better for a short time. (It’s what follows that is not good!). When feeling anxious, sad, etc, you may feel extra tempted to reach for that carton of ice cream or soda, searching for anything to make you feel better.
- Looking for quick energy. Maybe you’re not getting enough rest or really stretched thin right now. If you’re a mom, whether of a newborn or teenager, you may be sleep deprived or busy with lots of activities. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of reaching for something sweet to eat or drink to “keep you going.”
- Hyperpalatable (very tasty) processed food. The food industry exists to make money, and they are not making their big bucks off of bananas. They are hiring food scientists to get the perfect combination of fat, sugar and salt to keep you coming back for more! I’ve never met someone who eats one bite of ice cream every night after dinner. Nor have I met anyone who binges on bananas. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’s not common!
- Lack of fiber and nutrients. So often we reach for the wrong foods because we are just not feeling great. But why is that? Why are we not feeling our best? One major reason is we are lacking in fiber and nutrients. According to the Department of Agriculture, only about 5% of Americans get adequate fiber every day.
Sugar Addiction and Mindset
Let’s focus on what our mindset should be around sugar. I like researching and learning the how’s and why’s about nutrition, but I have found that so much starts with mindset!
Some people choose to completely, 100% avoid added sugars in their diet. And that works for some! However, for many, this could lead to an avoidance and bingeing (or just overeating) cycle with sugar. And that is not good in the long run!
Let’s focus on a healthy view of sugar! Our culture LOVES sugar…. There’s the “Donuts for Dads” and “Muffins for Moms.” There’s birthday parties, football parties, and sometimes we just have a party for no reason. The reality is that we encounter sugar temptations sometimes daily! Also, many sweet foods bring back nostalgic feelings from childhood. One of my favorites was eating my favorite candy bar on the beach on vacation.
Everyone has to determine if and when they want to have a planned indulgence. And maybe you don’t want to even have that for quite a while after getting unhooked from sugar, so that you can truly feel the physical and mental benefits of not eating sugar. Or maybe you want to allow one small planned indulgence every weekend. Everyone is on their own health journey and sometimes it takes trying different things to know what works for you.
If you often find yourself reaching for more and more high sugar foods as I sometimes do, it’s time to break that cycle and feel better again! And it doesn’t take long at all break the sugar addiction!
6 Steps to Break the Sugar Addiction Fast
You can use these steps anytime you find yourself reaching for more and more sugar. After a holiday, vacation, or birthday party. These are steps to help you feel that you are in control of what you put in your mouth, rather than letting sugar control you!
1. Cut out all added sugar for a time.
This is the hardest part… Just Say “No.”. Yes, you can do this slowly if you’d like, but if you want to break the addiction fast, it must be cold turkey approach. If you do better with gradual changes, that’s ok too! It just will take some extra time to break the addiction. Added sugars include: table sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, etc. You do not have to live this way forever, but to break that addiction, it needs to happen for a time.
2. Increase (whole) fruit consumption.
I know this might scare some people, because they think “But wait, fruit has a lot of sugar in it!” Fruit has a very different effect on our bodies than does added sweetners. It has fiber and many other nutrients that have positive health benefits. The fiber in fruit helps create a healthy gut microbiome, whereas one study has shown that added sugar can have a negative effect on the microbiome. (https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1813780115) Avoid fruit juices, as they do not have the beneficial fiber!
3. Eat regular meals (and snacks) to avoid getting “hangry.”
This is an important one! I have found that I often grab the wrong thing to eat when I have let myself get too hungry. This might mean meal prepping and even snack prepping. Keep some type of healthy snack with you at all times…and that can even be as easy as a banana! Including high fiber and good protein sources at your meals can also help to keep your blood sugar stable and decrease cravings. Eating whole plant foods is your best bet!
4. Stay well hydrated!
We can often think we are hungry when we are really thirsty. Staying well hydrated can help reduce feelings of hunger so that we aren’t just grabbing high sugary, processed foods. Measure your water out early in the day so that you can be sure you’re getting all your water in. It’s so easy to just forget to drink water, especially in the winter months!
5. Get enough sleep.
Sleep affects so many processes in our bodies, and one important is the regulation of the hormone grehlin. Grehlin is our “hunger hormone” and when this is high, our appetite increases. A study in the journal Sleep found that people who were sleep deprived for two nights has increased grehlin levels.
6. Get moving!
Various studies have shown that exercise can reduce sugar cravings. One way this may be the case is that it helps with blood sugar control. Studies have even shown that taking a short walk after a meal can lower blood sugar! Exercise can also help your mental state! If you’re finding yourself reaching for sugar for emotional reasons, get moving! Get outside when you can, as this can boost mood and help diminish the cravings.
Get Healthy by Breaking Sugar Addiction today!
If you follow these steps, you’ll see that breaking the sugar addiction is not as hard as you may have imagined it would be. And the beauty of it is that you will feel so much better that even if you find yourself reaching for sweet treats again, you will more quickly gain control again. Once you know how good you can feel, you don’t want to go back down the sugar addiction road again.
If you do find yourself really hooked on sugar again, don’t beat yourself up and get discouraged about it. Come right back here and follow these steps the break the sugar addiction fast. You can feel better every bite!
Leave a Reply