I must admit I had a major sweet tooth growing up. How to control sugar cravings when your parents stock at least 5 types of chocolate and have a square (or two) twice a day? It was just meant to be!
However, when I moved to Singapore, my kind of desserts were not readily available (or just way too expensive) I learnt to deal with my sugar cravings along the way. I am now mostly “cured” thanks to easy tricks and techniques I am going to share with you today.
We always try to justify our cravings or we forget to add them to our food diary (hint hint to my personal training clients!) but they add a big bulk of calories at the end of the week and might even be the reason we do not seem to lose weight.
So how to control sugar cravings?
Below are 6 triggers or time of the day when we tend to have sugar cravings and how to rewire your brain to avoid or satisfy the craving. If you have more please feel free to share in the comments below and I will try to find a solution for you!
1.AFTER A MEAL
This is a major one. If you are used to end your meals on a sweet note, just like a smoker likes to smoke after food, this will be the hardest one to fight.
I usually have three ways to fight this craving:
- Go brush your teeth. Guess what? Your toothpaste contains sugar! That is sometimes enough to trick your brain into thinking it has received the holy grail: SUGAR! Added benefit is, if it is in the evening, after brushing your teeth you will probably not eat again as you might be too lazy to brush your teeth one more time before going to bed (guilty)!
By the way this also works with mouthwash if you don’t feel like going to work with a toothbrush. You are welcome!
- Have a hard sweet: Most of the time we only want to change the taste we have in our mouth. If I take my example, when in France I have cheese for lunch and because the cheese taste is strong, I don’t want to go back to work with blue cheese breath! Instead of the dessert, keep hard sweets or mints with you in case you need some after food. It does contain less calories than desert!
- Have a fruit: Same idea, give your brain some sugar, but the good kind of sugar at least!
2.WHEN FEELING SLUGGISH OR SLEEPY
Your body is sending you a message: I need energy – and what’s the fastest way to get energy? You guessed it – sugar! However, after the initial boost, we usually feel sluggish again, so let’s look at other options:
- Have black coffee or tea (without sugar) This is an obvious one but it just works! If you are really looking for something sweet, get fruit tea or even chocolate tea (yes it exists – check in out in my previous blog post….)
- Have cold water: It will keep you awake and hydrated – double win!
- Go for a walk outside. The sunlight will tell your brain to stay awake and you will get some vitamin D while you are at it. Moving around will wake you up, make you feel great and burn some calories at the same time!
3.DURING YOUR PERIOD
I have the weirdest cravings during my period. It is almost worse than when I was pregnant! I would usually indulge in chocolate, cookies, cakes…any kind of “treat” foods. Remember that our food choices (especially for women) are mostly linked to our emotions. And guess what? We get mixed emotions during our periods (thanks hormones!) so that’s completely normal to have cravings during that week. I usually use the following trick:
- Make a healthier version of your favourite desert: 2 ingredient pancakes (with banana and eggs only), protein powder brownies or even “ice cream” with frozen bananas! You will need bananas, vanilla essence and peanut butter with crushed walnuts as topping. Find the recipe here. It feels like a decadent desert as the banana gives you the ice cream texture as well as the sweetness while the the nutrients from all these wonderful ingredients will keep you full for a while!
4.WHEN BORED
It’s 4:30pm, you are so done with work and you feel like you need something to eat? Think about it twice you might just be bored! What to do to fight boredom?
- Go and talk to a colleague: the conversation will lighten up your mood and stop you from wondering towards the pantry.
- Go for a walk. There is nothing best than stretching your legs and getting some (not so) fresh air. The craving will be gone by the time you are back and you will feel more productive if you need to finish a few things at work.
- Do some online shopping: I know this might not be good for your wallet, but it feels amazing and the reward feeling we get is just as addictive as sugar!
5.WHEN EVERYONE ELSE IS HAVING IT
It’s someone’s birthday or everyone is ordering desert after a big meal. It is always hard to say no because of social pressure (even if the pressure is not THAT hard let’s be honest) and you do not want to be seen as the salad freak who does not touch sugar.
What should you do in that case?
- Have a small piece. It will look like you were part of the fun without adding too many calories to your daily intake
- Share it with someone! You do not have to eat half of the cake, best way is to share with your husband/wife and take your time. If your partner is like mine, they will probably eat more than you do!
6.WHEN ON THE GO
Having a sugar craving while at the mall? Well that’s not surprising as all the shops send these amazing smells across the hallway. How do we deal with those?
- Always have hard sweets with you. Smelling famous Amos or Nasty Cookies? Have your sweet and move along
- Add fruits to your water bottle or make ice fruit tea yourself with no added sugar. When you sip on it, it will feel like you are having a sweet reward without the calories.
- Have a fruit with you and snack on like apples or bananas or dried fruits mixed with nuts. They are easy to transport and can be eaten anywhere!
In a nutshell, the best way to control your sugar cravings is to acknowledge them and have a bit of sugar or any equivalent rather than straight up repressing it. You don’t have to live a life without sugar, as long as it is in moderation!
Any questions about sugar? Feel free to contact us at hello@therippleclub.fit or click on the chat button!
Alicia xx