8 Ways to Kick a Sugar Addiction
Yesterday you learned how sugar is physically addictive and alters your brain chemistry.
That it’s NOT a matter of weak will. Modern foods are DESIGNED to send us straight to the bliss point, with hidden sugars keeping us hooked, hungry, craving, and crashing.
The average American consumes 22 teaspoons of sugar a day, most of which is hidden in non-sweet foods like canned veggies, hot sauce, and “crab” meat (just a few of the examples shared on yesterday’s post).
Even “healthy” foods have hidden sugars. For example, many yogurts have more sugar than a soda pop and Prego pasta sauce has MORE sugar per serving than Oreos!
A whopping 80% of packaged foods contain hidden sugar.
Finding all these hidden sugars is the first step -- keep reading labels!
(If you’re going to eat it, you should at least be aware of it)
Next, retrain your taste buds.
Sprinkle a tiny bit of sugar on top to make something palatable. Don’t mix it in.
Also use applesauce (great in oatmeal… and on toast!) when you can.
Pick condiments like mustard or hot sauce over ketchup.
More importantly, don’t use zero calorie sweeteners. You need to resensitize your taste buds to real, whole foods and stop feeding the “sweet” habit. (You shouldn’t have to sweeten your foods and drinks to get them down.)
Drinking mint tea, chewing mint gum, and brushing your teeth are a great way stop a sugar craving dead in its tracks. Feel the urge?? Go brush.
Try distracting yourself for 15 minutes. There’s always a chore to be done, right?
Above all: start making good choices consistently. One junky food buys you admission to the blood sugar roller coaster. Not having a plan in place or healthy foods on hand makes it 20x more likely that you’ll eat sugar-laden garbage and kickstart the addictive cycle.
Think about how great you’ll feel when you stop having cravings, mood swings (hanger!), headaches, and total energy slumps.
Worth it right?!
In tomorrow’s blog post I’m going to share the final *key component* for breaking sugar addiction and stopping food cravings.
If you’re READY to break your sugar addiction, check back here tomorrow.
But right now, I want you to make a commitment.
I want you to commit to using one of the strategies I shared in this post.
Will you make this commitment to yourself and your health?
If yes, leave a comment right here saying “I’m in!” and describe what you plan on doing.