How to Stop Sugar Cravings
The best way to address sugar cravings is.. one moment, I shall get back to this soon.
Meanwhile, let me ask you a question. Does sugar prolong the life of cut flowers? To answer this question, I did a few unscientific tests. I thought it was just another urban myth, but to my surprise, the answer seems to be ‘yes’ – for some reason, a few teaspoons of sugar seem to prolong the life of cut flowers by a few days. I was later told that adding too much sugar has an opposite affect on cut flowers – they die earlier.
What about us, humans? Does the amount of sugar we consume make a difference? And what does it have to do with ‘how to stop sugar cravings’? Well, the sugar is tricky. It “hides” in your food under many different names. Sure, we can use the tricks to better manage our sugar cravings – - but what good does it do if we do not notice sugar in our food it in the first place?
According to some estimates – the average American eats 74 pounds of added sugar each year, which is about 23 tablespoons a day – while others estimate that we eat more than 150 pounds of sugar a year. Either way, it is much higher than the human body needs – about two teaspoons of sugar at any one time. It is no wonder overweight and obesity are at its highest levels in U.S. – you need to be a “sugar-detective” just to learn all these other names for sugar: Cane juice, caramel, corn syrup, dextran, dextrose, fructose, fruit juice concentrate, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, invert sugar, lactose, malt syrup, maltodextrin, maltose, mannitol, molasses, raw sugar, refiner’s syrup, sorbitol, sorghum syrup, sucrose, and yellow sugar – - and this is not even a complete list.
These quick tips are given by Taste for Life magazine concerning how to combat cravings for sugar. You should steer clear of Processed Carbohydrates which include white pasta, white rice, and white bread. These are converted to blood sugar quite rapidly which proves disruptive to the body’s metabolic balance. Avoid adding sugar to drinks or cereal. If you must use a sweetener try the sweet herb Stevia. Whenever possible, attempt to eat whole foods.
Other foods, such as fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains do contain some natural sugars, but they also include dietary fiber and essential nutrients to help stabilize blood sugar. A good guideline to follow is the more natural the food, the better. For example, instead of orange juice, have an orange. The orange not only contains less sugar than orange juice, but it also provides more nutrients. Natural sweets, such as juice, should be diluted with water.
Granola lovers can add nuts and whole grain unsweetened cereal to limit sugar consumption. Fat-free labels are often deceptive. Many of these foods actually add to weight and health issues. Not indicated on the labels is the fact that these products often contain twice the sugar than the “regular” version of the same product.
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