Do you crave sugar? I know I have had a love/hate relationship with sugar!

Starting in college, I used to go on “sugar fasts” because I hated the feeling of out-of-control sugar cravings. Once I was able to detox the sugar from my body, I felt like a million bucks! The problem, though, was that if I had even just a tiny nibble of sugar, it was all over! I was back to craving sugar all over again. 

What causes sugar cravings?

Sugar cravings can be rooted in lots of possibilities:

🍩 Poorly managed blood sugar
🍩 Lack of sleep
🍩 Too much stress
🍩Poor gut health 
🍩 Unhealthy relationship with food

If you feel like you are constantly trying to resist the urge to raid the pantry of any type of sweet, carby goodness, here are 6 tips to help kick the sugar cravings:

1. Increase your protein intake. Aim for at least 30 grams of protein at each meal (especially breakfast!) and 10-20 grams at snacktime. Protein will help stabilize your blood sugar and eliminate those afternoon sugar cravings.

2. Increase the calories you eat at meals. You may think you’re doing yourself a favor by “cutting back” at mealtime, but what you’re actually doing is setting yourself up for between-meal cravings. Eat larger, balanced meals with lots of protein, veggies and some healthy fats and you’ll stay fuller longer. In fact, you may find that you don’t need to snack anymore!

3. Prioritize your sleep. We know that people who are sleep deficient consume an average of 200 more calories per day than those who get good sleep. And those calories are usually calorie dense, highly palatable foods – junk food! 

4. Get some stress management tools in your tool box instead of reaching for the Oreos. Stress is just a fact of life, it’s how we handle it that matters. 

5. Gut health can have a powerful effect on cravings. Invaders like candida feed on sugar and can lead to feeling totally out of control when it comes to resisting sugar. If this is the case, I’d recommend you work with a holistic practictioner like a functional nutritionist, naturopath or functional medicine doctor that specializes in gut health. 

6. Pay attention to your relationship with food. Often the foods that we label as “bad foods” are the exact foods we tend to fixate on. Consider this: Instead of completely cutting them out of your life, learn how to eat these foods without guilt or shame. Build them into your day every day so that you can rid yourself of the scarcity mindset driving your need to eat ALL the brownies. Once your brain figures out that they’re there and you can have them anytime, it becomes less of a big deal and you can learn to enjoy one bite at a time.

What about you?

Do you struggle with sugar cravings? Start with these 6 tips and see if it makes a difference.