STRATEGIES FOR SURVIVING
YOUR SWEET CRAVINGS!!!
By JJ Virgin, CNS, CHFI
- Go for the Mint - Brush Your Teeth right after a meal or snack so you get the food taste out of your mouth as soon as possible.
- Keep a snack handy: eat your High Response Cost meals and snacks on schedule to keep your blood sugar stable. If you “forget to eat”, when you remember it will probably be because you are starving! It is hard to be reasonable when your brain wants quick energy NOW (i.e. sugar), so avoid this by never letting yourself get more than a little hungry. And always keep an emergency snack handy (10 raw nuts, an apple or a healthy snack bar)!
- Get your protein in consistently at your 3 meals. Protein helps keep you fuller longer and releases the hormone glucagon which balances out insulin
- Use fruit to taper off sugar - keep grapes in the freezer and pop one in your mouth when you get a craving.
- Find out where the sugar is hiding - you can’t cut it out if you don’t know it’s there!
- Retrain your sweet tooth by tapering down off of sweet tastes and switching over to spicy or savory!
- Dump the caffeine (coffee, soda, tea…) - it exacerbates sweet cravings and can make you insulin resistant!
- Get enough sleep and manage your stress - problems with either of these will make you crave sweets to raise serotonin - the feel good brain chemical!
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