Help! My Sugar Cravings Are Out of Control
The good news first? Celebrity nutritionist and author of The Beauty Detox Foods, Kimberly Snyder, says that not all sugar is bad. “The current trend is to blame every problem on sugar, but it’s not that simple,” she says. Unfortunately, neither are sugar cravings. In anticipation of the barrage of sugar with which you’ll be faced from now through the end of the year, Yahoo Beauty asked Snyder how best to deal with—as in annihilate—cravings for the sweet stuff.
What Causes Sugar Cravings
“Sugar cravings can be caused by a myriad of things,” Snyder says. Not surprisingly, people use sugar as a reward, for getting through a rough workout, eating a healthy dinner, or spending 10 extra minutes at the gym. “Studies also show that when you’re sleep deprived, you’re more likely to reach for high-fat or sugary foods,” Snyder adds. “Candida, a yeast overgrowth in the body, is also a condition that many people suffer from, and can also cause extreme sugar cravings.” And too much salt, which makes you feel dry and contracted, will make your body yearn for balance—through sugar.
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Photo: Kejni Aoki / Trunk Archive
How to Make Them Stop
The first step? Stop eating sugar. You need to wean your brain off the stuff and nothing beats quitting cold turkey. “During this process, you often find that sugar cravings go up in the beginning, but then down,” Snyder says. “You may even lose your desire for sugar of any kind in the short-term.”
Then, when you do crave sugar—because make no mistake, your body does need natural sugars—find the healthiest way to satisfy yourself. “It could be dried fruit, a piece of dark chocolate, or kombucha tea. For every bad possible choice, there is usually a much healthier alternative that will help you satisfy the craving without totally wiping yourself out,” Snyder says. “Your body can handle fruit sugars and fruit can become a very beautifying and healthy part of your diet.” In fact, she says, fruit can actually deter cravings for unnatural sugars. Think of it this way, once you start looking at life through Instagram filters, it starts to look a little less vibrant in reality. Similarly, once you equate sugar with ice cream sundaes and donuts, fruit starts to taste a little less sweet. But if you retrain your body and fruit becomes the sweetest thing in your diet, it has the potential to blow you (and your taste buds) away.
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Snyder recommends taking the right kind of probiotic to help balance the overgrowth of certain yeasts in your body that feed off sugar. “Incorporating raw sauerkraut into your diet is also a great practice,” she says, adding that she does not recommend eating any form of dairy. “I know how intense and frustrating sugar cravings can be, you literally feel like you’re going crazy!” But don’t beat yourself up about it, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a small piece of dark chocolate at the end of the meal,” Snyder says. “This can actually signal to your body that the meal is done and help you move away from the table.” The key word there being small. Think of the above tips as a way of recalibrating your relationship with sugar. Instead of fearing it, think about how your body actually needs and uses it, then work to satisfy that need in a healthy way.
