If you're falling prey to sugar cravings more than you'd like, you're not alone. The American Heart Association recommends that men have less than 9 teaspoons of added sugar daily and women have less than 6 teaspoons per day, but the average American downs about 20 teaspoons daily. You may crave sugar for many reasons, sometimes from habit and other times because of biological drive.
Dieting and Sugar Cravings
If you are eating too little, you may end up in a cycle of restricting, craving sweets, overindulging, feeling guilty and restricting. To keep yourself from feeling deprived, incorporate small servings of the sweets you love in moderation. Skipping meals can cause low blood sugar, which is a trigger for cravings.
Carbohydrate-heavy meals digest quickly, making you crave more sugar for energy. Each of your meals needs a mix of slow-digesting carbs -- think whole grains, vegetables or legumes -- proteins and fats to prevent cravings. Try to eat every 3 to 4 hours.
Stress, Mood and Food
You might also seek sweets to alleviate negative emotions. Carbohydrates help produce serotonin, a chemical that promotes feelings of well-being, so it only makes sense that you would reach for sugar to feel better. Depression can make cravings worse -- it's often related to low serotonin levels, and it stimulates the production of stress hormones that increase your appetite. Because serotonin also regulates your sleep cycle, you may also crave sugar to calm down at the end of the day.
Conquer your sugar cravings by finding other outlets for regulating your emotions. Daily exercise, meditation, getting adequate sleep and seeking support from family and friends might help you avoid emotion-driven sugar cravings.
Too Little Sleep
If you are sleep-deprived, you are more likely to consume more calories, especially from sweet, salty and high-starch foods, which partially explains the connection between obesity and short sleepers. While it is not yet fully understood, lack of quality sleep changes the ratio of hormones that regulate appetite, leptin and ghrelin, making you want to eat more carbohydrate-rich food.
Map out a schedule that leaves enough room for sleep, and stick to it.
Gut Bacteria
The gut contains different types of bacteria that affect digestion, immunity and even eating behavior. When you eat sugar, you feed and encourage the sugar-loving bacteria while crowding out the healthy bacteria. The more sugar you eat, the more you will crave it.
Eating more healthy foods, especially the ones with probiotics, like yogurt with live and active cultures or fermented foods like raw sauerkraut, kimchi and kombucha may help create a better balance.
Sugar Cravings After Meals
When you finish your meal, you might feel full but you still want a sweet treat. Sometimes this can be out of habit, always expecting dessert after meals. Having simple carbohydrates from sugar after a meal might also help you absorb more tryptophan, a building block for serotonin, so it brightens your mood. Further, some people experience low blood sugar accompanied by fatigue, anxiety, lightheadedness following a heavy meal, making them crave sweets to counteract that effect.
Get a healthy sugar fix by capping your meal with a serving of fruit.
References
- Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Stop the Cravings! Eat Right!
- Harvard Health Publications: Why Stress Causes People to Overeat
- University of Rochester Medical Center: Curb Your Cravings: Tips to Tame a Sweet Tooth
- Today's Dietitian: Substance Abuse and Nutrition
- Sleep: Dietary Intake Following Experimentally Restricted Sleep in Adolescents
- Today's Dietitian: The Link Between Sleep and Weight Gain — Research Shows Poor Sleep Quality Raises Obesity and Chronic Disease Risk
- Live Science: Why Do People Crave Sweets After a Meal?
- American Heart Association: Frequently Asked Questions About Sugar
Writer Bio
Based in Berkeley, Calif., Registered Dietitian Joelle DiTucci received her Master's degree in nutrition, and enjoys her work as an eating disorder dietitian, support group leader, writer and a Rise coach. Her main interests are in recipe creation, disordered eating, psychology and intuitive eating.
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