8 Tips On Controlling Sugar Cravings

• Here’s what the “experts” say, my comments are at the end…

   

  Give in a little. Eat a bit of what you’re craving, maybe a small cookie or a fun-size candy bar, suggests Kerry Neville, MS, RD, a registered dietitian and ADA spokeswoman. Enjoying a little of what you love can help you steer clear of feeling denied. Try to stick to a 150-calorie threshold, Neville says.

• Combine foods. If the idea of stopping at a cookie or a baby candy bar seems impossible, you can still fill yourself up and satisfy a sugar craving, too. “I like combining the craving food with a healthful one,” Neville says. “I love chocolate, for example, so sometimes I’ll dip a banana in chocolate sauce and that gives me what I’m craving, or I mix some almonds with chocolate chips.” As a beneficial bonus, you’ll satisfy a craving and get healthy nutrients from those good-for-you foods.
• Go cold turkey. Cutting out all simple sugars works for some people, although “the initial 48 to 72 hours are tough,” Gerbstadt says. Some people find that going cold turkey helps their cravings diminish after a few days; others find they may still crave sugar but over time are able to train their taste buds to be satisfied with less.
• Grab some gum. If you want to avoid giving in to a sugar craving completely, try chewing a stick of gum, says nutrition advisor Dave Grotto, RD, LDN. “Research has shown that chewing gum can reduce food cravings,” Grotto says.
• Reach for fruit. Keep fruit handy for when sugar cravings hit. You’ll get fiber and nutrients along with some sweetness. And stock up on foods like nuts, seeds, and dried fruits, says certified addiction specialist Judy Chambers, LCSW, CAS. “Have them handy so you reach for them instead of reaching for the old [sugary] something.”
• Get up and go. When a sugar craving hits, walk away. “Take a walk around the block or [do] something to change the scenery,” to take your mind off the food you’re craving, Neville suggests.
• Choose quality over quantity. “If you need a sugar splurge, pick a wonderful, decadent sugary food,” Moores says. But keep it small. For example, choose a perfect dark chocolate truffle instead of a king-sized candy bar, then “savor every bite — slowly,” Moores says. Grotto agrees. “Don’t swear off favorites — you’ll only come back for greater portions. Learn to incorporate small amounts in the diet but concentrate on filling your stomach with less sugary and [healthier] options.”
• Eat regularly. Waiting too long between meals may set you up to choose sugary, fatty foods that cut your hunger, Moores says. Instead, eating every three to five hours can help keep blood sugar stable and help you “avoid irrational eating behavior,” Grotto says. Your best bets? “Choose protein, fiber-rich foods like whole grains and produce,” Moores says.

My comments:

What you’re trying to do is eat healthy, in a world that relentlessly pressures you to do the opposite.

The bottom line is natural, unprocessed  food is what you were designed and created to eat. The more of it you eat [vs man made food]  the better you will look, feel, and the easier it will be to lose weight. Naturally, the opposite is true.

Since removing man made food [and getting active] from your life is a mental issue- not a physical one- no pill, herb, tea, juice, berry, shake- whatever- can help you.

If you want the results to be permanent, this is something you must learn how to do for yourself.

I call it “sending yourself through the fire.” In other words, all you can do is see what’s in the way of your best body and life, face it head on, and not give up until you’re the one in control, not it.

For example, I used to have a real “issue” with Pepsi. It was something I “had” to have daily- for years. It took me three months to break my Pepsi “addiction.”

First I stopped keeping it in the house. Then I told myself I could only have it on weekends. Then I said only when I was inside a fast food restaurant. Little by little, Pepsi lost it’s grip on me. Now I have no problem avoiding something I had to have for decades.

Now I’m the one in control, not Pepsi’s marketing. Now I choose what goes into my one and only body. Now I see many things in my life as they are, with total and objective clarity. Not because I’m special, but because I sent myself through the fire.

The fire doesn’t consume you, it consumes what you’ve allowed yourself to become beholden to.

That’s why you come out stronger. If it’s time for your new body and life, it’s time to go through the fire. It’s time to see what has it’s hooks in you, and not give up until it’s gone.

If you’re like most people, your very own mind is going to fight you. And it’s going to fight you hardest in the beginning. It’s going to come up with every excuse possible to not lose what it’s used to.

How that fight is won is unique to you, which again, is the reason no pill or product will ever be able to help you.

However, not giving up until you win that fight is what changes you on the inside, where it counts. This is why the changes go way beyond what’s in the mirror- and how getting a new body- gives you a new life.

Is it worth it?

I can assure you, it’s worth it more than you can possibly imagine.

To your health and success, and may God bless.

Michael