To curb your post-meal sugar cravings, try the following:
- Incorporate different flavors, textures, and aromas into your main course.
- Create a new habit after meals.
One of the reasons why we crave sweets even when we’re full is something called sensory-specific satiety. After eating your fill of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and other delicious foods at Thanksgiving, you may feel too full to take another bite. However, if another food is offered, such as pumpkin pie or chocolate dessert, people tend to eat more.
Researchers think this may be related to the nutritional need for a balanced diet, but also explains why we can afford to eat dessert. It also helps. Having more variety in your main course may help you feel like something is missing at the end of your meal.
Another piece of the puzzle has to do with learned behavior. Much of the literature on food craving supports the idea that it is a conditioned reflex. Remember Pavlov’s dog? A person may become accustomed to eating certain foods in certain situations. Maybe you relax with ice cream after dinner, or refuel with a latte and a piece of cake in the afternoon. This pattern releases the reward hormone dopamine, making you feel good and reinforcing the habit.
What happens when you crave sweets most often? Instead of eating brownies after dinner, try other ways to reduce stress, like yoga or boring reality shows, for a few weeks. Try to eliminate such associations. After a while, you may find that you don’t want to eat the same pungent sweets anymore.
How to suppress sugar cravings
It’s perfectly normal to enjoy sweets in moderation. But if your appetite is getting in the way of your efforts to eat healthy, these other tips may also help.
- Try experimenting with your favorite treats in smaller portions and less frequently. a A classic study by researchers at Northwestern University in 1975 found that people on more restrictive diets were more likely to overindulge when given the opportunity to eat sweets than non-dieters. You can also practice mindful eating to savor the experience.
- Don’t replace real sugar with sugar substitutes. Some sugar substitutes are much sweeter than sugar, but that doesn’t exactly help you deal with cravings. And, according to the World Health Organization, not only are they ineffective if your goal is weight loss, but they can also cause other health problems.
- Please sleep some more. Do you feel like eating something sweet when you’re tired at the end of the day? His 2013 study published in the journal Nature Communications found that: The more exhausted people feelso much so that you crave high-calorie foods.
- Please consult your doctor regarding medications. GLP-1 agonists like Ozempic are well known to suppress cravings for things like sweets and alcohol. But not everyone is a candidate. Ask your doctor if you meet other criteria.
Researchers have been studying for years why sweets have such power over living things.In fact, in one experiment, rats prefer intensely sweet substances Even on cocaine.
We also live in a world of carefully designed, aggressively marketed, sugar-laden, cheap desserts and snacks that didn’t exist a few generations ago. This makes it harder than ever to break the pattern.
Why some people have a sweet tooth and others doesn’t remains a scientific mystery, but there are some myths that have been debunked by research. Contrary to what many people believe, There is no clear relationship Between obesity and sweet food preference.
How much sugar can I consume in a day?
- For men: No more than 36 grams of added sugar per day.
- For women: No more than 25 grams of added sugar per day.
Added sugars aren’t just found in sweets. Foods such as salad dressings, ketchup, and tomato sauce may also have added sugar. The same goes for drinks. for example, 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream You can add 14 grams of sugar.a 12 ounces soda 39g is also possible.
To stay within the recommended range, the following can help: Check nutrition labels and minimize your intake of ultra-processed foods that have been linked to chronic disease.
What we want patients to know
We have a lot of work to do at a public health level when it comes to sugary food intake. There’s also a lot of shame about the way we eat and obesity, which makes these discussions difficult, even with doctors. Find a medical team who recognizes that obesity is as much a disease as high blood pressure and can help guide you toward achieving your goals.
