Breaking a sweet tooth is a little like getting off of hardcore drugs. Well, maybe not that extreme, but it’s pretty hard. As a matter of fact, industry professionals do actually call it a “sugar addiction”.
But we’ve all been there, and if you say you haven’t, you’re a liar.
It’s 2:00pm, your “healthy” lunch starts making you feel like your desk can easily be converted into a comfy bed. Or maybe no one will notice your George Costanza bedroom under your desk for 20 or 30 minutes.
You say to yourself, “I’ll just grab a cup of coffee and has some chocolate”… And so the addiction continues.
Or
You may have had the perfect healthy day. Without even the slightest craving of anything sweet. You woke up and said, dammit! I’m sticking to my diet today…. And it worked!
Until you start hearing “Happy birthday Felicia – Happy birthday to you”….
Right on cue, here comes the cake. Oh, and it just so happens to be your favorite flavor. Yum!
You think, I’ll just have a bite. I don’t want to be rude to Felicia. Afterall, it might make our morning hello’s even more awkward.
So, one bite leads to another and another… and another. Before you know it, the addiction continues.
Addiction, Really?
Yes! Really. I know, it stinks.
But sugar is truly addictive because it stimulates the reward centers of the brain… Just like certain drugs.
To put it simply, when we eat a lot of sugar large amounts of dopamine are released in the part of the brain called the Nucleus Accumbens. The more sugar you eat, the less dopamine gets released, which means that you will have to keep increasing your sugar intake more and more to get that same high – I mean satisfaction.
Does this mean a 12-Step program is necessary to be cured of a sugar addiction?
NO! I, personally, will not live in a world without sugar. But here are 3 ways to overcome a sweet tooth:
Make it Yourself!
I have found that making your own homemade desserts really helps with breaking a sweet tooth.
The act of cooking or baking your own dessert makes you invest your time in order to feel that pleasure sensation sugar provides. Essentially, if you are baking your own dessert than you are really in need of a sugar fix, and it might not be that bad to have it.
Besides that, there are a few other benefits to making homemade desserts:
- You will be avoiding prepackaged desserts, which are barely even desserts. If you are going to be doing something naughty, you might as well enjoy good quality naughty, no?
- It’s a great way to spend time with the kids and get them involved in cooking. Kids that cook are actually more conscious of what they put in their bodies. It is a good habit to start at an early age.
- You will know all of the ingredients that are going in your food. This is priceless. As mentioned before, premade, prepackaged desserts are more often than not cancer-cluster bombs waiting to happen. They are filled with chemicals, preservatives and ingredients that your body cannot even break down.
Keep Your Addiction in the Dark
I joke… But I’m kinda serious.
Don’t bring desserts into the house. If already present, don’t bring anymore into the house and make sure to thoroughly clean out your cabinets of junk food. That’s right, no more Oreo’s, Keebler Elves or Entenmanns.
And don’t do what we’ve ALL done and say well, instead of throwing it all out I might as well just eat all the junk food I have and start tomorrow.
When I first wanted to lose weight that is the trick that helped me the most. I was fortunate enough to live 4 blocks away from a diner so I was able to get fresh baked chocolate cake on demand when I wanted it. But that meant I had to walk 4 blocks there and back to my apartment for that cake.
More often than not, that was enough of a deterrent for me to curb my sweet tooth.
Not that I am lazy, but I was too lazy to get chocolate cake as often as I would have eaten it if it were already in the house.
Not having sweets in the house turns desserts into more of a special occasion type of treat, which is what it should be.
It also takes away that Pavlov’s dog reaction of becoming accustomed to dinner after dessert. Your mind and stomach become so used to this habit that you’ll find yourself having a bowl of ice cream or cake after dinner like its second nature.
Favorite Trick to Breaking a Sweet Tooth: Don’t Give up Dessert
You don’t have to give up desserts. Let me say that again…
YOU – DON’T – HAVE – TO – GIVE – UP – DESSERTS
Giving up something you love and something you crave is the best way to just fall back into that habit harder the next time. And I’m sure we’ve all been there too.
The trick here is to find Simple Substitutions
Simple all-natural sugar substitutions are easy to find in any grocery store. Many of these substitutes are fruit extracts and since they are so concentrated you only need a fraction of the sweetener to for substitute refined white sugar.
When I got further along in my quest to be all things healthy, I discovered a wonderful world of all-natural sweeteners. Some of my favorites are:
- Stevia (300 times sweeter than sugar AND 0 calories… Zero Calories). I love it in coffee.
- Erythritol: 0.24 calories per gram. 70% the sweetness of sugar
- Yacon Syrup: From the Yacon plant. Very high in fiber.
- Honey: Usually only on fruit or yogurt
I have to be honest with you. These are excellent substitutions you can include in your baking and making of desserts. However, you will notice a bit of a different flavor than what your used to; and that’s okay.
It’ll only take a few days to get used to the new flavor, but it will no doubt satisfy your sweet tooth.
Here’s the great thing about being alive now. You can find 0 calorie sodas in a lot of flavors that use stevia as a sweetener. You can also find a lot of pretty good diabetic desserts that use these ingredients as well.
So the options are out there. Take advantage of them.
If you are really interested in losing weight simply cutting out sweets, or substituting all of your sugar with these 0-calorie natural sweeteners will have you losing weight without you even realizing it…. Seriously.
PS – Whatever you do DO NOT EVER-EVER-EVER use Equal, Splenda or Sweet ‘N Low, or anything else with Aspartame. EVER!
They are evil chemical products linked to many, many health issues. Aspartame also happens to be made from the waste products of genetically modified E. Coli Bacteria.
Tisk-tisk… They even had to genetically modify the E. coli? I don’t know about you, but I like to consume my E. coli waste product fresh and natural.
So… Avoid Aspartame and chemical sweeteners that contain that ingredient.. Unless you like the whole E. coli waste thing.