Sugar cravings, we've all been there, right?
Let me just say it's fairly natural to have a craving – it's your body telling you it needs something. What you need to do is listen and not solve it with food (well, not all the time).
For me, having a young babe and being up a lot throughout the night feeding, sure makes me tired. For me being tired leads to needing a quick energy boost; sugar. And then the cycle continues and continues. But, since moving to a real food diet things have changed, here's some of the tips I use on both me and my health coaching clients:
1) Safeguard against them – By recognising carbs eventually convert to sugar in the body, I've included carbs in my diet at times that will ensure the slow release of them and ward off any cravings. So I'll eat a sweet potato for lunch, ensuring I don't get the 3pm sugar cravings and I'll include quinoa or brown rice at dinner, even if we're trying to eat light. That will save my 8pm chocolate craving. Try this recipe with sweet potato.
2) Crowd out – Yep, I fill up on the good food so there's no space left to fit any of the bad guys in. I do this by eating a small green salad before most meals, having a green juice with my breakfast and drinking some almond milk for a snack or apple cider vinegar in the morning.
3) Eat more protein - Protein helps keep my blood sugar levels stable, if they're stable I'm stable. Protein comes in a range of forms, green leafy vegetables, milks and meats. I often eat this sushi for lunch with shredded salmon through it.
4) I've ridded myself of the bad bugs – Sometimes these sugar bugs are trapped inside you, candida is a great example of this. By eating a diet rich in fermented foods and taking probiotics, will see the bad guys killed off, meaning I simply don't have any in my body that will send out the craving signals to my brain. Chlorophyll in my water has also helped me a lot.
5) Eat a natural version – I used to love chocolate (Green and Black’s white vanilla chocolate was my go to) but in the last 8 months I haven't had a bite. Why? I learnt to find time to cook naturally sweet foods, so I always have bliss balls in the fridge or cookies on hand.
Tell me, do you have any good techniques to help stop your sugar cravings? I'd love you to share them in the 'comments' so that we can all give them a try.
Stace x
PS. Kicking the sugar addiction can be hard, and having one-on-one support to do that can often be a great way to go. I can support you on that journey as a Health Coach and help you get your spark back. Shoot me an email to: stace (at) ahealthymum (dot)com, so I can run you through how we can do it, together.