Beware: this hack won't stop your sugar cravings
I was watching a guy on instagram telling me that the best “hack” to stop sugar cravings was to have some salt instead.
Whaaaat??
It’s nutrition advice like this that makes me so mad. There’s an underlying assumption to this that you’re a bad person if you give into those cravings. Like you’ve failed or something.
Well, what if those cravings are telling you something?
Sure, there might be some biological or brain mechanism going on here that will satisfy the cravings - but only for a short while.
We’re not stupid. We know it’s salt and not sugar.
So trying to trick your brain this way isn’t a long term solution.
If you really are craving something sweet, denying yourself isn’t the answer and it can even lead to more problems.
In fact, you’ll probably end up with:
MORE cravings
MORE overeating
And feeling more out of control around food.
There are some simpler ways to say goodbye to cravings:
Eat the sweet thing you fancy, pairing it with some protein - this slows down digestion and absorption of sugar, preventing the blood sugar level spike.
Eat the sugary food, alongside your normal balanced meal - again combining with other food keeps blood sugar levels stabilised throughout the day.
Don’t do fad diets or extreme restrictions - these will send your blood sugar levels on a roller coaster, making it more likely you’ll binge.
Get a good night’s sleep. Sleep deprivation means you’re more likely to crave and then eat sugary or high fat foods (because you’re so darn tired and need the energy).
And if your sugar eating is more emotional (i.e. eating sugar helps you cope with life’s ups and downs), then you might want to address the emotional side - finding different ways to cope with emotions will be key.
I hope these ideas work - probably more so than eating salt!
💚 Dr. Lara
PS. If emotional eating is something you’d like to solve, I might have something you’ll find helpful. It’s my Emotional Eating Freedom Toolkit.
💡 Inside you’ll find the exact exercises, techniques, and journal prompts that I used personally to heal from my own emotional eating. You can check it out here.