Last night I was at a Parent Info meeting at the boys’ school. Pizza was served, but since I planned ahead and ate dinner at home, I didn’t have any and wasn’t tempted. I got home at around 8pm, mindlessly opened the fridge and reached for Wyatt’s half-eaten, chocolate cupcake that he had saved from Finn’s birthday celebration the night before.
I wolfed it down in a dark kitchen while catching up on texts. Immediately after, I felt guilty for 1) eating Wyatt’s cupcake (“bad mom!”) and 2) not following my own guidelines around sugar (bad health coach!). I wasn’t hungry, and it didn’t even taste that good so why did I eat it? Because I was distracted and sugar is addictive as hell.
I recently took an informal poll asking “What is your greatest struggle when trying to eat well?” Loud and clear, you answered, “sugar.”
For so many of us, sugar is what keeps us stuck. It’s the biggest nutrition obstacle between where we are and where we want to be.
But the one thing that continues to get in our way is our unhealthy relationship with sugar. We promise ourselves that we’re going to get it under control. But something keeps drawing us back. If we could just get ahold of this, it would solve so many of our struggles around food and weight.
Sugar shock
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that the average American consumes between 150 to 170 pounds of refined sugars in a year! That number becomes even more shocking when we compare it to the average intake of sugar in the early-1800s, which was only 4-6 pounds per person per year.
“If you can get someone to stop their consumption of sugar, you can save them from premature death and suffering.” (via CrossFit)
Because sugar consumption is such a huge problem for so many of us, we always begin each new session of my health coaching groups with a “10 Days – No Added Sugar Challenge.”
It’s never easy in the first few days but when the added sugars get stripped away from our diets some fantastic things happen: energy rises, skin clears up, sleep deepens, exercise performance gets better, pants get looser, mood improves, and our taste buds actually begin to change.
Pretty impressive results for adjusting just one thing in your daily diet. On the last day of the No Added Sugar Challenge, when you eat a strawberry, just as it is, it will taste like the sweetest, most delicious thing you’ve ever tasted.
Stop blaming fruit
Speaking of strawberries, let’s talk about fruit. There is a lot of misinformation about fruit. Some diet “experts” and nutrition gurus will tell you that fruit is bad. They’ll say it’s too high in sugar and it’s the reason why you can’t lose weight.
Quite frankly, I think this is bad advice. You’ve seen the hyped-up headlines (usually attached to a link to purchase their fat-burning supplement) warning “The one food you NEVER want to eat if you want to lose weight.”
And it’s a banana. Please. Bananas are a great source of potassium, pre-biotic fiber and are actually
Instead of telling someone to stop eating fruit, how about encouraging them to reduce or remove the refined, processed and hidden sugars from their diets. Get the added sugars outs. That way we have room for whole, fresh or frozen fruit that is loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber and have a protective effect on our bodies.
Did you know what eating a handful of berries after a meal actually lower insulin secretion and helps to balance blood sugar? Sounds like the perfect dessert to me.
Understand your cravings
Sugar cravings are real. Especially for chocolate. Especially when we’re stressed and tired. And for women, at certain times of the month. There are reasons for this so stick with me.
I’m going to share my 4 Step Fool-Proof System to Calm Crazy Sugar Cravings. But first, we really need to understand cravings.
What’s the deal with cravings?
Cravings are vital messages that our body sends out to try to get our attention. It’s our body trying to tell us that it needs something. They shouldn’t be ignored. Many people mistakenly think of cravings as a sign of weakness or a by-product of failed will power. Not true.
Cravings are our body’s attempt to fix underlying imbalances. We’ve been conditioned to reach for food to bring back balance. Too often, we grab convenient, sweet, salty, fatty, highly-processed food that’s high in calories and devoid of nutrients, which only makes the imbalances worse.
When we workout and sweat, we lose a significant amount of electrolytes, especially magnesium. This is when sugar cravings can hit hardest. Make a point to add in magnesium-rich foods: dark leafy green veggies like spinach and Swiss chard, nuts and seeds, fish, avocado and black beans.
Ladies, we tend to crave chocolate in the days before we get our period, yes? Here’s why…dark chocolate is rich in magnesium and also a serotonin booster.
Serotonin is a chemical neurotransmitter also known as the ‘feel good chemical’ mainly found in our brain. Right before we get our period serotonin levels are at their lowest, so reaching for chocolate is our body’s intuitive way of trying to make ourselves feel better. So smart. But before you rip open a bag of M&Ms, read on…
Be picky
My rule of thumb for chocolate is this, be picky. Go for the delicious, dark stuff – 70% or higher cacao is a great choice. Sit down, break off a square and eat it slowly, letting the chocolate melt in your mouth.
Doing this decreases our cortisol (stress hormone) levels, an excellent thing! Skip the cheap, crappy chocolate that’s full of sugar, artificial flavors, and other fillers. The higher the cacao, the better. Just don’t go too high. I tried a 90% cacao chocolate bar once, and it was terrible, basically inedible. Stick with 70-80%.
Here’s a little tip. I like to carry the individual packets of Four Sigmatic Mushroom Hot Cacao with me. https://us.foursigmatic.com/products/fsf-xoco-blue
I poured a packet into my coffee this morning and instantly got a subtle taste of chocolate, none of the sugar and a nice dose of antioxidants and Reishi mushrooms (to support stress and deep sleep, more on this in a future post). Much better than a mocha or hot chocolate which will have 20+ grams of sugar (6+ teaspoons).
When you’re watching Netflix and get a sudden and intense craving for a pint of ice cream, what is your body trying to tell you? The answer may not be ice cream. When you look and listen carefully, your body may be trying to tell you something else.
Shh…Listen to your cravings
We live in an over-stimulated, over-scheduled, crazy yet wonderful world. When you have a family, full-time job, workouts, kids sports, and music lessons, it’s no wonder that we’re always busy and end up grabbing what’s convenient.
Do we really need the doughnut that’s been sitting all day in the break room? Do we really need that over-priced, overly sweet vanilla latte at 3pm? Do we really need to unwind with a glass of wine every night when we get home from work? Do we really need the late night Oreo Blizzard from the drive-thru on the way home from your son’s baseball game?
What are our sugar cravings trying to tell us? Rather than just indulging every time you want cookies, pause for a second and listen to your body. You may be shocked to find out what it’s trying to tell you.
My guess is that what you think you WANT (cupcake) isn’t at all what you NEED (a nap, a foot massage, a hug, some fresh air and sunshine, a date night, space to breathe, a clean house, help with the kids, a belly laugh).
Four questions
1) Do you have any artificial sugars in your diet? Do you drink diet coke? Is there Splenda or Sucralose in your coffee creamer? Do you chew gum with aspartame?
If you do, this is feeding your sugar addiction. When you choose the diet or ‘lite’ version to save calories and avoid sugar, in the end, it backfires.
2) Are you eating enough real food? If you’re using MyFitnessPal to track and stay within a calorie range that’s too low, you’re going to crave sugar. 1200 -1400 is a target that I see a lot of women shooting for, which is too little, especially if you’re active and workout.
Always wanting sugar is a sign that your body needs more energy from nutrient-dense whole food sources but is seeking it out from sugar since it’s a quick energy source.
3) What are you eating for breakfast? If the answer is: coffee, a latte, a bagel, an energy bar, cereal, oatmeal with brown sugar, cereal or fruit yogurt, this is a big part of your problem.
Eating a whole food breakfast that has the right amount of high-quality protein, healthy fats and fiber is key to setting yourself up for a good day of healthy eating. Change your breakfast, change your life!
4) Are you tired? Stressed out? Sad? Angry? Lonely? Emotional eating is a huge issue for so many of us. I don’t know anyone who overeats carrots and hummus when they’re feeling emotionally broken.
Instead, we turn to comfort foods: chocolate, ice cream, cupcakes (sometimes half-eaten), candy and cookies. It becomes the ‘go-to’ to numb out feelings and self-soothe.
Experiment time
Let’s try a mini-experiment. For the next three days, I want you to take inventory of your sugar cravings.
When is it hardest for you?
What’s the one food that you crave the most
For me, it’s chocolate covered malted milk balls Can’t be trusted with them, so I don’t bring them into my home.
And when the strongest cravings hit, DO THIS: Take three, long, deep breaths to get still. Then dig deep into the root cause of your craving and try to figure out what your body’s telling you.
What is it you really need?
When we become more aware of our patterns, it’s the first step toward understanding cravings and reducing sugar. That, my friends, is sugar freedom.
Circling back to last night’s cupcake raid. Luckily, Wyatt forgot about it today and didn’t ask where it was. (I would have felt terrible!) I think if I had taken a couple deep breaths and paused, I probably would have passed on it. I would have come home and made myself a cup of tea instead. That would have hit the spot.
Oh well, lesson learned. I’m not going to beat myself up over it or let it turn into a slippery slope where I think I blew it so I might as well have more sugar. Nope. Not today, self-sabotage!
I’m going to give myself grace and hope that my sharing will be helpful to someone else. As I sit in my kitchen typing this, I’m sipping wild sweet orange tea, it’s exactly what I needed.