The habit of eating sweets and how to fight it
To begin with, it’s worth deciding why you should fight the habit of eating sweets at all. There is no evidence yet that moderate consumption of sugary foods has a significant effect on health. Moderate means getting no more than 10-20% of your total daily carbohydrate intake from sweets. Eating more may have health consequences:
- increased blood sugar levels;
- pancreas overload;
- damage to tooth enamel and increased risk of caries;
- changes in blood pressure
In people with impaired pancreatic function, overeating sweets can provoke diabetes. However, sweets are not the direct and sole cause of this disease. Therefore, you shouldn’t blame everything on them, even though no one says that they are useful.
How to determine that constant consumption of sweets is a bad habit? It’s very simple - you eat it without taking into account your mood, time of day, year, or any other factors. You are just used to eating this way since childhood - tea, and with it - candy, and tea after meals is a must. At the same time, giving up a habit requires effort of will, and this does not always work out. In most cases, it doesn't work out at all.
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Why do you always want sweets?
People are divided into two types: those who can easily walk past the confectionery department in a supermarket, and those with a sweet tooth who cannot live a day without sweets, cakes or chocolate.
Excess sugar and simple carbohydrates in the diet is the main reason for gaining excess weight, but many, despite this, find it very difficult to give up dessert. Let’s try to figure out why the body requires sweets, what factors influence this, and what to do in such a case.
At the end of the article we have prepared a surprise
Source: https://udipedia.net/pochemu-postoyanno-hochetsya-sladkogo-osnovnye-prichiny/
Is it possible to fight a habit?
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Substitution
Most often, this method is recommended by nutritionists. We can continue to drink tea after meals, because if we abruptly give it up, we will not feel full, we will not be able to “put an end to” eating and will continue to “eat” for several “approaches” after. But we can no longer drink tea with marshmallows or candy, because this increases the “inflow” of calories. All we have to do is consume exclusively non-calorie sweets:
- number one on the list is stevia extract. Of course, few people among the “real sweet tooth” like it, and it tastes completely different from sugar, but if you take it with erythritol, or mix it with vanilla extract, and add it to black tea, you can get a quite pleasant taste and not gain extra calories. We purchase stevia in stores for diabetics, according to the Dukan diet and specialized health stores;
- number two is regular sweet fruit. For example, you can take chopped banana or mango, sprinkle with cinnamon or ground vanilla, and add to tea or coffee. There is only one downside to this option - many people do not really like fruits or do not tolerate eating them immediately after the main meal;
- number three - dried fruits and nuts. They are quite high in calories, but contain many useful substances, so nutritionists often recommend eating them. But the doses should be “homeopathic” - 1-2 pieces of dried apricots with the same amount of almonds, for example. These mini snacks work well after your main meal. And as a separate meal, we are recommended to have 6-8 “berries” of dried fruits with the same amount of nuts;
- Many nutritionists advise eating honey for the reason that it is healthier than regular sweets and is quite tasty. But here you need to understand that the product can cause an allergic reaction in people who cannot tolerate specific proteins of bee products. In addition, the calorie content of honey is quite comparable to the energy value of simple white sugar, so it is not possible to save money for those who simply replace sugar with honey.
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Other causes of sweet cravings
From a physiological point of view, a person absorbs sweet foods in unlimited quantities for the following reasons:
- Lack of glucose in the body. This is a simple lack of energy. We very often overload ourselves, experience nervous tension, discomfort, overwork, and forget to eat on time. The body senses this; it cannot work productively when it lacks energy. We spend many more calories than we consume. In this case, sweets should be replaced with a full meal.
- Feeling very hungry. Sweet dishes quickly satisfy it, saturating the body with energy. But remember that the feeling of hunger returns very quickly, which leads to excessive consumption of glucose.
- Strict diets can also lead to a pathological desire to eat something sweet. You introduce the body into a kind of stress, which is reinforced by a feeling of hunger.
- Hormonal imbalances are often accompanied by eating sweets. If you can satisfy your cravings with a couple of sweets, then your body is fine. But when even a few bars of chocolate do not meet your needs, then you should visit a doctor.
- Parasitologists are sure that people infected with parasites often crave sweets. The reasons for this phenomenon are that helminths and other worms reproduce most effectively and conduct their life activities precisely in a sweet environment, since it is rich in glucose. In this case, the parasites simply absorb all the nutrients, forcing their host to replenish them again and again. You should be tested for helminths. If the test shows a positive result, undergo treatment. But do not prescribe medications for yourself. Treatment can only be recommended by a professional doctor, since it depends on what kind of parasite has attacked your body. Spontaneously choosing medications can greatly harm your health.
Eliminating one of these causes will normalize the condition of your body. If the problem arose due to a lack of something, you constantly want sweets, which is missing in your body, you figured it out, then you need to start replenishing the natural balance.
Sweetbreads with fructose
The Dr Korner brand and some other brands have these. They are a high-quality source of dietary fiber; bread contains up to 12-15 g of it per 100 g of product. Contains natural fructose and flavors and is baked from whole grains. They are usually a good substitute for liver. In calorie terms, one crispy sweetbread is 30 kcal, and one oatmeal cookie is from 60 to 120 kcal, so the difference is significant. Bread can, for example, be spread with cottage cheese to get something that is not just crispy and fun, but also allows you to satisfy your protein needs.
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How to replace store-bought sweets?
Candies, cookies, halva, marshmallows, ice cream, cakes, pastries, cream desserts, puddings, kozinaki... How to refuse this? This is impossible!
Perhaps friends. And you don’t even need to refuse! There is no need for this.
You just need to replace all this “sweet wealth” with sweets prepared with your own hands, which do not contain chemical additives, white sugar, trans fats and other nasty things.
We will learn this with you, I promise!
I have many recipes for sweet treats that I have carefully collected over a long time. They contain only natural products (fruits, dried fruits, nuts, seeds, etc.) and no white sugar.
And you can even prepare baked goods yourself, minimizing the content of unhealthy ingredients in them, and, if possible, replacing them with healthy analogues.
I will share such recipes with you in future articles!
Fitness bars
If you choose those that do not contain sugar, but are sources of dietary fiber, and are sweetened with stevia and erythritol, you can get a completely normal snack. Most fitness bars also contain protein. So for those who eat it like candy for tea, it makes sense to divide the bar into several servings so as not to overload your meal and make it adequate in terms of absorption rate and content of nutrients. You can also eat fitness bars as a meal on their own, for example, between lunch and dinner.
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How to get rid of psychological problems
We have decided how to understand what is missing in the body. However, if the issue is psychological problems, the usual replenishment of nutrients will not help. Try these measures:
- Think about what could make you happy instead of sweets. You may want to update your wardrobe, visit a beauty salon, buy a book or magazine. Small joys can replace sweet dishes.
- Try replacing sweets with something else. Fruits, nuts, dried fruits, dark chocolate or a small amount of honey are perfect for such purposes.
- If you decide to switch to sweeteners, abandon this idea. They are very harmful to the body, and they will not solve the problem of craving for sweets.
- Analyze your life. Perhaps there is something in it that does not suit you and depresses you. It's time to eliminate this factor. It's easier to get rid of stress than to eat it.
Sometimes the above methods do not help, you still constantly want sweets. It is not clear what is missing in the body, and the problem is becoming increasingly widespread. In this case, it is best to visit a psychologist who will listen to you carefully and give recommendations that are right for you.
Sweet substitutes with stevia and protein
This is a whole series of cookies, meringues and diet sweets; there are several brands, the most famous being “Excess Free”. These sweets are superior to other common products in that they contain a minimum of harmful substances and a maximum of protein. And they will really add just a little energy to a hearty lunch - one such meringue or cookie does not contain more than 30 kcal. Overall, the specialty food market has plenty to satisfy your sweet tooth.
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conclusions
- We live in a world where there is no shortage of food or calories, but at the same time, we are simply hooked on sweets. Sugar is everywhere, from bread to basic vodka. In order to survive, preserve our health and our children, who have been accustomed to the “sweet life” from an early age, it is necessary to change eating habits, consciously, reading labels, and find suitable products for a healthy diet.
- Sweet foods give a very quick release of energy. We instantly receive comfort and a feeling of happiness. We begin to depend on it.
- You need to learn to detach yourself, to step back. Solve rather than avoid problems. Learn to endure pain, develop willpower. Craving is already a consequence, and the cause is in our worldview and character. We need to change.
Set a goal - to learn the basics of healthy eating, lose weight, and play sports. Sweets should be a reward, a holiday, this has been the case since time immemorial.
Find your reasons and answers to the question: why do you want sweets? After all, there is so much joy and pleasure in life besides food!
Good luck! Join our group of like-minded people!!!
Be more careful
So, if pregnancy turns out to be the reason why you really want sweets, then this is not a reason to give in to temptation. On the contrary, will light carbohydrates be beneficial for a child’s development? This is hardly true. It is better to reconsider the diet and choose those products that will benefit the child and suit the mother’s taste. This does not mean at all that you need to forcibly restrain yourself from the desire to eat a piece of cake or pastry. And during menstrual periods, nutritionists recommend that girls eat more fruits and vegetables, as well as spend time outdoors.
