A big problem for many people who have to lose weight or want to gain control over their diet, is that they are addicted to sugar and many don’t even know it! Sugar is hidden in many foods. It is in your cereal, fruit drinks, almond milk, protein bars and drinks, yogurt and other items that you thought were “healthy.” Unless you read labels and look at the grams of sugar in EVERY serving in every item, you may have no idea about what you are eating in sugar! You just eat and you get sucked into the sugar roller coaster.
There are also a lot of different names for sugar, so you might think you aren’t eating it, but you are!
You need to start looking at labels.
If you eat something and it says that there are two servings in it, but you ate the WHOLE thing, then the nutrient content on the label is DOUBLED because you ate the two servings, but it looked like one serving when you ate it. Labels can be designed to mislead you into buying the product–as you THINK it is healthy, but it actually wasn’t.
How can you get over sugar cravings so you won’t keep wanting to eat it? Your brain is going to tell you to eat it because it liked the effect that the first use had on it. Sugar is very addictive. So, go out and get things to munch on that have no to low sugar, and munch on them when you get the cravings:
- almonds and other nuts or seeds
- whole fruits (small serving)
- gluten-free crackers and cheese (watch the number of crackers–high in carbs)
- low-sugar protein bars (Try a brand like Quest which contains minimal natural sweeteners)
- Carb-Smart ice cream bar
- low-sugar yogurt (Greek is good!)
- low-sugar chocolate (even Trader Joe’s has some at the check out line)
- nice hot cup of coffee or tea
- low sugar hot chocolate
- go exercise or call a friend