The simple question developed by a health portal is the following: Are you never hungry but want to eat? If you find yourself wanting to eat food even though you're not hungry, especially sweet foods, this is called craving. A craving for sweet things, common in people with a sugar addiction. Know more.
Why do you have cravings?
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Understand the motivations:
1. because of your body
Cravings happen because your blood sugar levels are high. When you try to satisfy your cravings with snacks or mildly sweet foods, or drink too much soda, your body tries to balance the carbohydrate level. It secretes insulin to help metabolize blood sugar.
But insulin it is very efficient in the digestion of sugar, causing its levels to drop quickly. In this way, your body needs more sugar, since most of it has been broken down, and you start to feel heavy, bloated and sluggish.
That's when your body starts sending the message, the desire, for you to buy something sweet, when you start to feel a little queasy. All this is a vicious circle of sugar consumption.
2. because of your brain
A study done by Harvard University showed that sugar, flour and other carbohydrates are foods responsible for activating the nucleus accumbens. This nucleus is the region of the brain responsible for pleasure and is also where addictions begin. People addicted to gambling and drugs have greater activation of this region of the brain. In addition to these, sugar addicts may have greater activation of this brain nucleus.
How to stop craving cycles and reduce addiction?
Every addiction has a cycle and breaking the cycle is the beginning of treatment for any addict. In the beginning, a withdrawal is made, which can be difficult due to habit, after all, you are fighting your brain's pleasure center.
This is especially difficult because we humans are programmed to seek pleasure and, in the case of sugar addiction, its withdrawal is the same as withdrawing pleasure from life. But anything is possible, with the gradual reduction of sugar intake and control of the first signs of withdrawal.
Other tips to improve this addiction are:
- Conduct a green day, i.e. a day with low or no sugar intake;
- Choose a healthy snack to kill your desire: bet on fruits and low-sugar chocolates;
- Use coconut oil, which can reduce your sugar cravings and help fight addiction.
- Making your own foods, as ready-to-eat foods are highly processed and high in sugars.