By: Tamara Jacobi

Sugar. This white, powdery stuff might seem simple, but the role it plays in many of our lives is incredibly complex.  A sugary treat can give you a burst of energy and even boost your mood.  Sounds good right? Unfortunately, sugar has worked its way so deeply into our lives that many of us are now struggling with a sugar addiction.

You probably know the feeling.  Sometimes you just can’t get sugar off your mind (particularly when you’re on a diet). You treat yourself to a little taste of sugar and before you know it you’re coming back for more. The more you have it, the more you want it! Even when you try to stay away from it, sugar finds ways to sneak into your life.  Sugar can easily override your mechanisms for self-control. Before you know it, you’ve eaten every cookie in the cookie jar.

Many of us have a love-hate relationship with sugar. After sugar consumption often comes guilt, which triggers a dangerous cycle of sugar binging, followed by deprivation and punishment.  You’re probably also aware that over consumption of sugar not only sabotages your weight loss efforts; it also poses some serious health risks.  From diabetes and immune system disorders to migraines and cancer, sugar can be incredibly harmful to the human body. So what can you do?  

Simple Ways to Break the Sugar Habit

Consistent sugar cravings indicate an imbalance in your body. Your body is trying to tell you something! Here are some simple steps you can take to start conquering your sweet tooth and begin restoring balance to your body. It’s time to take control of your health!

1. Build a nutritional foundation (stop starving yourself!).  In efforts to lose weight, it may be tempting to severely reduce your caloric intake and embark on some extreme diet. Unfortunately, when you do this, your body is deprived of energy and nutrition.  Guess which type of food your body knows has calories and instant energy? Sweet foods! Remember that late afternoon sweet tooth? How about snacking on sweets when you get home from a hard day’s work? It’s time to start focusing on fueling your body with quality whole foods throughout the day.  Eating a variety of quality, nutrient-rich foods is the simplest and fastest way to reduce sugar cravings. When your body is nutritionally satisfied, you’re much less likely to crave all the sweet foods in sight!  I’m here to support you with building a nutritional foundation that works best for your unique body.

2. Hydrate. Sugar cravings often arise because of dehydration. When you feel a craving, first drink a few glasses of water. A good health habit is to start your day by drinking water and having a smoothie for breakfast. This practice will hydrate your system, give your body easily digestible nutrients, and set you up for healthy eating for the rest of the day. Look to incorporate 2 liters of water into your daily regime.

3. Eat fruit or use stevia. When you desire something sweet, try eating fruit (berries and watermelon are a great summer choice) or use stevia to satisfy your sweet tooth. Stevia is a plant with sweet leaves that is often used as a low-carbohydrate, low glycemic sugar that doesn’t feed yeast or fungus in the body or cause cravings. You can add stevia to teas, smoothies or deserts.

4. Notice the emotions behind your sweet tooth. I mentioned before that a sugar cravings indicate imbalance. It’s important to remember that this imbalance may be emotional. It is very common to crave sweets when you’re stressed, lonely, bored, overwhelmed, etc.  Do your emotions affect your sweet tooth? If so, it’s important to consider working through these emotions instead of drowning them out with sugar.  It might be time to look at the balance in your life.  There are some simple, yet extremely effective ways to start dealing with your emotions and start looking to fulfillment outside food.  Remember, food can fill you, but it cannot fulfill you.  Here’s a simple exercise to get you started.

If you’re struggling with a sugar addiction it’s time to free yourself! Instead of using self-control to fight a sweet tooth, let’s start incorporating these simple strategies into your life.  Anxious to get your health back on track? Check out my free guide to start listening to your body.

Tamara Jacobi, Certified Health Coach

Tamara Jacobi is a certified health and nutrition coach who received her training at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. She is the founder of Jungle Girl Health, www.junglegirlhealth.com, offering health coaching over the phone to individuals who are ready to feel and look their best. By using whole foods for healing and lifestyle balancing techniques, Tamara helps people understand how to heal and nourish their bodies completely.

Tamara leads an adventurous and active lifestyle, dividing her time between the Colorado Rocky Mountains and the Mexican Pacific coastline.  In Mexico, she is the owner and manager of the Tailwind jungle lodge, a certified sustainable jungle lodge and adventure tour company just north of Puerto Vallarta, www.tailwindjunglelodge.com. Tamara also guides adventure tours for the Tailwind jungle lodge including sea kayaking, stand up paddle boarding and hiking. In her free time she spends as much time as possible playing outside. She is a passionate skier, road biker, trail runner and stand up paddle boarder.