November 19, 2024 • 22 mins
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Conquer Your Sugar Cravings: A Practical Guide to Balanced Indulgence
Ever wondered why you crave sugar, even when you know it's not the best choice? Join Kristen Jones on the Breakthrough Emotional Eating Podcast as we unravel the science behind sugar cravings and explore effective strategies to manage them.
In this episode, you'll discover:
- The Science of Sugar Cravings: Understand the physiological factors that trigger sugar cravings and how they can be influenced by your diet and lifestyle.
- Smart Nutrition Strategies: Learn how to enjoy sweets responsibly by incorporating fiber, protein, and healthy fats into your meals.
- The Power of Protein: Discover the benefits of a protein-rich breakfast in curbing afternoon sugar cravings.
- Vinegar's Role in Blood Sugar Management: Explore the potential of vinegar in moderating blood sugar spikes.
- Community and Support: Connect with like-minded individuals in the Breakthrough Emotional Eating Facebook group.
Tune in to gain practical insights and tools to break free from sugar cravings and achieve lasting balance.
Connect with me online:
1. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/breakthroughemotionaleating/
2. You Tube channel, Kristin Jones Coaching: https://www.youtube.com/@KristinJonesCoaching44
3. You Tube channel, Breakthrough Emotional Eating Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@breakthroughpodcast-44
3 . Website: https://www.kristinjonescoaching.com
If you want to learn more about how to stop overeating at meals and lose weight easily, get my How To Stop Overeating At Meals Guide: https://go.kristinjonescoaching.com/stop-overeating
Needing more specific and direct support for your emotional eating and overeating? Check out my online course, Stop Dieting Start Feeling, and my personalized coaching program, Breakthrough To You.
If you found this episode helpful, don't forget to leave a review on the platform you used to listen and share it with your friends on your Instagram stories. Also, be sure to follow me o...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi and welcome to the Breakthrough Emotional Eating
Podcast.
My name is Kristen Jones andI'm so happy you're able to join
us this week, this week's topic.
I had to do a little shift inwhat I was going to talk about
today because I have gotten somany questions and have had so
(00:30):
Just sugar is an issue forpeople.
Let's just come right out andsay it.
Sugar is an issue for peopleand so many people have so many
concerns about you.
Know, I eat too much sugar.
Should I give it up completely?
Why do I have these cravings?
How do I control them?
Is there anything I can do?
I should just stop eating sugar.
Okay, pump the brakes.
We don't need to all stopeating sugar.
(00:51):
That's not the answer, but I amgoing to explain to you today
in this podcast drum roll pleaseThree reasons why you get sugar
cravings and it's not all inyour head, and there are
physiological reasons why youcrave sweets.
(01:11):
And then I'm going to give youfour things that you can do for
legitimate hacks that you can doto help reduce the spikes in
your blood sugar that then causeyou to crave more sugar.
So this is going to be great.
(01:32):
I'm so excited.
So get your pieces of paper out, get some, get a pencil, have
something to write with, becauseyou want to write this stuff
down, because the things I'mgoing to tell you stay all the
way until the end.
Because the things I'm going totell you to do as you are when
you want to eat sugar, I wouldnever tell anybody, as a coach,
I will never, ever tell anybodyto not eat sugar.
(01:55):
I would never, ever say that.
One because I think it's crazy.
Two, because I think it's nextto near impossible, and one it's
just no way to live.
And so there are ways, thereare things that you can do that
can reduce the impact of sugaron your glucose levels and, in
(02:17):
turn, will reduce the perpetualdesire for sugar that most
people like.
Once you know, people will saylike, oh, once I eat one thing,
it just it's like I just wantmore and more and more.
Well, these things that I'mgoing to explain to you are
going to help alleviate that.
So let's get into it, all right.
(02:37):
So reasons why there are.
There are three reasons that I'mgoing to give you why you
desire sugar or why sugarcravings happen.
So the first one is simply aproduct of blood sugar levels,
so the level of glucose that isin your blood that dramatically
(02:59):
impacts your cravings for sugar.
So when your body, yourcravings for sugar, so when your
body, when your blood sugarlevels drop low, below a normal
level, when blood sugar dropslow, your body gets concerned.
It kind of sends out the littlered flag of like okay, we're in
trouble here.
We need to bring our bloodsugar levels up and not, you
(03:23):
know, not send them sky high,but they need to be raised from
where they are.
And so your body, in all of itsbrilliance, then kind of
creates cravings for what itneeds, which is sugar.
And so it it craves.
It needs glucose to to function, because our body does need
glucose to function, and so itwill want you to eat something
(03:47):
to bring those levels up.
Why does blood sugar drop?
Well, it drops significantlyafter it has spiked.
So you will have a huge spikein blood sugar when you eat a
very a huge spike in blood sugarwhen you eat a very carb rich
and large meal that has a lot ofsugar.
(04:10):
Again, because carbs, whetherthey're savory or whether
they're sweet, they are going toget converted into glucose that
will go into your blood.
So you send that really highwith a big meal.
It's then going to crash.
Your body's then going to needsome glucose to bring it back up
to a normal level, and that'swhen you start eating something
(04:31):
sweet.
So that's reason number one, so, and we'll talk about how you
kind of manage those meals.
Second thing is when you thesecond reason you will
oftentimes crave sugar or cravesomething sweet how many of you?
At four o'clock in theafternoon, you're at the tail
(04:54):
end of your workday, you're kindof dragging, you're kind of
tired, you don't want to be atwork anymore.
You come home or you're stillat work and you have that slump
where you're like, oh my gosh, Ijust have to have something
sweet.
The reality is, what your bodyis really wanting is really not
sugar.
It's really wanting a dopaminehit, and a dopamine hit comes
(05:17):
from a chemical that's releasedin your brain when you have
consumed glucose and your brainwill respond to that.
Your body will respond to that,and so when it gets that hit,
it then wants more of it becauseit makes it feel good.
(05:38):
So if you have and what'll makeit even more exacerbated and
even more of an intense sugarcravings will result from that
is, if you have that somethingthat you eat in that afternoon
when you're kind of feeling low,when you're kind of feeling
down, when you're kind offeeling you know you could be
sad, you could be, just, youknow, down from your day.
(06:00):
You need a reward and thatlittle pick-me-up, that little
sugar boost, is going to makeyou feel good.
The reason why it makes youfeel good is because it releases
dopamine in your brain.
And it releases that dopamine,it makes you feel good and
you're like, ah, I can getthrough the rest of my evening.
Ah, I won't, you know, I won'tlock my kids in the car or I
won't, you know, not make myhusband dinner.
(06:22):
You, you, you.
It gives you that little bit ofrelief.
And so you, in turn, you startto get used to that, you start
to feel that, okay, I have that,that low time.
What is going to make me feelbetter?
That sugar is going to make mefeel better because it's going
to give me that dopamine hit.
So that's another reason why wecrave sugar is because we get
(06:44):
that dopamine hit, which makesus feel better and makes us be
able to get through the rest ofour days.
The last reason that you willcrave certain things in your
certain, you'll crave sugar.
This is crazy, and why?
(07:04):
And especially if it'sespecially when you are craving
sugar and you feel like you'reconstantly full or, excuse me,
constantly hungry.
If you're somebody who's like I, you know I start eating.
You know I eat sugar and I amconstantly wanting more and I
can never get enough.
It's like I just have to keepeating.
(07:26):
Well, I'm going to tell you thatwhat your body is wanting is
really not sugar.
What it really actually wantsis protein.
Yes, I said protein.
Now let me explain.
There is a hypothesis, it'scalled the protein leverage
(07:47):
hypothesis, and what that meansis that your body knows very,
very instinctually that proteinit's the building blocks.
It's the building blocks ofyour whole body, and it knows
that it is such an essentialnutrient that you need to have a
certain amount eaten each day.
And as your body moves throughthe day, as you move through
(08:12):
your day, and your body does notget the adequate amount of
protein that it needs, what itwill do is it will start to make
you hungry, and what it reallywants you to eat is protein.
But do we usually eat proteinwhen we're hungry?
Oftentimes no.
What we usually go to issomething quick, which is
(08:34):
something with fat in it,something with sugar in it or
something that's carb filled.
And so we eat in response tothat hunger and your body's like
that's not what I wanted.
I wanted protein.
And your body will continue tohave you be hungry until you
give it the protein that itneeds.
(08:56):
And so when so essentially whenyou are protein deficient, you
are more likely to crave sugarand crave sugar, and in reality,
you respond to that hunger withsugar when you really should be
responding with protein.
But most people don't.
Most people will go to what'squick, what's easy, what's
(09:19):
convenient.
It's usually carb and fatfilled items, and they usually
don't have a lot of protein inthem.
So another reason why you maybe having sugar cravings is
because you're not eating enoughprotein and your body is
bringing up this hunger in thehopes that you're going to
(09:39):
choose protein and most likelyyou're not going to and so
you're just going to keep eatingand keep eating and keep eating
, and your body's going to keephaving you be hungry and
hungrier, and hungrier, in thehopes that you're going to eat
protein.
And you end up not eatingprotein and it's like, well,
we're just going to keep makingit hungry until she finally eats
some protein.
(10:02):
Crave sugar is you are actuallylacking the amount of protein
that your body needs and that itdesires and that it wants to be
able to function properly.
So again to recap first reasonwe crave sugar is because our
blood sugar drops too low.
Why does it drop too low?
Because it's spiked too highand then it drops low again and
(10:24):
then we need it to bring it backup to level.
So we have more protein or,excuse me, we have more sugar.
Second reason we're kind of inthat slump in the day.
You have that that afternoonlull, that downtime, maybe a
little depressed, maybe youdon't really want to be at work.
You want to feel better, you gofor something, you go for sugar
, but what you really want isthat dopamine hit.
(10:45):
There are other ways of gettingdopamine hits besides just
eating something and eatingsomething that is a carb that's
going to turn to sugar.
But really what we're lookingfor is we're looking to feel
better and that we're lookingfor that through that dopamine
hit.
So that's the second reason whyyou're going to crave sugar.
Third reason not eating enoughprotein.
That's going to be a problembecause your body is going to
(11:06):
naturally cause you to acthungrier, to feel more hunger,
in the hopes that you're goingto satisfy that protein need.
And in reality, most people goand turn to sugar as their
easiest and carbs as theirquickest, easiest way to
alleviate that hunger, when inreality it really needs to be
protein.
So those are the three reasonswhy you are eating, why you are
(11:28):
craving sugar now or cravingsomething sweet Now.
How do you go about stoppingthose cravings?
Well, here's I got four of them, four.
So here's number one.
If you are going to eatsomething sweet and I strongly
(11:48):
encourage you to always have awell-balanced diet and that
means that you do eat carbs,protein and fat, and sugar falls
into the carbs category If youare going to eat something sweet
, you need to piggyback or eatit with something that has
(12:11):
protein, something that has fator something that has fiber.
So you need to eat those thingswith it because it will lessen
and decrease the impact thatit's going to have on your blood
sugar levels and your bloodsugar levels If they go too high
.
We know when they go too high,they go too low and then you
(12:32):
start craving sugar again.
So if you're going to havesomething sweet, absolutely have
something sweet, but eat itwith either a protein, a fat or
fiber.
So, for instance, if you aregoing to have, say, somebody
brings in a cake to work, achocolate cake.
(12:54):
Who doesn't like chocolate cake?
Chocolate cake.
You have a slice of chocolatecake.
If you're going to have thatslice of chocolate cake, you
might want to have somethinglike some nuts.
Or you might want to have a fewalmonds, maybe 10, 15 almonds.
You may want to have a coupleof spoonfuls of Greek yogurt,
(13:17):
something that will balance out,provide protein, have a little
bit of fat to it.
If you were going to have apiece of cake, maybe you want to
have it's going to sound weirdbut have a slice of apple, have
something with fiber in it,something that's going to have
fiber in it, and it will reducethe impact that that chocolate
cake is going to have fiber init and it will reduce the impact
that that chocolate cake isgoing to have on your blood
(13:38):
sugar and it's not going tocause that onslaught of cravings
that usually happen after youfirst start eating something.
Okay, so that's number one.
Number two you want to eat.
If you're going to eatsomething sweet, you want to eat
it as a dessert attached to theend of a meal and not eat
(14:03):
sweets on an empty stomach.
I equate it to the same thingthat people say when they go out
and when they go out drinkingyou do not want to drink alcohol
on an empty stomach.
You do not want to eat sugar onan empty stomach.
You do not want to eat sugar onan empty stomach because it
will shoot your blood sugarlevels super high and then they
crash and then the cravings justcontinue to happen and you get
(14:26):
on that roller coaster and youride it all day long.
So if you can have, you canhave something, but have it
after a meal.
So you have other food in yourstomach and that reduces the
impact that it's going to haveon your blood sugar.
All right.
Number three Now this one kindof controversial.
I wouldn't do this one because Ihave an aversion to this, but
(14:50):
this is just me.
If you're somebody who I knowplenty of people who do this and
if you can handle it great, andthere are plenty of people who
can If you are going to havesomething sweet and you're even
going to have it on an emptystomach, drink a tablespoon of
(15:10):
vinegar in a large glass ofwater, large glass of water,
tablespoon of vinegar I wouldnot be able to do that Like that
would make me sick.
But if you do that, it willreduce the impact of the glucose
that you are eating by 30% inyour bloodstream.
(15:32):
So that's pretty significant.
It will bring that those levelsdown.
It will not have as dramatic ofan effect if you drink the, if
you drink a tablespoon of ofvinegar in water with your um,
with your sweet, whatever you'redrinking.
(15:52):
Okay, that's number three andnumber four, and this is
something this is something thatI have been saying for so long
and I and I and you y'all know Ido not tell people what to eat,
but I will strongly recommendand when and when I I ask people
what they're eating, I willstrongly recommend that people
(16:14):
do this and it's and I don'ttell them specifically what to
eat, but I will stronglyrecommend that people do this
and I don't tell themspecifically what to eat, but I
will tell them that this is agood rule of thumb is you always
want to eat a protein-packedbreakfast?
Because if you start the daywith pastries, if you start the
day with a lot of cerealpancakes, any of those heavy
(16:39):
carb foods, blood sugar spikes,significantly crashes back down,
you crave sugar and you are onthat roller coaster for the rest
of the day.
So a protein-packed breakfastwill one sustain you through
lunch, but it will also notstart that inevitable ride on
(17:03):
the roller coaster of sugarcravings.
So what is a protein packedbreakfast?
Well, eggs.
Eggs is is an easy go-to, orsome people, eggs are boring.
I love eggs are boiled,scrambled, all the things.
I love them all.
Um, you can have eggs, but youwant to eat.
You really usually want to eatprotein, with a healthy fat as
(17:27):
well.
So my, my recommendation toanybody, especially if you like
Mexican food and you like thingsa little bit spicy some
scrambled eggs, some salsa, somechopped up avocado.
You're good to go.
Perfect.
You can have chicken.
You can have, um, you want.
You want fat.
You can have eggs with cheese,scrambled eggs with cheese in it
(17:50):
.
You can have chicken.
You can have leftover chickenfrom the night before.
You can have some nuts withthat.
You want to have heavy proteinin the morning because, remember
, we go back to the proteinleverage hypothesis, which tells
us that our bodies are alwaysgoing to be craving.
(18:10):
It always knows that it needsprotein, but we always want
what's going to taste good, andso we were like, yeah, let's
have sugar instead.
If you can get a majority ofyour protein first thing in the
morning, you are not going toget caught up in that protein
leverage hypothesis, which iswhen your body doesn't get
(18:31):
enough protein throughout theday.
It's going to make you hungryand it's going to make you.
It's going to make you eat andit's hoping that you're going to
eat protein, but you probablyare going to eat more likely
carbs.
So pile pack in the proteinearly on and that is going to
reduce those sugar cravingsthroughout the day.
So again, the three reasons whywe crave sugar glucose levels
(18:57):
drop.
They spike up because they'vedropped, because we spiked up so
high, they drop down.
You eat, you eat sugar to bringit up and you do that whole
rollercoaster back and forth andback and forth.
Second thing we want to feeluplifted in our mood.
So we eat something sweet whichgives us a dopamine hit.
We like that, we keep doing it.
We don't want it.
We want to find other ways offinding a dopamine hit when
(19:21):
there are plenty of other ways.
You know, doing something goodfor yourself, achieving a goal,
making a to-do list and checkingoff those things give you a
dopamine hit.
It doesn't have to be food.
And then the third reason isyour body craves protein and it
just will tell you to starteating in the hopes that you eat
protein.
And most people will end upgoing to what's easy and that's
(19:43):
sugar.
And then we go back to numberone, where we just go up and
down, and up and down, and upand down.
How do we alleviate that?
We reduce the spikes by eatingsomething sweet with fiber,
protein or fat.
We eat something sweet as adessert, not on an empty stomach
.
If we do eat it on an emptystomach, we throw in that
tablespoon of vinegar into aglass of water.
(20:05):
We drink that.
That reduces the impact on ourblood sugar by 30%.
And lastly, that protein-filledbreakfast.
That is what helps you getahead in your protein.
You don't fall victim to theprotein leverage hypothesis and
then crave food all day hopingthat you're going to eat protein
.
So there you have it, y'allthere it is protein.
(20:28):
So there you have it, y'allthere it is.
That is the very simple, quickand dirty description and
explanation of why you cravesugar and four simple ways that
you can alleviate those cravings.
I hope and I pray that this hasbeen impactful for you, that
it's made a difference and thatyou've taken notes and you're
going to start doing thesethings.
You're going to start payingattention to when those cravings
(20:50):
happen and how you've beeneating, because I'm not telling
you to change anything that youare eating.
I'm just changing, asking youto pay attention and change the
way that you're eating thingsand again you can make some
different food combinations andthat is going to really help you
be able to reduce your cravings.
All right, if you are not amember of the Breakthrough
(21:13):
Emotional Eating group onFacebook, you want to be.
It's wwwfacebookcom.
Forward slash groups.
Forward slash food breakthrough.
You join, I immediately sendyou my stop dieting guide.
Also, you can see any of theplethora of videos that I have
on my YouTube channel, kristenJones Coaching, and that you can
(21:35):
just go to YouTube.
Look up Kristen Jones CoachingKristen with an I-N and find me
there.
Also, find me on Instagram atBreakthrough Emotional Eating If
you have any questions aboutcoaching or you need help.
All that information is listedin the description in this
(21:55):
podcast.
So please go to the show notesand let's connect.
All right, take care, have anamazing rest of your amazing
week and we will see you nextweek.
All right, take care.
Hi and welcome to the Breakthrough Emotional Eating
Podcast.
My name is Kristen Jones andI'm so happy you're able to join
us this week, this week's topic.
I had to do a little shift inwhat I was going to talk about
today because I have gotten somany questions and have had so
(00:30):
Just sugar is an issue forpeople.
Let's just come right out andsay it.
Sugar is an issue for peopleand so many people have so many
concerns about you.
Know, I eat too much sugar.
Should I give it up completely?
Why do I have these cravings?
How do I control them?
Is there anything I can do?
I should just stop eating sugar.
Okay, pump the brakes.
We don't need to all stopeating sugar.
(00:51):
That's not the answer, but I amgoing to explain to you today
in this podcast drum roll pleaseThree reasons why you get sugar
cravings and it's not all inyour head, and there are
physiological reasons why youcrave sweets.
(01:11):
And then I'm going to give youfour things that you can do for
legitimate hacks that you can doto help reduce the spikes in
your blood sugar that then causeyou to crave more sugar.
So this is going to be great.
(01:32):
I'm so excited.
So get your pieces of paper out, get some, get a pencil, have
something to write with, becauseyou want to write this stuff
down, because the things I'mgoing to tell you stay all the
way until the end.
Because the things I'm going totell you to do as you are when
you want to eat sugar, I wouldnever tell anybody, as a coach,
I will never, ever tell anybodyto not eat sugar.
(01:55):
I would never, ever say that.
One because I think it's crazy.
Two, because I think it's nextto near impossible, and one it's
just no way to live.
And so there are ways, thereare things that you can do that
can reduce the impact of sugaron your glucose levels and, in
(02:17):
turn, will reduce the perpetualdesire for sugar that most
people like.
Once you know, people will saylike, oh, once I eat one thing,
it just it's like I just wantmore and more and more.
Well, these things that I'mgoing to explain to you are
going to help alleviate that.
So let's get into it, all right.
(02:37):
So reasons why there are.
There are three reasons that I'mgoing to give you why you
desire sugar or why sugarcravings happen.
So the first one is simply aproduct of blood sugar levels,
so the level of glucose that isin your blood that dramatically
(02:59):
impacts your cravings for sugar.
So when your body, yourcravings for sugar, so when your
body, when your blood sugarlevels drop low, below a normal
level, when blood sugar dropslow, your body gets concerned.
It kind of sends out the littlered flag of like okay, we're in
trouble here.
We need to bring our bloodsugar levels up and not, you
(03:23):
know, not send them sky high,but they need to be raised from
where they are.
And so your body, in all of itsbrilliance, then kind of
creates cravings for what itneeds, which is sugar.
And so it it craves.
It needs glucose to to function, because our body does need
glucose to function, and so itwill want you to eat something
(03:47):
to bring those levels up.
Why does blood sugar drop?
Well, it drops significantlyafter it has spiked.
So you will have a huge spikein blood sugar when you eat a
very a huge spike in blood sugarwhen you eat a very carb rich
and large meal that has a lot ofsugar.
(04:10):
Again, because carbs, whetherthey're savory or whether
they're sweet, they are going toget converted into glucose that
will go into your blood.
So you send that really highwith a big meal.
It's then going to crash.
Your body's then going to needsome glucose to bring it back up
to a normal level, and that'swhen you start eating something
(04:31):
sweet.
So that's reason number one, so, and we'll talk about how you
kind of manage those meals.
Second thing is when you thesecond reason you will
oftentimes crave sugar or cravesomething sweet how many of you?
At four o'clock in theafternoon, you're at the tail
(04:54):
end of your workday, you're kindof dragging, you're kind of
tired, you don't want to be atwork anymore.
You come home or you're stillat work and you have that slump
where you're like, oh my gosh, Ijust have to have something
sweet.
The reality is, what your bodyis really wanting is really not
sugar.
It's really wanting a dopaminehit, and a dopamine hit comes
(05:17):
from a chemical that's releasedin your brain when you have
consumed glucose and your brainwill respond to that.
Your body will respond to that,and so when it gets that hit,
it then wants more of it becauseit makes it feel good.
(05:38):
So if you have and what'll makeit even more exacerbated and
even more of an intense sugarcravings will result from that
is, if you have that somethingthat you eat in that afternoon
when you're kind of feeling low,when you're kind of feeling
down, when you're kind offeeling you know you could be
sad, you could be, just, youknow, down from your day.
(06:00):
You need a reward and thatlittle pick-me-up, that little
sugar boost, is going to makeyou feel good.
The reason why it makes youfeel good is because it releases
dopamine in your brain.
And it releases that dopamine,it makes you feel good and
you're like, ah, I can getthrough the rest of my evening.
Ah, I won't, you know, I won'tlock my kids in the car or I
won't, you know, not make myhusband dinner.
(06:22):
You, you, you.
It gives you that little bit ofrelief.
And so you, in turn, you startto get used to that, you start
to feel that, okay, I have that,that low time.
What is going to make me feelbetter?
That sugar is going to make mefeel better because it's going
to give me that dopamine hit.
So that's another reason why wecrave sugar is because we get
(06:44):
that dopamine hit, which makesus feel better and makes us be
able to get through the rest ofour days.
The last reason that you willcrave certain things in your
certain, you'll crave sugar.
This is crazy, and why?
(07:04):
And especially if it'sespecially when you are craving
sugar and you feel like you'reconstantly full or, excuse me,
constantly hungry.
If you're somebody who's like I, you know I start eating.
You know I eat sugar and I amconstantly wanting more and I
can never get enough.
It's like I just have to keepeating.
(07:26):
Well, I'm going to tell you thatwhat your body is wanting is
really not sugar.
What it really actually wantsis protein.
Yes, I said protein.
Now let me explain.
There is a hypothesis, it'scalled the protein leverage
(07:47):
hypothesis, and what that meansis that your body knows very,
very instinctually that proteinit's the building blocks.
It's the building blocks ofyour whole body, and it knows
that it is such an essentialnutrient that you need to have a
certain amount eaten each day.
And as your body moves throughthe day, as you move through
(08:12):
your day, and your body does notget the adequate amount of
protein that it needs, what itwill do is it will start to make
you hungry, and what it reallywants you to eat is protein.
But do we usually eat proteinwhen we're hungry?
Oftentimes no.
What we usually go to issomething quick, which is
(08:34):
something with fat in it,something with sugar in it or
something that's carb filled.
And so we eat in response tothat hunger and your body's like
that's not what I wanted.
I wanted protein.
And your body will continue tohave you be hungry until you
give it the protein that itneeds.
(08:56):
And so when so essentially whenyou are protein deficient, you
are more likely to crave sugarand crave sugar, and in reality,
you respond to that hunger withsugar when you really should be
responding with protein.
But most people don't.
Most people will go to what'squick, what's easy, what's
(09:19):
convenient.
It's usually carb and fatfilled items, and they usually
don't have a lot of protein inthem.
So another reason why you maybe having sugar cravings is
because you're not eating enoughprotein and your body is
bringing up this hunger in thehopes that you're going to
(09:39):
choose protein and most likelyyou're not going to and so
you're just going to keep eatingand keep eating and keep eating
, and your body's going to keephaving you be hungry and
hungrier, and hungrier, in thehopes that you're going to eat
protein.
And you end up not eatingprotein and it's like, well,
we're just going to keep makingit hungry until she finally eats
some protein.
(10:02):
Crave sugar is you are actuallylacking the amount of protein
that your body needs and that itdesires and that it wants to be
able to function properly.
So again to recap first reasonwe crave sugar is because our
blood sugar drops too low.
Why does it drop too low?
Because it's spiked too highand then it drops low again and
(10:24):
then we need it to bring it backup to level.
So we have more protein or,excuse me, we have more sugar.
Second reason we're kind of inthat slump in the day.
You have that that afternoonlull, that downtime, maybe a
little depressed, maybe youdon't really want to be at work.
You want to feel better, you gofor something, you go for sugar
, but what you really want isthat dopamine hit.
(10:45):
There are other ways of gettingdopamine hits besides just
eating something and eatingsomething that is a carb that's
going to turn to sugar.
But really what we're lookingfor is we're looking to feel
better and that we're lookingfor that through that dopamine
hit.
So that's the second reason whyyou're going to crave sugar.
Third reason not eating enoughprotein.
That's going to be a problembecause your body is going to
(11:06):
naturally cause you to acthungrier, to feel more hunger,
in the hopes that you're goingto satisfy that protein need.
And in reality, most people goand turn to sugar as their
easiest and carbs as theirquickest, easiest way to
alleviate that hunger, when inreality it really needs to be
protein.
So those are the three reasonswhy you are eating, why you are
(11:28):
craving sugar now or cravingsomething sweet Now.
How do you go about stoppingthose cravings?
Well, here's I got four of them, four.
So here's number one.
If you are going to eatsomething sweet and I strongly
(11:48):
encourage you to always have awell-balanced diet and that
means that you do eat carbs,protein and fat, and sugar falls
into the carbs category If youare going to eat something sweet
, you need to piggyback or eatit with something that has
(12:11):
protein, something that has fator something that has fiber.
So you need to eat those thingswith it because it will lessen
and decrease the impact thatit's going to have on your blood
sugar levels and your bloodsugar levels If they go too high
.
We know when they go too high,they go too low and then you
(12:32):
start craving sugar again.
So if you're going to havesomething sweet, absolutely have
something sweet, but eat itwith either a protein, a fat or
fiber.
So, for instance, if you aregoing to have, say, somebody
brings in a cake to work, achocolate cake.
(12:54):
Who doesn't like chocolate cake?
Chocolate cake.
You have a slice of chocolatecake.
If you're going to have thatslice of chocolate cake, you
might want to have somethinglike some nuts.
Or you might want to have a fewalmonds, maybe 10, 15 almonds.
You may want to have a coupleof spoonfuls of Greek yogurt,
(13:17):
something that will balance out,provide protein, have a little
bit of fat to it.
If you were going to have apiece of cake, maybe you want to
have it's going to sound weirdbut have a slice of apple, have
something with fiber in it,something that's going to have
fiber in it, and it will reducethe impact that that chocolate
cake is going to have fiber init and it will reduce the impact
that that chocolate cake isgoing to have on your blood
(13:38):
sugar and it's not going tocause that onslaught of cravings
that usually happen after youfirst start eating something.
Okay, so that's number one.
Number two you want to eat.
If you're going to eatsomething sweet, you want to eat
it as a dessert attached to theend of a meal and not eat
(14:03):
sweets on an empty stomach.
I equate it to the same thingthat people say when they go out
and when they go out drinkingyou do not want to drink alcohol
on an empty stomach.
You do not want to eat sugar onan empty stomach.
You do not want to eat sugar onan empty stomach because it
will shoot your blood sugarlevels super high and then they
crash and then the cravings justcontinue to happen and you get
(14:26):
on that roller coaster and youride it all day long.
So if you can have, you canhave something, but have it
after a meal.
So you have other food in yourstomach and that reduces the
impact that it's going to haveon your blood sugar.
All right.
Number three Now this one kindof controversial.
I wouldn't do this one because Ihave an aversion to this, but
(14:50):
this is just me.
If you're somebody who I knowplenty of people who do this and
if you can handle it great, andthere are plenty of people who
can If you are going to havesomething sweet and you're even
going to have it on an emptystomach, drink a tablespoon of
(15:10):
vinegar in a large glass ofwater, large glass of water,
tablespoon of vinegar I wouldnot be able to do that Like that
would make me sick.
But if you do that, it willreduce the impact of the glucose
that you are eating by 30% inyour bloodstream.
(15:32):
So that's pretty significant.
It will bring that those levelsdown.
It will not have as dramatic ofan effect if you drink the, if
you drink a tablespoon of ofvinegar in water with your um,
with your sweet, whatever you'redrinking.
(15:52):
Okay, that's number three andnumber four, and this is
something this is something thatI have been saying for so long
and I and I and you y'all know Ido not tell people what to eat,
but I will strongly recommendand when and when I I ask people
what they're eating, I willstrongly recommend that people
(16:14):
do this and it's and I don'ttell them specifically what to
eat, but I will stronglyrecommend that people do this
and I don't tell themspecifically what to eat, but I
will tell them that this is agood rule of thumb is you always
want to eat a protein-packedbreakfast?
Because if you start the daywith pastries, if you start the
day with a lot of cerealpancakes, any of those heavy
(16:39):
carb foods, blood sugar spikes,significantly crashes back down,
you crave sugar and you are onthat roller coaster for the rest
of the day.
So a protein-packed breakfastwill one sustain you through
lunch, but it will also notstart that inevitable ride on
(17:03):
the roller coaster of sugarcravings.
So what is a protein packedbreakfast?
Well, eggs.
Eggs is is an easy go-to, orsome people, eggs are boring.
I love eggs are boiled,scrambled, all the things.
I love them all.
Um, you can have eggs, but youwant to eat.
You really usually want to eatprotein, with a healthy fat as
(17:27):
well.
So my, my recommendation toanybody, especially if you like
Mexican food and you like thingsa little bit spicy some
scrambled eggs, some salsa, somechopped up avocado.
You're good to go.
Perfect.
You can have chicken.
You can have, um, you want.
You want fat.
You can have eggs with cheese,scrambled eggs with cheese in it
(17:50):
.
You can have chicken.
You can have leftover chickenfrom the night before.
You can have some nuts withthat.
You want to have heavy proteinin the morning because, remember
, we go back to the proteinleverage hypothesis, which tells
us that our bodies are alwaysgoing to be craving.
(18:10):
It always knows that it needsprotein, but we always want
what's going to taste good, andso we were like, yeah, let's
have sugar instead.
If you can get a majority ofyour protein first thing in the
morning, you are not going toget caught up in that protein
leverage hypothesis, which iswhen your body doesn't get
(18:31):
enough protein throughout theday.
It's going to make you hungryand it's going to make you.
It's going to make you eat andit's hoping that you're going to
eat protein, but you probablyare going to eat more likely
carbs.
So pile pack in the proteinearly on and that is going to
reduce those sugar cravingsthroughout the day.
So again, the three reasons whywe crave sugar glucose levels
(18:57):
drop.
They spike up because they'vedropped, because we spiked up so
high, they drop down.
You eat, you eat sugar to bringit up and you do that whole
rollercoaster back and forth andback and forth.
Second thing we want to feeluplifted in our mood.
So we eat something sweet whichgives us a dopamine hit.
We like that, we keep doing it.
We don't want it.
We want to find other ways offinding a dopamine hit when
(19:21):
there are plenty of other ways.
You know, doing something goodfor yourself, achieving a goal,
making a to-do list and checkingoff those things give you a
dopamine hit.
It doesn't have to be food.
And then the third reason isyour body craves protein and it
just will tell you to starteating in the hopes that you eat
protein.
And most people will end upgoing to what's easy and that's
(19:43):
sugar.
And then we go back to numberone, where we just go up and
down, and up and down, and upand down.
How do we alleviate that?
We reduce the spikes by eatingsomething sweet with fiber,
protein or fat.
We eat something sweet as adessert, not on an empty stomach
.
If we do eat it on an emptystomach, we throw in that
tablespoon of vinegar into aglass of water.
(20:05):
We drink that.
That reduces the impact on ourblood sugar by 30%.
And lastly, that protein-filledbreakfast.
That is what helps you getahead in your protein.
You don't fall victim to theprotein leverage hypothesis and
then crave food all day hopingthat you're going to eat protein
.
So there you have it, y'allthere it is protein.
(20:28):
So there you have it, y'allthere it is.
That is the very simple, quickand dirty description and
explanation of why you cravesugar and four simple ways that
you can alleviate those cravings.
I hope and I pray that this hasbeen impactful for you, that
it's made a difference and thatyou've taken notes and you're
going to start doing thesethings.
You're going to start payingattention to when those cravings
(20:50):
happen and how you've beeneating, because I'm not telling
you to change anything that youare eating.
I'm just changing, asking youto pay attention and change the
way that you're eating thingsand again you can make some
different food combinations andthat is going to really help you
be able to reduce your cravings.
All right, if you are not amember of the Breakthrough
(21:13):
Emotional Eating group onFacebook, you want to be.
It's wwwfacebookcom.
Forward slash groups.
Forward slash food breakthrough.
You join, I immediately sendyou my stop dieting guide.
Also, you can see any of theplethora of videos that I have
on my YouTube channel, kristenJones Coaching, and that you can
(21:35):
just go to YouTube.
Look up Kristen Jones CoachingKristen with an I-N and find me
there.
Also, find me on Instagram atBreakthrough Emotional Eating If
you have any questions aboutcoaching or you need help.
All that information is listedin the description in this
(21:55):
podcast.
So please go to the show notesand let's connect.
All right, take care, have anamazing rest of your amazing
week and we will see you nextweek.
All right, take care.
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