1. First you need to cope with fluctuations in blood sugar levels and stabilize it. To do this, you need to add complex carbohydrates to your diet – they are slowly broken down, and glucose evenly and gradually enters the bloodstream and is absorbed by the cells.
2. Eat small and frequent meals: three full meals and two snacks – lunch and afternoon tea. This will also help keep blood sugar at a stable level, it is the sharp drop in sugar that causes an acute attack of hunger, and especially the desire to eat something sweet.
3. Try to develop a habit of recognizing the sweet taste of foods without added sugar or at least with reduced sugar. For example, replace crunchy muesli fried in honey with natural ones, and add dried berries as a sweetener.
4. Find a useful substitute for sweets. Analyze what time of day you crave sweets the most, and always have alternatives on hand.
5. Drink water throughout the day. Oddly enough, mild dehydration, which we do not feel as thirst, can be manifested by the desire to eat something, and often this “something” turns out to be sweets: bun, marmalade, caramel, and so on.
6. Skip coffee. Unfortunately, caffeine, like sweets, also upsets the blood sugar balance.
7. There are over-the-counter drugs that, according to some reviews, help reduce cravings for sweets: tryptophan, chromium picolinate.
8. Do not deny yourself sweets at all! As you know, the forbidden fruit is sweet 🙂 But try to stay within 150 kcal per day, which you give for sweets. It can be one lollipop or a small cookie.
9. If you feel that you will not stop at one thing, try to combine forbidden sweetness with healthy food. For example, eat a chocolate covered banana, or add a handful of nuts to a chocolate wedge.
10. Some people note that a complete cessation of sweets for 48-72 hours helps to get rid of addiction completely, or at least reduce its strength.
11. Eat sweet fruits and vegetables. They combine sweet taste (and carbohydrates) with healthy fiber.
12. Exercise fitness. It is known that after intense physical activity, “pleasure hormones” are also produced, and the desire to eat a chocolate bar can disappear by itself.