How to Quit Sugar Addiction

Sugar addiction is a challenge that many battle, and their inability to overcome it land them terrible medical conditions. Do you crave sugary foods late at night or when you are bored, lonely, happy, heartbroken or working? Then you probably suffer sugar addiction. The rise in diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and obesity-related diseases around the world is largely due to sugar addiction. The World Health Organization recommends 6 teaspoons of sugar per day, however, it is alarming that a number of people consume more than 20 teaspoons of sugar per day — yes, people consume sugar that much. The need to defeat your sugar addiction has got more pressing than ever, and it’s not surprising that you probably have never been able to, despite your efforts. In this article, we’ll tell you 10 ways you can quit sugar in just a few days, depending on your discipline level. Keep reading!

10 Best Ways to Quit Sugar

Be Positive

Dealing with your sugar addiction requires a positive mindset — just as it is with any other addiction. Have in mind that it is about you improving your health and living longer, not getting deprived. Just like the urge to consume alcohol or nicotine, which people know aren’t healthy but still binge on, sugar addiction can be that severe. You need to take responsibility for your health by preparing your mind to combat it.

Get Rid of Sugar Around you

Now you have made up your mind to kill the addiction. But what are sugary foods still doing around you? Get rid of them! Keep only healthy foods and drinks around you, to make this addiction-breaking journey easier for you. Eliminate the flavored water, milk chocolate, honey, packaged fruit juices, alcohol, cow’s milk, processed grains, dry fruits, breakfast cereals, ready to eat foods, and biscuits.

Kill the Trigger

Sugar craving is linked to habits such as watching a movie at the cinema with a large bowl of popcorn and a bottle of soda. Identify the habits associated with your own sugar addiction. It could be the many bars of chocolate you consume while Netflixing late in the night. These triggers come as a result of your habit of consuming sugary foods. Write these triggers and find a healthy substitute for each of them.

Be Careful with Tea/Coffee

It’s okay if you love tea or coffee, however, avoid using refined sugar or artificial sweeteners like sucralose, aspartame, potassium, neotame, and acesulfame. You either drink your tea and coffee with healthy milk options or add them to your list of foods to abstain from.

Decide to Say “No”

In fighting this addiction, you need to decide to say “no” a number of times: to that meddling voice in your head, to the friends and family members who offer sugary treats, to new dessert spots all over town, to the menus at social gatherings, just keep saying “no”. You can join folk in celebrating without consuming sugary foods. Choose the healthy options if there are, or just abstain entirely if there aren’t.

Cook your Meals at Home

You can cut back on your sugar intake by avoiding eating out. Many restaurants add sugar and salt in unhealthy quantities to enhance the taste and color of their meals. It is advisable that you cook your meals at home and use healthy ingredients that don’t contain sugar in any form.

Eat Veggies

Vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, and phytonutrients that will help you break your sugar addiction. Veggies will improve your health and keep you full longer, thereby discouraging the need to eat sugary snacks.

Read Labels

An alarming number of packaged foods contain sugar in the form of dextrose, fructose, HFCS, and agave syrup, to mention a few. Always check the labels of canned foods, breads, salad dressings, sauces, and mayonnaise. Reading food labels may help you consume 50% less sugar in any form.

Eat Less Sweet Fruits

Some fruits contain fructose and can have high sugar content. Eat fruits like strawberries, raspberry, gooseberry, blueberry, cranberry, apples, oranges, lime, lemon, tangerine, avocado, muskmelon, and honeydew melon to achieve your goal in breaking your sugar addiction. Eat less of grapes, pineapple, peaches, papaya, mango, plum, and pear.

Drink Water

This is a highly important step in breaking your sugar addiction. Drink a lot of water to keep yourself hydrated and flush out the sugar from your body system. Drinking water also helps to lose weight, curb appetite, improve skin health, and enhance brain function.

Benefits of Quitting Sugar

Is quitting sugar all about just breaking an addiction, or is there anything more to gain from it? Certainly, there are loads of benefits attached to quitting sugar. Let’s see some of them.

• Boosts will power
• Increases energy levels
• Helps combat insomnia
• Helps reduce spending
• Aids healthy eating habits
• Enhances weight loss
• Eases joint pain
• Makes the brain more active
• Improves skin health

As amazing as quitting sugar sounds, it doesn’t go without its side effects. Depending on the level of addiction and individual differences, people relate differently to breaking sugar addictions with various sugar withdrawal symptoms.

Possible Side Effects of Quitting Sugar

• Headache and nauseous feeling
• Uncontrollable cravings for sugary foods
• Irritation and frustration
• Body aches
• Mild tremors

As scary as these side effects may sound, rest assured that they are only normal, and most people who try to quit sugar will experience some of them, however, they won’t last forever. You only need to endure the initial symptoms, and you will quickly break the habit of consuming excess sugar.

Some Sugar Addiction Facts

• Sugar is addictive because it affects the neurological receptors in the brain by producing opium-like effects.
• Sugar addiction may cause people to prefer sweet foods to actual filling foods, even when they are hungry.
• Prolonged sugar addiction can lead to obesity and type II diabetes.
• When we are stressed, we often eat junk food. This ‘emotional eating’ is more prominent in overweight and obese individuals.
• After breaking sugar addiction, sugar dependency remains in the body of some persons for some weeks. Fridges, cupboards, and ice cream parlors may trigger their cravings, making it difficult to overcome their sugar dependency.
• Heroin addicts experience sweet cravings if heroin is not available.
• Chocolate stimulates some neurotransmitters in the brain, causing pleasure and positive moods whenever people consume them.
• Sugar takes various forms such as sucrose, fructose, and lactose. Sucrose is the most commonly used form of sugar, popularly called table sugar.
• The average American consumes three pounds of sugar each week.
• There are at least 115 names for sugar in its various forms, and for other types of sweeteners as well. Food manufacturers use some of these names to avoid listing “sugar” among the ingredients.
• Some studies propose that sugar addiction may be genetic.
• Sugar and alcohol have similar toxic liver effects.
• Unknown to many, there’s sugar in marinades, crackers, bread, tonic water, tomato sauce, and fat-free dressing.

Now that you Know…

Millions of people have benefited from quitting sugar: they have avoided the numerous health challenges that accompany the addiction and lived healthier and longer. You too can. Follow the guidelines in this article to the letter, and watch yourself bounce out of that addiction into a healthier lifestyle. We sure look forward to your testimonies. Cheers to a healthy lifestyle!