The Breakthrough Emotional Eating Podcast

BEE #135: The Science Behind Your Sweet Tooth and How to Control It

• Kristin Jones

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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 . Website: https://www.kristinjonescoaching.com

If you want to learn more about a non-diet approach to weight loss, get my FREE Stop Dieting Guide. Go to https://go.kristinjonescoaching.com/stop-dieting-guide

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 on Instagram @breakthroughemotionaleating, and don't hesitate to slide into my DMs to share your thoughts and feedback. Your support means the world!

Speaker 1:

Hi and welcome to the Breakthrough Emotional Eating Podcast. My name is Kristen Jones and I'm so happy you're able to join us this week, this week's topic. I had to do a little shift in what I was going to talk about today because I have gotten so many questions and have had so Just sugar is an issue for people. Let's just come right out and say it. Sugar is an issue for people and 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 stop eating sugar. That's not the answer, but I am going to explain to you today in this podcast drum roll please Three reasons why you get sugar cravings and it's not all in your head, and there are physiological reasons why you crave sweets. And then I'm going to give you four things that you can do for legitimate hacks that you can do to help reduce the spikes in your blood sugar that then cause you to crave more sugar. So this is going to be great. I'm so excited. So get your pieces of paper out, get some, get a pencil, have something to write with, because you want to write this stuff down, because the things I'm going to tell you stay all the way until the end. Because the things I'm going to tell you to do as you are when you want to eat sugar, I would never tell anybody, as a coach, I will never, ever tell anybody to not eat sugar. I would never, ever say that. One because I think it's crazy. Two, because I think it's next to near impossible, and one it's just no way to live. And so there are ways, there are things that you can do that can reduce the impact of sugar on your glucose levels and, in turn, will reduce the perpetual desire for sugar that most people like. Once you know, people will say like, oh, once I eat one thing, it just it's like I just want more and more and more. Well, these things that I'm going to explain to you are going to help alleviate that. So let's get into it, all right. So reasons why there are.

Speaker 1:

There are three reasons that I'm going to give you why you desire sugar or why sugar cravings happen. So the first one is simply a product of blood sugar levels, so the level of glucose that is in your blood that dramatically impacts your cravings for sugar. So when your body, your cravings for sugar, so when your body, when your blood sugar levels drop low, below a normal level, when blood sugar drops low, your body gets concerned. It kind of sends out the little red flag of like okay, we're in trouble here. We need to bring our blood sugar levels up and not, you know, not send them sky high, but they need to be raised from where they are. And so your body, in all of its brilliance, then kind of creates cravings for what it needs, which is sugar. And so it it craves. It needs glucose to to function, because our body does need glucose to function, and so it will want you to eat something to bring those levels up. Why does blood sugar drop? Well, it drops significantly after it has spiked. So you will have a huge spike in blood sugar when you eat a very a huge spike in blood sugar when you eat a very carb rich and large meal that has a lot of sugar. Again, because carbs, whether they're savory or whether they're sweet, they are going to get converted into glucose that will go into your blood. So you send that really high with a big meal. It's then going to crash. Your body's then going to need some glucose to bring it back up to a normal level, and that's when you start eating something sweet. So that's reason number one, so, and we'll talk about how you kind of manage those meals.

Speaker 1:

Second thing is when you the second reason you will oftentimes crave sugar or crave something sweet how many of you? At four o'clock in the afternoon, you're at the tail end of your workday, you're kind of dragging, you're kind of tired, you don't want to be at work anymore. You come home or you're still at work and you have that slump where you're like, oh my gosh, I just have to have something sweet. The reality is, what your body is really wanting is really not sugar. It's really wanting a dopamine hit, and a dopamine hit comes from a chemical that's released in your brain when you have consumed glucose and your brain will respond to that. Your body will respond to that, and so when it gets that hit, it then wants more of it because it makes it feel good.

Speaker 1:

So if you have and what'll make it even more exacerbated and even more of an intense sugar cravings will result from that is, if you have that something that you eat in that afternoon when you're kind of feeling low, when you're kind of feeling down, when you're kind of feeling you know you could be sad, you could be, just, you know, down from your day. You need a reward and that little pick-me-up, that little sugar boost, is going to make you feel good. The reason why it makes you feel 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 get through the rest of my evening. Ah, I won't, you know, I won't lock my kids in the car or I won't, you know, not make my husband dinner. You, you, you. It gives you that little bit of relief. And so you, in turn, you start to get used to that, you start to feel that, okay, I have that, that low time. What is going to make me feel better? That sugar is going to make me feel better because it's going to give me that dopamine hit. So that's another reason why we crave sugar is because we get that dopamine hit, which makes us feel better and makes us be able to get through the rest of our days.

Speaker 1:

The last reason that you will crave certain things in your certain, you'll crave sugar. This is crazy, and why? And especially if it's especially when you are craving sugar and you feel like you're constantly 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 am constantly wanting more and I can never get enough. It's like I just have to keep eating.

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm going to tell you that what your body is wanting is really not sugar. What it really actually wants is protein. Yes, I said protein. Now let me explain. There is a hypothesis, it's called the protein leverage hypothesis, and what that means is that your body knows very, very instinctually that protein it's the building blocks. It's the building blocks of your whole body, and it knows that it is such an essential nutrient that you need to have a certain amount eaten each day. And as your body moves through the day, as you move through your day, and your body does not get the adequate amount of protein that it needs, what it will do is it will start to make you hungry, and what it really wants you to eat is protein.

Speaker 1:

But do we usually eat protein when we're hungry? Oftentimes no. What we usually go to is something quick, which is something with fat in it, something with sugar in it or something that's carb filled. And so we eat in response to that hunger and your body's like that's not what I wanted. I wanted protein. And your body will continue to have you be hungry until you give it the protein that it needs. And so when so essentially when you are protein deficient, you are more likely to crave sugar and crave sugar, and in reality, you respond to that hunger with sugar when you really should be responding with protein. But most people don't. Most people will go to what's quick, what's easy, what's convenient. It's usually carb and fat filled items, and they usually don't have a lot of protein in them. So another reason why you may be having sugar cravings is because you're not eating enough protein and your body is bringing up this hunger in the hopes that you're going to choose protein and most likely you're not going to and so you're just going to keep eating and keep eating and keep eating, and your body's going to keep having you be hungry and hungrier, and hungrier, in the hopes that you're going to eat protein. And you end up not eating protein and it's like, well, we're just going to keep making it hungry until she finally eats some protein.

Speaker 1:

Crave sugar is you are actually lacking the amount of protein that your body needs and that it desires and that it wants to be able to function properly. So again to recap first reason we crave sugar is because our blood sugar drops too low. Why does it drop too low? Because it's spiked too high and then it drops low again and then we need it to bring it back up to level. So we have more protein or, excuse me, we have more sugar. Second reason we're kind of in that slump in the day. You have that that afternoon lull, that downtime, maybe a little depressed, maybe you don't really want to be at work. You want to feel better, you go for something, you go for sugar, but what you really want is that dopamine hit. There are other ways of getting dopamine hits besides just eating something and eating something that is a carb that's going to turn to sugar. But really what we're looking for is we're looking to feel better and that we're looking for that through that dopamine hit. So that's the second reason why you're going to crave sugar.

Speaker 1:

Third reason not eating enough protein. That's going to be a problem because your body is going to naturally cause you to act hungrier, to feel more hunger, in the hopes that you're going to satisfy that protein need. And in reality, most people go and turn to sugar as their easiest and carbs as their quickest, easiest way to alleviate that hunger, when in reality it really needs to be protein. So those are the three reasons why you are eating, why you are craving sugar now or craving something sweet Now. How do you go about stopping those cravings? Well, here's I got four of them, four. So here's number one.

Speaker 1:

If you are going to eat something sweet and I strongly encourage you to always have a well-balanced diet and that means that you do eat carbs, protein and fat, and sugar falls into the carbs category If you are going to eat something sweet, you need to piggyback or eat it with something that has protein, something that has fat or something that has fiber. So you need to eat those things with it because it will lessen and decrease the impact that it's going to have on your blood sugar levels and your blood sugar levels If they go too high. We know when they go too high, they go too low and then you start craving sugar again. So if you're going to have something sweet, absolutely have something sweet, but eat it with either a protein, a fat or fiber. So, for instance, if you are going to have, say, somebody brings in a cake to work, a chocolate cake.

Speaker 1:

Who doesn't like chocolate cake? Chocolate cake. You have a slice of chocolate cake. If you're going to have that slice of chocolate cake, you might want to have something like some nuts. Or you might want to have a few almonds, maybe 10, 15 almonds. You may want to have a couple of spoonfuls of Greek yogurt, something that will balance out, provide protein, have a little bit of fat to it. If you were going to have a piece of cake, maybe you want to have it's going to sound weird but have a slice of apple, have something with fiber in it, something that's going to have fiber in it, and it will reduce the impact that that chocolate cake is going to have fiber in it and it will reduce the impact that that chocolate cake is going to have on your blood sugar and it's not going to cause that onslaught of cravings that usually happen after you first start eating something.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so that's number one. Number two you want to eat. If you're going to eat something sweet, you want to eat it as a dessert attached to the end of a meal and not eat sweets on an empty stomach. I equate it to the same thing that people say when they go out and when they go out drinking you do not want to drink alcohol on an empty stomach. You do not want to eat sugar on an empty stomach. You do not want to eat sugar on an empty stomach because it will shoot your blood sugar levels super high and then they crash and then the cravings just continue to happen and you get on that roller coaster and you ride it all day long. So if you can have, you can have something, but have it after a meal. So you have other food in your stomach and that reduces the impact that it's going to have on your blood sugar. All right. Number three Now this one kind of controversial.

Speaker 1:

I wouldn't do this one because I have an aversion to this, but this is just me. If you're somebody who I know plenty of people who do this and if you can handle it great, and there are plenty of people who can If you are going to have something sweet and you're even going to have it on an empty stomach, drink a tablespoon of vinegar in a large glass of water, large glass of water, tablespoon of vinegar I would not be able to do that Like that would make me sick. But if you do that, it will reduce the impact of the glucose that you are eating by 30% in your bloodstream. So that's pretty significant. It will bring that those levels down. It will not have as dramatic of an effect if you drink the, if you drink a tablespoon of of vinegar in water with your um, with your sweet, whatever you're drinking.

Speaker 1:

Okay, that's number three and number four, and this is something this is something that I have been saying for so long and I and I and you y'all know I do not tell people what to eat, but I will strongly recommend and when and when I I ask people what they're eating, I will strongly recommend that people do this and it's and I don't tell them specifically what to eat, but I will strongly recommend that people do this and I don't tell them specifically what to eat, but I will tell them that this is a good rule of thumb is you always want to eat a protein-packed breakfast? Because if you start the day with pastries, if you start the day with a lot of cereal pancakes, any of those heavy carb foods, blood sugar spikes, significantly crashes back down, you crave sugar and you are on that roller coaster for the rest of the day. So a protein-packed breakfast will one sustain you through lunch, but it will also not start that inevitable ride on the roller coaster of sugar cravings. So what is a protein packed breakfast? Well, eggs.

Speaker 1:

Eggs is is an easy go-to, or some people, eggs are boring. I love eggs are boiled, scrambled, all the things. I love them all. Um, you can have eggs, but you want to eat. You really usually want to eat protein, with a healthy fat as well. So my, my recommendation to anybody, especially if you like Mexican food and you like things a little bit spicy some scrambled eggs, some salsa, some chopped 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. You can have chicken. You can have leftover chicken from the night before. You can have some nuts with that.

Speaker 1:

You want to have heavy protein in the morning because, remember, we go back to the protein leverage hypothesis, which tells us that our bodies are always going to be craving. It always knows that it needs protein, but we always want what's going to taste good, and so we were like, yeah, let's have sugar instead. If you can get a majority of your protein first thing in the morning, you are not going to get caught up in that protein leverage hypothesis, which is when your body doesn't get enough protein throughout the day. It's going to make you hungry and it's going to make you. It's going to make you eat and it's hoping that you're going to eat protein, but you probably are going to eat more likely carbs. So pile pack in the protein early on and that is going to reduce those sugar cravings throughout the day.

Speaker 1:

So again, the three reasons why we crave sugar glucose levels drop. They spike up because they've dropped, because we spiked up so high, they drop down. You eat, you eat sugar to bring it up and you do that whole rollercoaster back and forth and back and forth. Second thing we want to feel uplifted in our mood. So we eat something sweet which gives us a dopamine hit. We like that, we keep doing it. We don't want it. We want to find other ways of finding a dopamine hit when there are plenty of other ways. You know, doing something good for yourself, achieving a goal, making a to-do list and checking off those things give you a dopamine hit. It doesn't have to be food.

Speaker 1:

And then the third reason is your body craves protein and it just will tell you to start eating in the hopes that you eat protein. And most people will end up going to what's easy and that's sugar. And then we go back to number one, where we just go up and down, and up and down, and up and down. How do we alleviate that? We reduce the spikes by eating something sweet with fiber, protein or fat. We eat something sweet as a dessert, not on an empty stomach. If we do eat it on an empty stomach, we throw in that tablespoon of vinegar into a glass of water. We drink that. That reduces the impact on our blood sugar by 30%. And lastly, that protein-filled breakfast. That is what helps you get ahead in your protein. You don't fall victim to the protein leverage hypothesis and then crave food all day hoping that you're going to eat protein. So there you have it, y'all there it is protein. So there you have it, y'all there it is. That is the very simple, quick and dirty description and explanation of why you crave sugar and four simple ways that you can alleviate those cravings. I hope and I pray that this has been impactful for you, that it's made a difference and that you've taken notes and you're going to start doing these things. You're going to start paying attention to when those cravings happen and how you've been eating, because I'm not telling you to change anything that you are eating. I'm just changing, asking you to pay attention and change the way that you're eating things and again you can make some different food combinations and that is going to really help you be able to reduce your cravings.

Speaker 1:

All right, if you are not a member of the Breakthrough Emotional Eating group on Facebook, you want to be. It's wwwfacebookcom. Forward slash groups. Forward slash food breakthrough. You join, I immediately send you my stop dieting guide. Also, you can see any of the plethora of videos that I have on my YouTube channel, kristen Jones Coaching, and that you can just go to YouTube. Look up Kristen Jones Coaching Kristen with an I-N and find me there. Also, find me on Instagram at Breakthrough Emotional Eating If you have any questions about coaching or you need help. All that information is listed in the description in this podcast. So please go to the show notes and let's connect. All right, take care, have an amazing rest of your amazing week and we will see you next week. All right, take care.