We were born liking sugar – our preference for sugar is hard wired into our system. Fuzzy peach candy and swedish berries were utterly fantastic as a child. As an adult, my sweet tooth has tamed down quite a bit. Now I turn to honey instead of sour patch candy to sooth my sugar cravings. At times, the cravings were strong, and I would have to dip a spoon into a honey jar and tap honey onto the tip of my tongue. I eventually learned that I needed more protein and healthy fats in my diet to crush my sugar cravings. Taste buds change over time, and as you switch to healthier alternatives, you start to prefer food and drinks that are less sweet, which gradually reduces sugar cravings.
Healthy Fats with Protein
Fried egg on top of toast with avocado. Add fresh garlic to mashed avocado for extra flavor.
Food manufacturers call sugar by more than 60 different names! Ingredients listed on the food label that end in “ose” are forms of sugar, such as fructose, sucrose, maltose and dextrose. But what about Soghum Syrup – that is a fancy name for an added sugar.
- Fructose
- Glucose
- Corn Syrup
- High fructose corn syrup
- Malt syrup
- Sucrose
- Syrup
- Sorghum Syrup
- Honey
- Barley Malt Sugar
- Cane Juice Crystals
- Carob Syrup
- Castor Sugar
- Dextrose
- Evaporated Cane Juice
- Coconut Palm Sugar
Sugar traps
Look closely at the ingredient lists of energy and granola bars, pasta and BBQ sauces, salad dressings and flavored yogurts. Added sugars are often used to compensate for taste. Food manufacturers also use a variety of sugar in a product. Since ingredients on food labels are listed in order from largest to smallest quantities, different types of sugar are listed multiple times.
Recipes to crush added sugar
Try cottage cheese with peaches
(or seasonal fruit) instead of flavored
yogurt. Cottage cheese is higher in protein than regular yogurt.
Walnut stuffed dates
Stuff a pitted medjool date with walnut and
1 tsp of dark chocolate almond butter. Pack these treats for a hike or camping trip.
Choose fresh fruit over fruit juices
