Are you craving sugar?
It is day 5 of our sugar challenge, have you got involved?
The first few days can be hard, you are thinking about it all the time and it pretty much fills all your thoughts.
The thing you want most in the world is a twirl or a chocolate biscuit or just anything to satisfy that craving.
But the funny thing about sugar that I have noticed over the years is that the longer you are without it the less you want it.
Have you noticed that?
A lot of the time if we want to avoid sugar we need to look at the rest of our diet.
If we are eating good nutritious food most of the time and eating enough that we are not hungry, sugar cravings are less likely.
If you are craving sugar a lot of the time then this is the first place to look. Are you eating enough of the right food or was breakfast a sugary bowl of cereal that left you reaching for a biscuit with your morning coffee?
Eating lots of protein and fats in your diet can help keep you going longer to avoid this.
The second place to look (and this is my personal weakness) is weather the sugar craving is more to do with habit.
Is the chocolate biscuit just what you do at 10am when you sit down for a coffee? (oops!)
Because it works the other way, if you eat lots of sugar you generally crave more and when you are expecting a sugary treat at 10am you will miss it if it’s not there!
The final thing I have noticed about reducing sugar is that basically as it is an addiction, just like smoking your head really needs to be in the right place if you are going to give it up.
I don’t know about you but I have given up smoking and I tried a couple of times to do it.
The thing that actually made it happen was getting my head there first.
It sounds easy and to be honest once you actually decide now is the time then now will actually be the time!
And no matter how hard it is you will do it because you WANT to.
Weather you have sugar cravings because you are following our sugar challenge or if you are just craving and eating it all the time here are some quick questions to ask yourself and come up with a plan.
Have I eaten enough today? You may be craving sugar because you are hungry, have a meal or a sensible snack and see if you are still craving sugar afterwards. Also check you have had enough to drink hydration levels can also make you think you are hungry.
Is this habit? Do you just automatically reach for sugar at the same times out of habit or do you really need/want is?
Do you actually want to stop? Is now a good time to be doing this? If you can think of lots of excuses that you can get around then get around them!
If the excuses are deeper you have to ask yourself if you actually want it. It may be time to make changes elsewhere in your life and come back to this when the time is right for you.
Did you know I offer coaching?
If you have changes you want to make to your health and fitness sometimes you just need someone to ask the right questions so that you can put the steps in place that you actually need to make.
Coaching can really help and can be done in person or online/by phone. Hit reply if you want to find out more.
Kirsty xx
p.s. it's not too late to join the challenge!
