Sugar is a highly addictive substance that can create an acid environment in your body that can lead to inflammation, illness, and chronic diseases. According to one study sugar is 8 times more addictive than cocaine because it stimulates our brain the same way drugs do.
This is why we often get those cravings that lead us to the nearest convenience store and we end up with ice cream, candy bars, or a sugary drink.
Resisting these foods, especially if we have been on them for a good portion of our lives is extremely difficult.
I have struggled with sugar addictions for years and I have learned some things that have helped me not only to control my sugar cravings but set up my life in a way that I almost never want sugar.
Think of your path as a series of baby steps and micro-commitments. If you are trying to go for a dramatic overnight transformation where you don’t self-sabotage after 4-6 days then you really need to look into working more closely with your subconscious and or change your environment completely.
Otherwise, you may not be able to maintain the change.
If you are not ready for an overnight cure but still want to change your life then set tiny goals that you can commit to for 30-60 days at a time until they become part of who you are. You would be surprised how often tiny changes completely transform your life over a year.
Now let’s dive into sugar.
1. Start your day with a glass of warm lemon water.
If you want to help your body change its craving patterns then you need to support it with the right nutrients to ease the transition. Starting your day off with a glass of lukewarm lemon water is a good place to start because it can help stimulate 
digestion, keep the kidneys healthy, aid in detoxing the body while also keeping the blood sugar levels from spiking.
I like to take half a lemon and squeeze it into a glass of water in the morning and sip it while I am waking up. Yes, it will be a bit tart but just visualize it cleansing your body from head to toe, because it is.
This is a good way to start the day off so that it is easier to avoid spirals of craving based eating later. If you start out your day eating “food” that would have been alien to people 30-50 years ago then you are setting your day up for struggle especially when it comes to transitioning away from a sugar addiction.
2. Probiotics and Gut Health
If you want to heal your body then I recommend starting with the gut. While starting out your day with lemon water is a great way to aid in your bodies ability to wake up the system and clean out all the old gunk you really need to take care of the gut bacteria first before diving into anything else.
I have met a lot of people who despite working out or trying elaborate diets they can almost never lose weight and even if they do they end up struggling to keep it off. This is often because we have an unbalanced or unhealthy gut.
I recommend spending time learning about probiotics, fermented food, kombucha, and other items you can gently add into your life in order to start healing the gut. Once I healed by gut I stopped craving bad food. On top of that, healthy food began to taste rich and wonderful to me.
Soda Addiction Tip: One tip I have used with family and friends in the past is getting a gentle kombucha soda such as the LIVE SODA line of drinks. These drinks have a lot of the same flavors as our classic favorites such as root beer and cola which makes them pleasing to the mouth, but the real magic is that they also allow your body to get what it needs to feed the good bacteria in your gut. This is a much more gentle way to transition someone into eating healthy and detoxing from a sugar craving.
3. Consider supplements such as L-glutamine
L-Glutamine is a supplement that can help curb sugar cravings. It supports the detoxing process in the body while boosting strength, healing wounds, and repairing skeletal muscles. It can also help you reduce the adicity in your body and bring it into a more alkaline state. L-Glutamine can also help keep insulin from spiking which makes it much easier to control blood sugar levels.
4. Frozen Fruit and Citrus
Frozen fruit and citrus are a good buffer food to give your body something sweet without spiraling down a path of overeating. Understanding the types of foods that help calm a craving and those that lead you down the path of binge eating are good to know.
Some people refer to these border foods that aren’t necessarily healthy but keep up from losing control as buffer foods. The foods that send us into a spiral of unhealthy eating are known as trigger foods. It’s a really good idea to sit down and write out what these foods are so that you know them.
The other good thing about fruit is that it has healthy nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that we need to stay healthy.
Citrus fruit is loaded with vitamin C which can help your body produce healthy levels of serotonin. Having a good amount of serotonin can help you feel good about yourself and make it easier to keep taking those tiny baby steps toward the life you want to live.
5. Use Sugar Alternatives Such as Local Honey
When you are going to bake or eat sweets take the time to pick up some local honey. This is a great way to eat something sweet that is also good for you. When you eat local honey it boosts your bodies ability to fight off bacterial infections. It also introduces pollen into your system in a way that can help reduce seasonal plant allergies and help you acclimate better to a new climate.
Another thing I did to help my sugar cravings was to replace chocolate and candy bars with cacao and dark chocolate. I found that I was able to eat just one or two little sections without losing control and going into a spiral of eating. The cacao boosted my thinking power and made it easier to work. Now my “treats” are an energy and mental boost instead of a trigger into sluggish thinking and body inflammation.
Bonus Tip:
If you are a fan of mindfulness meditation then I recommend checking in with yourself about 20 minutes after a meal. Ask yourself how you feel now. Do you feel heavy? Does your stomach hurt? Do you feel light? Are you full of energy?
Asking yourselves these questions can drastically change your eating habits because it remaps the purpose of food in your life. Then food will become less about pleasing the tongue and more about supporting the body in a successful life.
What do you do to reduce and eliminate sugar from your life? Let us know in the comments below.
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