Health

Granule By Granule: Having A Healthy Relationship With Sugar

By  | 

The lifestyle choices we make hopefully set us up for a lifetime of happiness and healthiness. But of course, we all have our vices. Sugar is one of those things that is incredibly addictive because it tastes so good. And if we’re not careful, we can end up using sugar to cover up a lot of our difficulties in life. We’ve had a bad day at work, we eat a chocolate bar. It’s a Saturday, so we eat a whole cake. These excuses can go on and on, and while sugar is not the biggest of sins in the world, how can we have a healthy relationship with it?

Viewing It As A Treat

via GIPHY

 

For those who desperately need a sugar fix everyday struggle to view sugar as a treat. One of the best ways to get around this is to buy a more expensive candy. By purchasing the more expensive items, you don’t have as much money left afterwards to stock up on cheaper sweet treats, and so, after a while, you get into the mindset of having these sugary snacks once in a while. The big problem we have is that sugar dominated our childhoods, and when we think back, a lot of us reminisce about lollipops and salt water taffy. When we have these sweets every day, it doesn’t create that same sense of warmth in our minds. So instead, to try and recreate those lovely thoughts, you may as well purchase better brands for your buck. There are so many out there, from Sweet Candy Company’s variations of salt water taffy to the Retro Sweets boxes you can buy online, if we work at making as tasty as possible, and by spending a little bit more money, we will savor those lovely sugary moments.

Know When Your Cravings Are At Their Worst

via GIPHY

 

Much like when an ex-smoker begins to notice their cravings, you can do exactly the same and come up with a few plans to offset these. One of the simplest approaches to ensure you don’t pick up a sweet treat is to fill up on the main meal as much as you can. If you are full, then you are less inclined to eat sugar. But a lot of people seem to have a second stomach exclusively for sugary treats! In that case, the best plan of attack is to go for artificial sweeteners, but good quality ones. This does mean you having to make your own sweet dreams, but this does work out cheaper, and you can put xylitol or stevia into the mix, so the food will still have that sweet taste.

And if you are trying to be absurdly militant in giving up sugar, and you fall off the wagon, don’t beat yourself up about it. It is far better for you to fall off the wagon and get back on, rather than staying off it completely. The temptation hits us all, but once we have satisfied that temptation, we might realize that it wasn’t everything we dreamt it would be. And this is one of the keys to cutting down sugar, you begin to taste things the way they were meant to taste, and you realize, that not all sweet treats are as tasty as your brain tells you…

 

Picture Source

avatar

Olivia is psychologist and entrepreneur from Brisbane. Mother of two beautiful children and proud owner of two silly boxer dogs. She is passionate writer, a traveler and conscious consumer, seeking healthy and sustainable products to incorporate into the lives of her family. Her motto is “Be the change you want to see in the world”.

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply