In a viral Instagram video last month, that came straight from her kitchen, actor Saumya Tandon claimed that she gave up sugar and all sugar substitutes including honey and jaggery, four years ago. The diva shared, “I only eat fruits and dry fruits and desserts made of them. It’s a game changer. Try ! Will keep posting desserts without using sugar/honey/jaggery and make you all believe we can eat sweet without sugar too. Let me know what you thought. (sic).”
Reacting on the same, in an interview with HT Lifestyle, Prachi Chandra, Lead Clinical Nutritionist at Sakra World Hospital in Bengaluru, revealed, “Food cravings especially sugar cravings are the dieter’s worst enemy. The types of foods that each person crave is highly variable. Most of us get cravings to eat sweets after meals. Generally, reaching for sweet snacks is most often not caused by hunger but by the desire to give yourself temporary comfort, by consuming highly processed and palatable foods especially sweets, which stimulate the brain's reward system and activate specific areas of central nervous system giving body a short term sense of relief, joy and mood improvement.”
She highlighted, “'Are we are becoming sugarholic or sugar addict?' is the question to be answered. Craving once in a while is ok but frequent sugar cravings are not a good sign. Sugar cravings happens more also when we are stressed, have lack of sleep, magnesium deficiency, eat foods which lack nutrients such as fiber and proteins or due to obesity, hormonal imbalance and due to poor gut health.”
Prachi Chandra pointed out that the WHO recommends sugar consumption should be less than 10% of total energy ~ 40 gm for adults and in children - less than 30 gm per day. She added, “The side effects of sugar consumption are weight gain, dental caries, cardiometabolic diseases, mood changes and hyperactivity in child along with gut dysbiosis etc. The sugar consumed in form of glucose, sucrose, fructose or starch (as found in sugar, honey, jaggery or fruits) provides same calorie (4 kcal/1 gm) so eating honey, jaggery, brown sugar is all same from calories perspective.”
Life-changing tips to crush sugar cravings naturally:
The nutrition expert suggested, “Including natural sugars from sweet fruits, vegetables like sweet potato is a better option instead of consuming ultra-processed sweet meats to presence of some amount of fiber and micro nutrients. Free sugars are source of empty calories and do not provide any nutritional benefits.”
In order to reduce sugar cravings, Prachi Chandra recommended to try these tips -
1. Include variety of foods in diet to get adequate amounts of macro and micronutrients and to maintain gut health.
2. Avoid consuming foods which are processed and have empty calories such as chocolates, cold drinks, sweets, juices etc.
3. In case of cravings post meal consumption prefer eating naturally sweet seasonal fruits and vegetables such as cooked sweet potatoes, pumpkins etc.
4. Eat soaked dried fruits such as raisins, dates, apricots, figs etc.
5. Drink adequate amount of water as dehydration can trigger cravings.
6. Eat small & frequent meal and healthy snacks.
7. Exercise regularly as it causes release of endorphins which helps in reducing stress related cravings.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
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