Even after you’ve cleared your plate and eaten your dinner, you still don’t feel like you’ve had a full meal until you’ve had something sweet. You have no idea how or why it happened, but your preferred after-dinner is a sweets treat.
You look forward to it and enjoy it, but you also feel that the urges possess you in some way. You’re probably aware that consuming too much sugar is unhealthy, so let’s explore our options for eating.
Explaining sugar cravings.
When sugar is processed, it releases dopamine and opioids into our reward regions, which makes us feel good and encourages us to continue the behavior (1). This is an innate survival strategy that aids in our preference for sweetness over bitterness, which in the wild often signified safe as opposed to toxic. There are several reasons why one might want a sweet after eating.
Perhaps you developed the automatic habit of eating something sweet after meals, even if you didn’t feel like craving it. Or perhaps you felt that your meal was incomplete or unsatisfying, so you’re searching for more.
Was the food you had visually pleasing and colorful? Did you find it enjoyable? Did it make you feel full? It can be the result of your blood sugar swings, which force your body and brain to search for the next sugar rush. Alternatively, you may have an emotional attachment to sweets that is linked to the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter linked to pleasure (2).
This can be traced back to your early years. Was there a special family meal for dessert? Did your parents give you candy as a reward? Or, could it be that you are naturally inclined to have a sweet tooth (3).
The good news is that cravings are usually fleeting, regardless of the cause (4). Here are some quick strategies to fight the siren call of post-meal sweets and a breakdown of why you’re feeling them:
1. You are not consuming enough food.
If you haven’t eaten enough, your body will notify you through the hunger hormone, ghrelin. And after dinner, especially if you’re already overweight or obese, leptin, sweets, and calorie-dense meals become much more alluring when your ghrelin hasn’t been subdued by your satiety hormone (5).
How-to: To make dinnertime closer to bedtime, try moving it back. You experience less hunger right before bed as a result. If you’ve been eating dinner at 5:30 and going to bed at 11 p.m., try moving your dinner time back to approximately 7 p.m. for a week to see if it helps. Add more fiber items to your dinner, such as whole grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.
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You might need to boost your protein intake in addition to fiber because it improves satiety (6). Finally, up the overall calorie count of your dish. Even though most Americans consume too many calories, if you find yourself feeling stuffed after dinner, it may indicate that you aren’t getting enough (7).
Consider adding 100โ200 more calories to your dinner. Nuts, seeds, avocado, and oil are good sources of fat that can easily boost the mealโs caloric content while squelching sugar cravings.
However, be aware that some conditions, including stress and sleep deprivation, can cause your leptin levels to drop and your ghrelin levels to rise (8). As a result, hunger alone may not always be an accurate indicator of how much food you need to consume.
2. You consume too many carbohydrates that absorb quickly.
Fast-digesting carbohydrates and those with a high glycemic index and load cause your blood sugar to rise quickly, which in turn prompts your pancreas to release insulin, which eventually causes your blood sugar to fall or “crash.” (9) Simple carbohydrates are items made with white flour, baked goods, sweets, candies, juice, and soda.
Certain individuals, particularly those with prediabetes or diabetes, are more susceptible to these blood sugar fluctuations, which can cause feelings of weakness, trembling, nausea, or exhaustion. This makes you search for a dish that has been sweetened to feel “better” at that precise moment.
How-to: To reduce blood sugar fluctuations, make sure you consume enough fiber each dayโat least 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men. Select complex carbohydrates, which are more slowly digested and require less insulin, like beans, whole grains, and vegetables, more frequently. And never try to carb it by yourself! Including protein and fat in your lunch or snack can also be beneficial.
Watch your portion sizes as well; most non-athletes’ daily carbohydrate needs are satisfied by ยฝ cup to 1 cup (or less) during meals. Reduce your intake of refined sugar by substituting erythritol, stevia, or frozen or fresh fruit for ordinary sugar. This will help you avoid experiencing those extreme fluctuations.
3. You eat too quickly.
Your own enjoyment of eating is stopped when you eat a meal in a few minutes (10). Additionally, you’ll feel more satiated after a 10-minute dinner than you would if it took you half an hour to complete. Our sense of smell determines most of what we taste, and when we “inhale” our food, we don’t give it enough time to fully absorb all the scents (11). That restricts our capacity to properly digest and absorb nutrients, as well as to enjoy our meal and the eating experience.
How-to: Take it slow when eating. In ten minutes, try to finish only half of your food. You can slow down by eating each bite more thoroughly, setting down your utensils after each bite, and taking a seat next to the slowest eater.
Likewise, make yourself use the pause button prior to reaching for that food. I assure you that the hunger will pass. Recall that cravings usually pass after a few minutes, so use that time to divert your attention to get through the strong emotion. Go for a stroll, do some washing, or get ready for the next day.
Find yourself still grabbing for the candy?
It’s not the end of the road if you have a genetic predisposition to crave sweets (12). Many of these suggestions are still valid. Choose fruit to satisfy your sweet desire in a healthier way rather than dessert or chocolate.
Emotional consumption of sweets? You’re not by yourself. Consider what you’re truly searching for the next time you have a sweet tooth. Is it that cozy sense of being at home? Is it to honor your grandparents? Is it to celebrate a success or to treat yourself after all your hard work?
Plan out healthful, non-food activities like hiking, taking in the scenery, spending time with your significant other, expressing appreciation, or engaging in a favorite self-care ritual to achieve that happy, feel-good dopamine rush.
Everyone has indulged in a sweet after dinner, but when the cravings feel like they are controlling you, it’s time to act. Avoidance won’t likely persist forever, even if you can go “cold turkey” on sugar or participate in a sugar elimination challenge and make some improvement.
Although changing a habit requires a significant amount of upfront work and may take several weeks to eight months to become routine, using these techniques will better prepare you to deal with sugar cravings in the future (13).
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Sugar cravings after a meal can be triggered by various factors, including an automatic habit, unsatisfying meal, visual appeal, or emotional attachment. These cravings can be temporary and can be triggered by insufficient food intake, a lack of fiber, increased protein intake, or a high calorie count. To combat these cravings, try moving dinnertime closer to bedtime, adding more fiber, boosting protein intake, and increasing the overall calorie count of your dish. However, it’s important to note that stress and sleep deprivation can affect leptin and ghrelin levels.
Sources |
- Evidence for sugar addiction: Behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake – PMC (nih.gov)
- Sweet Dopamine: Sucrose Preferences Relate Differentially to Striatal D2 Receptor Binding and Age in Obesity – PMC (nih.gov)
- FGF21 Is a Sugar-Induced Hormone Associated with Sweet Intake and Preference in Humans: Cell Metabolism
- The clinical significance of drug craving – PMC (nih.gov)
- The relationship between the leptin/ghrelin ratio and meals with various macronutrient contents in men with different nutritional status: a randomized crossover study | Nutrition Journal | Full Text (biomedcentral.com)
- Optimising foods for satiety – ScienceDirect
- 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines | health.gov
- Lifestyle factors and ghrelin: critical review and implications for weight loss maintenance – Adams – 2011 – Obesity Reviews – Wiley Online Library
- The effects of meal glycemic load on blood glucose levels of adults with different body mass indexes – PMC (nih.gov)
- Why eating slowly may help you feel full faster – Harvard Health
- Just how much of what we taste derives from the sense of smell? | Flavour | Full Text (biomedcentral.com)
- The Human Sweet Tooth – PMC (nih.gov)
- How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world – Lally – 2010 – European Journal of Social Psychology – Wiley Online Library
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