5 Easy Ways to Kick Your Sugar Habit

For those with a sweet tooth, there’s nothing quite like indulging in a sweet, chocolatey treat after lunch or even instead of it. The mere thought of giving up sugar can be a mood killer for many, as the body craves sweets much like a smoker craves nicotine. However, the price we pay for these sweet pleasures can be high, as excessive sugar intake can lead to diabetes, weight gain, digestive issues, and overall poor health. To help you break free from this sweet temptation, we’ve compiled a list of simple and painless ways to replace unhealthy habits with new, healthier ones.

1. Increase Your Vitamin C Intake

Our brains need a bit of trickery when it comes to breaking old habits or giving up favorite foods, even when their harmful effects are undeniable. If your love for sweets is too strong, try tricking your brain by introducing a new healthy habit: eating more vitamins. Focus on vitamin C, as it is a natural sugar substitute. After enjoying a juicy orange, adding a fragrant lemon to your tea, or garnishing your salad with fresh greens, your blood sugar levels will rise naturally without the need for chocolate bars.

2. Reduce Your Caffeine Intake

Who doesn’t love a hot cup of coffee in the morning or a relaxing cup of green tea before bed? However, caffeine lowers blood sugar levels, which means you’ll likely crave something sweet to go with your tea or afterward. To help yourself in the early stages of quitting sweets, try not only to eat fewer candies but also to reduce your coffee and tea consumption to a couple of cups a day. Instead, opt for a refreshing sugar-free water-based cocktail, such as a mojito or lemonade.

3. Enjoy Fresh Fruits

Fresh, juicy fruits are a pleasure that won’t leave you with regrets. Imagine starting your day not with sweet coffee or a piece of pie, but with a handful of sweet fruits and fresh berries mixed with Greek yogurt. This snack looks beautiful, tastes better than any M&M’s, and provides you with a dose of fructose instead of sugar. Fresh fruits also have the added benefit of satisfying hunger. If you eat a small peach during lunch, you won’t crave sweets or even feel hungry until evening. This is a simple way to trick yourself if you have a sweet tooth. After a month of this fruity habit, any chocolate bar will seem too rich and sweet to eat as often as you used to.

4. Switch to Cane Sugar

For true stoics, we recommend immediately quitting sugar by excluding it from your daily diet. However, such radical measures are unnecessary if you simply want to stop eating sweets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Start by replacing the sugar you add to your food with cane sugar. Yes, it’s more expensive, but it’s also much healthier.

5. Choose Cacao or Dark Chocolate

Many of us could go a day without sugar and eat only fruits, but for true sweet tooths, chocolate is a source of happiness that makes days brighter. If you see yourself in this description, replace milk chocolate with dark chocolate. Dark chocolate has half the sugar, more vitamins, and provides the same emotional satisfaction as any other sweet you prefer. Additionally, you can replace chocolate with cacao powder, which is rich in vitamins and beneficial minerals that not only restore sugar balance but also improve digestion, detoxify the body, and strengthen bones. Instead of a Snickers, bake a brownie: in 30 minutes, you’ll have a healthy dessert that you can take with you as a snack.