Who doesn’t love a good sugary snack after a long day at the office? It can be quite fulfilling and refreshing, especially if you haven’t indulged in anything sweet in a long time. However, there can be negative side effects of eating too much sugar. This may just mean you’ll want to limit yourself when eating sweets.
Top Reasons We Crave Sweets
1. Sweets can be addictive.
Candy, cookies, and cake are all hard to resist. We want that sugary goodness inside of us! Who wants to eat veggies when you can have delicious cupcakes instead? Eating sugar affects the pleasure part of our brain, which makes us just crave them more!
Plus, once your body has adapted to the effects of sweets, you need more and more to feel completely satisfied. It can be a never-ending cycle! To avoid craving more and more sweets, consider limiting your intake of sugar or try a sugar substitute if you think you are eating too many sweets.
2. Sweets make you feel good.
It’s true that when we eat sugary foods like desserts, a chemical called dopamine goes to our brains. This makes us feel good, but if you continue this cycle to feel better, you may notice that you need more and more sugary goodness to get that positive feeling!
Consider limiting yourself to one sugary snack per day to avoid this cycle, if you are able to! Delicious desserts can be tough to pass up on when you are around them a lot!
3. We may have nutrient deficiencies that make us crave sweets.
Many people crave sweets because of psychological and biological reasons. If you think this is why your body is craving sweets all the time, you should consult with a qualified physician to find out what is going on with your body. The last thing you want is to be a slave to a specific food group because of excess cravings.
4. Bad sleep habits can lead to craving more sweets.
Not getting adequate sleep at night can actually lead to poor judgment and bad decisions. You may also crave junk food if you are not sleeping at least 7-8 hours per night. Sleep affects your hormones that control your hunger and cravings, too. Give in to these cravings, and over time, you may gain unwanted weight.
5. Stress can make you crave sweets.
You race from meeting to meeting, working more than 60 hours a week, so what does that have to do with sugar cravings? The stress you are going through can increase the glucose and insulin levels in your body, which affects your cravings. Also, when you are stressed and hyper, you use up more energy, which makes you hungry, so chill out!
Wow! So, we’ve learned that sugar can be addictive, makes us feel better (temporarily), and can be the cause of too much stress or a lack of adequate sleep! Also, if you suspect you have a nutrient deficiency that is causing you to crave sweets, you should speak to a medical professional. He or she may have a solution you hadn’t thought of – yet.
The important thing to realize is that anything in excess isn’t good for you. Excessive sweets could be dangerous since our bodies react to sugar in different ways. Be sure to balance your diet in an appropriate way to prevent any negative side effects!
