How I’m changing my relationship with sugar
©Otto Norin
Over the last few years I’ve been doing a huge work on my relationship with food, and I realized to have a stress-related sweet tooth.
Sweets I crave the most are basically the ones I can easily have at home: cookies, chocolate, small cakes… not ‘real desserts’, but ‘snacking’ material. The sugar craving strucking at stressful times provoke the self-damaging vicious circle that some of you know for sure: eating too much sugar just to feel bad and guilty right after. Sentences like “I feel so bloated right now, I wish I didn’t have that last cookie” “I have no fu**ing self-control” “Oh gosh I am going to gain weight.” spin in mind, bringing nothing positive along.
A couple of months ago I decided to change all this, cut on the stress-related sugar intake and build a healthy relationship with the amazing sugary things I love. These are the in
tentions I set:
I love sugar, and I intend to keep on loving it, I will not demonize itI will mindfully choose which sweet to eat and I will mindfully appreciate every bite
I will feel good, inside and out
I will work on strengthen the connection between my body and my mind
I will set good intentions, I will not impose rules to follow blindlessly
Here are some things I put in place to help me in this path.
Clean the kitchen from temptations
First step, I put in the pantry all the appealing sweet things that I used to display on my kitchen counter. Of course I know they still are in the house, but not seeing them all the time helps.
Eat mindfully
When I’m on my own, I tend to eat in front of the TV. I do not realize how much I am eating, and I do not appreciate a single bite. I started trying to eat mindfully, that is watching my dessert before eating it and trying to focus on how every bite tastes. Turns out, it takes way less to satisfy my “sugar hunger”.
Do not be too rigid
I usually try not to eat too much sugar during the week, but I also think that not being too rigid is fundamental. You crave a hot chocolate on a Wednesday afternoon? Have it, no regrets. If you eat it mindfully and you really enjoy it, your body probably won’t “ask” for it again for a few days. On the other hand, if you “silence” your cravings until the weekend you’ll probably eat a whole chocolate bar + a hot chocolate on Saturday morning (and you’ll feel sick and guilty until Sunday).
Connect your body and mind
If when I get home the only thing I want to do is to eat a jar of cookies, I try to stop for a second and ask myself why. Am I dehydrated? Thirst can get us hunger feeling; I have a good glass of water and see how I feel. Stress can also affect my hunger perception. I either go to the gym to “sweat some stress off”, I have a 5 minutes stretching session, or I take a relaxing bath. The craving usually goes away, or I feel just like having one cookie (instead of ten).
What’s your relationship with sugar, and how did it evolve during the years? Don’t hesitate to leave a comment below! 🙂
Baci e abbracci
Caterina
© Taylor Kiser
©Nathan Dumlao
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