We had a great gathering last week for our first nutrition workshop, dealing with the Sugar Blues!
Holistic Health Coach Felicia Desrosiers engaged participants and gave us her top ten tips for getting over the Sugar Blues. Here we share them with you:
- Drink water. Sometimes sweet cravings are a sign of dehydration.
- Eat sweet vegetables and fruit everyday. Especially the sweet vegetables. The more you cook them, the sweeter they become. They gently support your spleen and pancreas and over time change your taste for sweet foods.
- Reduce or eliminate caffeine. The ups and downs of caffeine include de-hydration and blood sugar swings, which can cause sugar cravings.
- Use gentler sweeteners like maple syrup, coconut sugar, brown rice syrup, and dried fruit. Avoid chemicalized, artificial sweeteners and food with sugar added.
- Move your body! Find your daily minimum – it can be a ten minute walk or yoga. Once you have a rhythm going, build on it. Exercise relieves the tension that many of us look to sugar for, and it’s great on every level.
- Get enough sleep and rest. Accumulated late nights and early mornings and/or regular stress causes the body to crave energy – often in the form of sugar.
- Evaluate the amount of animal food you eat including meat, dairy, chicken and eggs. Eating too much can lead to sweet cravings. So can eating too little!
- Cook meals, use spices. Sometimes we eat sugar because we are eating on the run and it’s what is available. If this is happening regularly, look to build in some cooking time so you can be sure to fill up on real food.
- Chew your food – the savory, the sweet and everything in between. Thoroughly chewing our food facilitates digestion and forces us to slow down. A good many things get sorted out when enough time is allotted. Give your food time.
- Add non-food sweetness to your days! Your body does not biologically need sugar, but it does long for hugs, time with friends, time outside, exercise, massage, acupuncture, etc. Start today. 🙂