Tips for Overcoming a Sweet Tooth

World Wide Web | Tips for Overcoming a Sweet Tooth | For our ancestors, sweet things were a rare luxury. They might have some fruit in season but certainly no access to all the sweet processed stuff we've got nowadays. Which means that we have been programmed to have a sweet tooth for thousands of years but, until recently, no almost permanent access to sweet things. So how can you overcome your sweet tooth or at least reduce your cravings?

1. Reduce your intake gradually

Let's face it, hell is more likely to freeze over than you are to resist a candy bar or another slice of cake.

So forget the idea of going cold turkey on everything sweet unless you are superhuman.

Instead, aim for a gradual reduction in the amount of sweet things you eat. Which - due to the next point - almost certainly means cutting down on the number of occasions that you eat sweet things.

2. Forget portion control

With the exception of certain "single serve" fruits such as apples, oranges and bananas, the reality is that portion control is reserved for the small print at the bottom of adverts for diet products.

You're highly unlikely to eat half a candy bar or just part of a packet of potato chips. And leaving some of that delicious cake on the plate? Not a chance!

Go for frequency control instead.

Make a log of how often you eat sweet things. Be honest with yourself and write down every single occasion - even if was just one candy that a friend offered you.

Then wean yourself off the sweet things gradually. Aim for one less item for the next week, another reduction the week after, and so on.

3. A lapse doesn't mean failure

We all fall off the straight and narrow path from time to time.

But that doesn't mean that because you've lapsed once or twice that the whole plan has crumbled.

Treat each day afresh. If you lapsed yesterday, try extra hard not to lapse again today. But don't treat the occasional laspe as complete failure otherwise you'll be permanently stuck with your sweet tooth and the consequences of that on your health and waistline.

4. Drink more water

Water is your friend. It will fill your stomach and help you feel less hungry.

Just don't make it sugar water!

Soda contains lots of sugar or the even worse high fructose corn syrup. Diet soda triggers the same response in your body as sugar laden soda, so that's bad news.

Perhaps surprisingly, you can drink the occasional coffee. It's generally accepted that there are components in coffee which will help suppress your appetite, w5. hich includes your current craving for all things sweet.

5. Chew some gum

It's not ideal but chewing gum can be a way to help reduce your sweet tooth.

For a start, if you're chewing gum you're unlikely to be able to munch your way through something else as well.

It also has a sweet flavor without many calories so it can be a good way to help wean yourself out of your sweet toothed habit.