How To Keep Your Sweet Tooth and Your Weight Healthy

Is having a sweet tooth okay, or should you fight it at all costs? The truth is that sweet cravings are tough to resist. In fact, our first craving from birth is sugar, delivered via our mother's milk. It may surprise you to learn that human breast milk has the highest carbohydrate (sugar) content among mammals' milk, delivering large amounts of energy in the form of lactose. As babies, we are drawn to the sugary sweet taste of breast milk; it's the first flavor that we begin to desire, so why wouldn't we crave sugar for life? A sweet tooth, for the purpose of this blog, is defined as wanting something sweet after your regular meal -- not to be confused with real hunger that can create a sweet tooth.

These cravings are not new to the human experience; rather they have been ingrained in us all along. We all know what it is like to long for certain foods depending on our mood, our environment and our own taste preferences. But did you know that human interest in sweets can be traced back as far as 500 B.C. (and probably even further), when people in India boiled sugar cane to extract sucrose for crystallization into candy? If we've been satisfying our sweet cravings for such a long time, why is it that we are so obsessed by them now?

The answer is that modern life requires us to work longer hours, sleep less, stress more, skip meals and cut carbs -- all factors that contribute to our desire for sweet treats. Our constant exposure to convenient foods presents us with a daily battle against overindulgence. The problem really isn't that we have these cravings in the first place -- it's that our inattention to hunger cues causes us to overeat. On top of that, the environment we live in has changed dramatically in a short period of time and now we can have fast food at our fingertips any time of day.

Just think, it's 3 p.m.: You're at work, feeling tired and stressed, and you've skipped breakfast and only had lettuce for lunch. Then you imagine a chocolate-chip cookie. If you are like most people in America, it doesn't take much to make this fantasy cookie munch-down reality. Right outside your office, you have your choice: skip over to a Starbucks, walk over to Walgreens or bounce over to the bakery. Voila! That cookie is yours.

One hundred years ago, you would likely have had to obtain the ingredients, often going to great lengths to get your hands on what we now consider to be basic staples like flour, sugar and spices. Lots of effort for a small reward, right?

Now, there are those folks who believe that sugar is evil, toxic and addictive, and there are those who don't agree. I believe that the over-consumption of sugar, as well as the increased intake of extreme processed and fake sugars, is unhealthy, and that the best bet to quench your desire for sweets is to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle -- and to address your cravings as they come up. Ask yourself, am I really interested in something sweet, or are am I just in need of some energy? Most sugar cravings are primal cues to eat, signals that the body requires additional energy, rather than symptoms of an addiction.

Today, our world is shaped by instant gratification and if we allow ourselves to give in every time we have a craving, we will inevitably end up gaining weight. We are facing a culture that favors quantity over quality, so we must arm ourselves with the knowledge, awareness and support needed to fight the call to consume, which is coming at us from every direction, each and every day.

Many clients tell me about their untamable desire for sweets. They believe that in order to lose weight, they have to eliminate sweet treats completely. When cravings crop up, they often eat one healthy snack after another in an attempt to fight the desire -- a habit which can add up to 800 calories at a time, when a few sweet treats might only add 150 calories. I say, enjoy a sweet treat now and then and moderate the portion.

Nothing's wrong with having a sweet tooth. Choose your treats wisely and respect your health by choosing quality over quantity, but, most of all, enjoy the whole experience of eating: from choosing your foods to cooking them to finally consuming them! Right now, you may feel guilty about your sugar cravings and pressured to fight the temptation to indulge, but please don't restrict yourself as this will only set you up to binge later on. Instead, allow yourself to have a reasonable amount of a sensible sweet snack.

So celebrate your sweet tooth instead of trying to fight it because, let's face it -- we were born to crave sugar. Practice your portion control and, most importantly, make sure that you eat all of your meals every day so that you don't confuse a sweet tooth with real hunger. Drop the guilt and treat yourself to something sensibly sweet today!

Manuel Villacorta is a registered dietitian in private practice in San Francisco, California. He is a national media spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and the founder of Eating Free.

 

 

 

Follow Manuel Villacorta on Twitter: www.twitter.com/EatingFree

Comments

[Jason Menayan]

06:28 PM on 05/03/2011

Interesting advice for those of with a sweet tooth...I've found that just a little bit of an indulgence is OK, provided you're not actually hungry. Otherwise, it's hard to limit yourself to just a little bit.

[RhiannonRings]

11:31 PM on 05/02/2011

I am addicted to sugar and I believe it is ruining my life...I've been trying to kick it for over thirty years to no avail.

[Connie Markley Boppre]

08:38 PM on 05/01/2011

every tooth in my head is a sweet tooth

[John Crocker]

03:06 PM on 05/01/2011

I've found that yielding to HIGH QUALITY sweet indulgences (a single portion of cake; one dark chocolate truffle; even a slice of sour cream lemon pie!) made with good ingredients and REAL FLAVORS can satisfy cravings. The satisfaction sometimes lasting for days.

(Artificial flavorings are the WORST.)

I avoid making "goodies" at home because it automatically results in too much availability. So, better to patronize the best patisserie, chocolatier in town -- get in, get your fix, and get out. (Completely counter-productive to buy a bag of "healthy" organic whole grain cookies!) This imposes portion control with less need for self-control!

I repeat: buy SINGLE portions of QUALITY. No artificial ingredients. (And REAL butter is so much better than canola oil!)

[bobclapp1936]

06:23 PM on 04/30/2011

Excellent column, but it can be much easier. First the hardest part: Get in good physical condition. Second record your bodyweight while in that condition for 30days. Third find out how many CALORIES you can eat while holding that bodyweight. Last eat anything you want, but NEVER!!! exceed your allowed daily calories. Now there are health consideratons, but that's another story. Nevertheless, if you stay in condition and do NOT exceed that daily calorie allowance, your bodyweight will remain virtually the same in spite of food selection.

[sd4david]

12:07 PM on 04/30/2011

I fight it. For me, it's easier to avoid altogether than to eat moderate quantities. I can't eat a cookie. I can eat a bag of cookies. Or no cookies.

[CatfishJohn]

09:18 AM on 04/30/2011

Good article sir..but i need a strategy for 10PM.

[MWMom]

08:17 AM on 04/30/2011

Is part of the article missing? "How To Keep Your Sweet Tooth and Your Weight Healthy"
Well?

[Manuel Villacorta]

11:37 AM on 04/30/2011

Hi MWMom, I am sorry if I was not clear but here is the how:
1. Quality over quantity so portion control
"Nothing's wrong with having a sweet tooth. Choose your treats wisely and respect your health by choosing quality over quantity, but, most of all, enjoy the whole experience of eating: from choosing your foods to cooking them to finally consuming them"

2. Be aware of true hunger vs. sweet tooth. A true sweet tooth can be resolve by eating a small treat!
"Practice your portion control and, most importantly, make sure that you eat all of your meals every day (breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner) so that you don't confuse a sweet tooth with real hunger. Drop the guilt and treat yourself to something sensibly sweet today"

Thanks for reading

[mzrecycle]

07:32 AM on 04/30/2011

I've learned to keep a zip bag of nuts (almonds or walnuts) with me for that afternoon hunger. I do my best to notice the hunger quickly, and eat the nuts slowly, one nut at a time, and chew eat one thoroughly, as large chunks will be slower to be digested. Usually about 7-10 nuts are enough to do it. It's likely to take about 20 min., so eating those nuts slowly gives my mouth something to do during the time. After that, if I'm still craving "something", I go ahead and have something sweet. I find I can be satisfied with a small amount, not feel deprived, and not end up regretting another dive into candy.

[stonemann]

01:08 AM on 04/30/2011

I'm a firm believer that there are no bad foods, only bad eating habits. However, some habits may entail drastically restricting some foods, or eliminating them. A person with a sweet tooth that is active, with good body composition and in good health can afford to live with their vice. A person with a sweet tooth that is sedentary, obese and insulin resistant cannot. Controlled indulgers have very strong sugar cravings but it's more mental, the thought of deprivation. What's great about most controlled indulgers is it doesn't take much in terms of calories to satisfy their fix. I had a client who only needed 5 m&ms a day to get her sugar fix. Non controlled indulgers are a horse of an entirely different color. One of their sugar fixes can wipe out an entire caloric requirement for the next three days. Put it this way, If you can go through a half gallon of ice-cream just to see if there's a happy face at the bottom of the container...chances are you’re a non-controlled indulger, and you may want to consider a moratorium on sugar. These are just a few variables that can determine how folks can approach their sweet tooth and believe me, your happiness and your health may depend on it.

[anthonyve]

10:27 PM on 04/29/2011

I've found that having more of my diet as low GI food as possible has helped me with my weight control, which, as I'm in my sixties, is no smal task. Sigh!!

[portfolio]

09:36 PM on 04/29/2011

A big spoon of sugar in a hot cup of coffee is a reel good pickup in the afternoon.

[Contact1972]

08:38 PM on 04/29/2011

I never know how much sugar is too much. I'm not crazy over sweets but I like to be aware if I'm putting too much into my body.

[fnygy]

07:51 PM on 04/29/2011

It seems to me that people who are too harried and busy to eat need to slow down. After all, is whatever you're so busy with worth the cost of your health? We are, quite literally, what we eat. For most Americans, there's far too little food in most of their food, i.e., it's nutrient poor and calorie dense - exactly the opposite of what people should be eating. Processed sugar should be avoided all together, along with processed grains, hydrogenated oils and preservatives. Eat Real Food.

As for sugar cravings, there are plenty of ways to curb them. For many people, it's as simple as adding more sweet, root vegetables into their diet. Think sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips - even sweet onions. These are low glycemic foods that take longer to digest and thus don't spike the blood sugar.

Cravings are one of the body's ways of communicating something. The trick is, discerning what that is. One thing for sure - it's not processed sugar.

[Chuck Bluestein]

05:19 PM on 04/29/2011

People have a sweet tooth since fruits are the healthiest foods and eating them can make you thin. Just look at lists of healthy foods on Huffington Post and you will see all these fruits like avocado, berries, apples, oranges, grapefruit, kiwis, grapes and more. These are all sweet, healthy and can help you be thin.

Now sweets that are man-made are a different thing. Say that you get a chance to have sex with the 10 most beautiful looking women in the world. That would be great. They were made by nature or God. But everyone that can afford it, can have sex with the 10 best looking blow up plastic dolls. But there is a big difference! http://bit.ly/9APMvm