How to Break SUGAR ADDICTION (15 Tips) 2021

Do you have a problem with sugar let's be honest with ourselves here do you is it hard to say no do you have multiple signs that you might be addicted to sugar i'm dr ken berry a family physician with 20 years of clinical experience and in this video i'm going to give you some thoughts about sugar cravings sugar addiction and some tips that can help you break this craving or addiction and help you live a sugar-free life the first thing you need to know about this is that it may not actually be a sugar craving it may be a sweet taste craving much of the research done in this area of science is done with rodents and they have been able to elicit the same addictive behavior in rodents with sugar-free sweeteners like saccharin and other non-nutritive sweeteners as well as with sugar so keep that in mind this may not be you addicted to literal sugar but to the sweet taste of sugar or indeed any other sweetener it absolutely mimics a true addiction there are health care providers out there who will say there's no such thing as sugar or sweet addiction there are others who will say there absolutely is a thing but only you know how you are affected by sweet tasting foods and whether or not you're having inappropriate behaviors based on your desire to eat them now the first thing i want you to understand is it's it's hard to fight a craving it's hard to fight an addiction but what you definitely are going to fail at every time is if you try to fight hunger and a craving or hunger and the sugar addiction at the same time so i'm going to give you tips in a few minutes about how to separate these okay but you can't you will fail every time if you are hungry and also craving the sweet taste as well now another thing you have to understand is that natural sugars are not going to help you there are many articles out there that say oh satisfy your sweet tooth by eating berries and melons and honey and agave uh and but you're not really you're not you can't satisfy an addiction you're still addicted right and this would be a lot like telling the alcoholic oh if you're craving whiskey just drink a beer it's bad advice and that's not going to work for people who are sugar addicted either keep this in mind some people are much more affected by this than other people are right and we see this in cigarette addiction in alcohol addiction some people can smoke a few and walk away and never touch them again others can drink some alcoholic drinks and never be tempted by them in the future others of us even just a few drinks or a few smokes and we are addicted and it's a very hard addiction to quit so you have to be honest with yourself which one are those of these people are you so let me give you some tips and some of these are going to sound woo-woo and some of them are going to be like yeah easier said than done but any addiction that you're quitting whether it's nicotine alcohol illicit drugs there's gonna be some recommendations that you're like okay but it's still gonna be hard yeah um true truth here it's gonna be hard okay if you're one of the people who are truly addicted to sugar and sweet tastes this is going to be hard but i promise you i wouldn't be making this video if i didn't think it was going to be worth it to you both mentally and physically in the long run so number one set a goal okay 90 days sweet free and and not just sugar free but any sweet taste whatsoever because if this is truly an addiction to the sweet taste the artificial sweeteners the keto approved sweeteners they're not going to help you break this addiction they're just going to satisfy that craving so set a goal whatever your goal is it may be two days without any sweeteners right if so that's that's great you achieve that goal now you can make a bigger goal number two call it what it is if you're truly if your behavior is altered by your desire to eat sweet things call yourself an addict look in the mirror and say hi i'm a sugar addict i'm a sweet addict i'm a carboholic call it what it is when you do that it actually gives you a little power over it right because how many alcoholics and smokers say well i need to cut back on my alcohol i need to cut back on smoking that's not a goal and that's not calling it what it is only when they admit to themselves and others i'm an alcoholic i'm addicted to nicotine i'm addicted to sweets that's when you can actually have some power over this next tip is to do not set multiple goals okay don't say i'm gonna quit sweets and i'm gonna quit smoking and i'm gonna start exercising no that is a recipe for failure breaking the sweet addiction is hard remember i said that this needs to be your one and only goal for the week the month the three months the year whatever your goal is for breaking your sweet addiction that needs to be your only goal or your only major goal at that time are you going to increase your odds of failing eat real whole one ingredient meat and veg okay remember i said earlier it's impossible to fight a craving and be hungry at the same time so i want when you're hungry you need to eat with lots of meat and lots of veg that's filled with good healthy fats and good healthy proteins some people stick to just meat only and that helps them break the sweet addiction quicker some people can add some veg and it's not a big deal i've got a video on this channel about the the vegetables with the most sugar in them those might be ones you want to avoid on this next tip is clean out your kitchen clean out the fridge the pantry your glove box your drawer at the office maybe even your bedroom closet wherever you have these things get them out of your environment if you've got a pack of cigarettes in the drawer and you're trying to quit smoking that's a recipe for failure so get it all out of your environment if you're really craving there's a few tips that that help a lot of people if you'll take a pinch of salt on your tongue for some reason this sometimes turns off the sweet craving a pat of butter that you just eat and let it melt in your mouth a lot of times that will help sometimes a glass of water any of these little tricks and tips some will work for some of you some won't work you find the ones that seem to help a little bit remembering that this is hard but if it helps make it a little less hard that's a good thing right next is you can make a drink called keterade i've got a video on this channel about an easy way to make it don't put any sweetener at all in your keto aid and you can sip on this tangy bubbly drink over the day it's going to give you electrolytes which for some people would really help the cravings and it's also going to give you something to do with your hands and your mouth when you're not eating sweets right next is mind your minerals okay ketochow makes a great product called daily minerals and a lot of people are finding that the cravings that they thought were for sweets are actually a mineral deficiency and that's how it presents itself so make sure you're getting lots of your essential minerals either through your diet or by using a product like daily minerals so that you don't have these additional mineral cravings that may come across as a craving for junk food and again let me say avoid all sweeteners because i think there's more to this than just a sugar addiction i think it's a sweet taste addiction for at least some of us for many of us maybe not all so when you set your goal whether it's for 10 minutes or for 10 years of being sweet taste free i would avoid all sweeteners all together next is let's talk about snacking during the first few weeks of this challenge to yourself of being sweet taste free you might we gotta fight the hunger right so you might need to have some pre-cooked bacon some boiled eggs something that's full of good fat and good protein you might need to have that handy in your purse in the in the fridge wherever so that when you're having a severe intense craving you can take that pinch of salt eat a boiled egg eat some bacon whatever you need to do to not satisfy that sweet craving next is something that many people trying to break in addiction find helps them is anything that increases your dopamine or oxytocin levels so taking a hot shower going for a walk working out meditating getting a big hug and giving a big hug kissing right talking to a good friend getting out of your environment all these things can help raise dopamine and oxytocin levels which make it less hard to persist and not give in to the craving now next is the hand-to-mouth component some people find that toothpicks help this some people will cut drinking straws and use them if they're trying to quit cigarettes because that mimics that hand-to-mouth motion if you were a huge snacker with sweet things before then you may need to do something to satisfy that hand-to-mouth component sparkling water unsweetened coffee unsweetened tea uh the bacon the boiled eggs all these tricks the toothpicks any of this to satisfy that hand-to-mouth part of the habit will make it less hard to break the sweet habit next is let me talk about pills and sprays you may have seen on the internet that are supposed to turn off your ability to absorb sugar or taste sugar these are all a uniform waste of money they're a gimmick they're in no way addressing the root cause of your addiction don't waste your time and money with these things next is let me tell you some medications that can actually cause sweetened sweet cravings sugar cravings food cravings prednisone or any of the steroids can absolutely make you have sweet cravings many of the ssris used for anxiety depression and other mental uh disorders can cause cravings the tricyclic antidepressants can cause food cravings and the mao inhibitors can also cause food cravings if you're taking one of these medications don't stop it but do have a conversation with your healthcare provider about either stopping it or switching you to another medication the next is if you keep failing at this over and over and over you might want to reach out to an addiction specialist or a mental health professional and say hey i've got this overarching addiction to sweets to sugar i need some professional help with this and then my last tip is to forgive yourself both for your past transgressions right and so when you're looking in the mirror calling yourself what you are a sweetaholic a sugar sugar addict also forgive yourself for past transgressions and then also understand that the average person who is an alcoholic who's breaking their addiction to alcohol or who's a smoker and breaking their addiction to nicotine they they're not successful the first time so if you do fail and flub up don't completely give up look back in that mirror call yourself what you are forgive yourself for that temporary transgression and get right back on the sugar-free train and keep on rolling i hope this video helps you a lot if you know a friend or loved one who's definitely a sugarholic then please consider sharing this video with them and if you don't mind click that subscribe button and that little bell button right beside it on your way out so that next time i post a video you'll get a notification this is dr berry i'll see you next time