Healthy Tip of the Week...Curbing Your Sweet Tooth!

We are all guilty when it comes to giving in to our sugar cravings.  For most women, our sugar rush comes particularly during certain flucuations of our hormone cycles.  So how do you fight those fearsome sugar cravings?  Well, just as nature creates the urges for "sweet snacking" nature can help you tame them as well.  Here are some pretty cool tips you can adhere too when the "sweet tooth fairy" comes a callin':

Curb your sugar craving by drinking a cup of licorice tea! Did you know that a cold or hot cup of licorice tea can satisfy that sugar craving?  Yes!  Licorice Tea (grown in the Mediterranean and Asia) is sweeter than sugar and the best part is that it's 0 calories.  The slightly sweet nature of the tea will please your palate, and the stew of healthy herbs will also hydrate you!

Curb your sugar craving by keeping your blood sugar levels balanced! If you don’t eat anything all morning long, your blood sugar levels will drop and by afternoon you will be ravenous and chowing down on anything in sight- especially something sweet. Remember always eat breakfast, but also eat small, healthy protein-rich snacks throughout the day so you never feel famished. Remember, the number one cause of overeating is undereating.

Curb your sugar craving by not keeping the devil around! Everyone has their weakness. Superman has kryptonite, I have Haagen-Daaz and Cheetos, and you just may be addicted to Oreos.
Do NOT buy these items and keep them in your house; (the key word here is KEEP) otherwise you are just one weak moment away from gorge-city all week long. Don’t deny yourself what you really love, just buy tiny packages or enjoy a single scoop of ice cream outside the house.  Buying a whole gallon is just tempting fate and then you'll find yourself indulging in a sugar frenzy all week long.

Curb your sugar craving by giving in!  A life of denial is no fun, and the first way to wind up gorging on a bowl of chocolate mousse is to strike all sweets from your diet. I find indulging one day a week on the right things, like fine dark chocolate or a thin sliver of pie. Eat mindfully, and slowly, and don’t waist your cravings on a junk bag of cheap cookies or whatever candy just happens to be around. Eat the sweet you want, and then put the fork down.  Then get it out of the house until that one splurge day, the following week.  One cheat day a week certainly won't kill you!  It's only natural.