Tips to Decrease Your Sugar Intake

Sugar stimulates dopamine production. The dopamine then gives us a temporary rush of euphoria while keeping us from feeling negative emotions (like sadness, boredom, anger, loneliness, etc.). Those dopamine hits can become "addicting," - especially if we want to escape unpleasant feelings. When we rely on dopamine to feel better, we increase our consumption of substances that increase our dopamine.

However, we don't deal with negative emotions when we numb ourselves, and those emotions eventually return.  And we may have consumed more food than we need trying not to feel uncomfortable.

 When you allow yourself to feel uncomfortable emotions, you'll find that they usually go away within several minutes. The more frequently you allow yourself to feel negative emotions, the easier it becomes to handle them. When you're comfortable experiencing your feelings,  you'll rely less on sugar to cope.

If you love sweets, plan for small amounts on your food plan, but use sweets as part of your diet - not as a way to feel better. You're less likely to overeat sweets if you allow yourself to eat them. When you know you're allowed to eat your favorite sugary foods, you're less likely to feel restricted and then overeat them. Practice eating the sweet foods you love in small amounts until it becomes easy.  Become a person who only eats foods that are "worth it." And be aware that even artificially sweetened foods may increase your dopamine and sugar cravings.

I'll be discussing more about processing feelings (so that you don't eat to numb them) next week.

If you want help with decreasing your sugar intake, schedule a free, no-obligation, no-pressure consultation at: https://calendly.com/coachbarbarakatz/60min

I stay with you and help you tackle your obstacles until you have comfortably achieved permanent weight loss.