Here are some tips on how to help avoid eating sugar as well as curb sugar cravings, for healthy skin and body.
1.Eat sour foods. Sour foods can help balance sugar cravings.
2.Mineral deficiencies can make you crave sugar. Eat mineral-rich foods and choose Himalayan sea salt over commercial table salt.
3.Eat small amounts of food regularly to help avoid intense sugar cravings.
4.Supplements such as chromium and alpha-lipoic acid can help curb sugar cravings. Natural sources of chromium include lean meats, pork kidney, asparagus, cheese, molasses, brewer’s yeast and whole grains.
Include protein at each meal to help balance blood-sugar levels.
5.Eat carbohydrates that are low GI — aside from whole fruits, which are OK in moderation.
6.The GI of a carbohydrate-rich food is reduced when it’s eaten with fibre, oil and protein. Eat some good-quality nuts with each wholefoods meal and snack.
7.Different preparation and cooking methods influence the GI. As a general rule, the less we need to chew a food, the quicker the glucose is released into the blood.
8.Adding lemon juice or vinegar to a meal reduces the overall GI and blood-sugar spike for that meal.
9.Cinnamon has also been demonstrated to reduce blood-sugar levels. However, use in moderation.
10.Eat the fat and protein portion of a meal first. It has been demonstrated that a person’s blood-sugar level will be lower after the meal is finished.
11.Avoid eating foods that contain simple sugars:
12.Anything with white, brown or raw sugar added
Chocolate, lollies, ice-cream
13.Commercial cakes, biscuits, slices etc usually contain sugar (unless homemade)
14.Honey, jam, maple syrup, Nutella, lemon spread, most commercial spreads
15.Prepared sauces and gravies (read labels)
16.Soft drinks, fruit juices, cordial, alcohol
17.Most commercial breakfast cereals
18.Flavoured yoghurt, sweetened “plain” yoghurt, custard, jelly, most desserts
19.Names for sugar that you might find on labels include: sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, fruit concentrate, dextrose, polydextrose, honey, barley malt, malted barley, brown rice syrup, fruit juice concentrate, corn syrup and corn sweetener.
20.Artificial sweeteners also need to be avoided as they contain chemicals that are neurotoxic and also make the brain crave more sugar.