To overcome these cravings for carbs, the first thing to do is to understand a little bit about what carbohydrates are and how the body uses them.

Carbohydrates are found in just about every food we eat, even vegetables. While I’m sure by now you’ve heard of low carb diets and maybe even have tried a few of them, the bottom line is that carbohydrates alone are not your enemy when it comes to losing weight and dieting. A carrot has carbohydrates – is eating carrots going to make you fat? Of course not.

The problem is there are different kinds of carbs and that is where it starts getting confusing and where a lot of diets have problems.

Here are a few examples of different types of carbohydrates:

Complex Carbohydrates: These carbs are the best type for weight loss because they do not get released immediately into your blood stream. Your body takes longer to digest and process them, so when eating them you don’t release glucose as quickly which keeps your blood sugar levels in balance. Foods that fall into this category include whole grains, potatoes, and other starchy vegetables.

Simple Carbohydrates: These are the worst for your diet, as these foods get absorbed pretty much immediately and can cause your glucose levels to quickly rise which can great influence cravings and the other symptoms of sugar addiction.

Glycemic Index: Carbohydrates are also classified by whether they have a high glycemic or low glycemic index. Again, this is much like simple vs. complex – the higher rated foods will be absorbed faster and cause your insulin levels to rise, the lower rated ones do not cause that dramatic spike in your blood sugar levels.

Now that we have a basic understanding of carbs, the next step if you want to overcome those cravings for good and start losing weight is to learn about which carbs are okay to eat, how to eat them, and what to avoid.

Here are a few pointers:

1. Balance Carbs With Protein: You should always try and balance carbs with proteins when possible, as this will help reduce how quickly it goes into your blood stream and help keep glucose levels from shooting up that could cause you to crave them.

2. Skip the Sugar: Eating sugar will obviously have an impact on your blood sugar levels. For some the effect might not be dramatic, but many people can have huge mood swings or feel extreme changes in energy levels such as feeling very tired when they eat too much sugar.

3. Eat Unrefined Carbohydrates: When foods such as grains are refined it can turn them from complex carbohydrates into simple ones. This is why when dieting it is very important to eat whole grains primarily – whole grain pasta, whole grain bread, whole grain rice. These ones do not impact your glycemic index as quickly as refined grains found in food such as white bread and regular pasta.

4. Learn the Best Ones to Eat: Learning the best carbs to eat when balancing with protein during meals will greatly help you in losing weight. Here’s a short list of which ones will help you fight cravings and lose weight: All Whole Vegetables, Whole grain bread, whole grain cereal, whole grain rice, whole fruits, seeds, beans, nuts, and legumes.

Once you start eating right, you’ll notice that your cravings lessen within just a few days to a week for some. It’s not the easiest thing to do, but getting a head start on eating right can greatly help with overcoming carbohydrate cravings.

Another thing that is interesting to consider is that your cravings for carbohydrates could be a signal that you are actually intolerant of gluten, a protein found in wheat, barely, and rye. While speaking to your doctor and testing is the only way to know for sure if you are sensitive to gluten, it is something to look into and research further. Many people are shocked once they stop eating wheat in their diets how quickly pounds melt off – as well as other health benefits they may see.

Have any thoughts or questions? Share them in the comments below!

The signs of sugar addiction are not typically easy to recognize. Many people never realize they are addicted to sweet foods or realize how much sugar affects mood and emotions. However, before you can understand how to stop sugar cravings, you really need to first understand sugar addiction. Before you start asking yourself questions like Does Hoodia Work? or trying all kinds of other supplements that can be dangerous, you owe it to yourself to just overcome your sugar cravings instead. It’s safer, better for you – you’ll lose weight – and it’s not going to cost you any money.

Here are some of the signs of sugar addiction:

• Feeling hyper or extremely tired after eating sugary or enriched grains (caused by change in blood sugar)
• Inability to go more than 24 hours without craving something sweet
  Irritability when having too much or not enough sugar (this is caused by changes in your blood sugar)
• Symptoms associated with diabetes symptoms (increased thirst, increased urination, yeast infections, etc.) yet after talking to doctor and being tested not diabetic
• Irregular eating habits
• Cakes, cookies, etc. irresistible even when not hungry
• Sugar and Enriched grains make up more than half of your day’s meals
• Drinking more than 1 regular soda per day
• Weight gain or inability to lose weight
• Spending 15% or more of your grocery budget on sweet foods

As you can see, the signs of sugar addiction can really affect your life in a negative way. Mood changes and changes in energy levels are two symptoms of sugar addiction that can really impact the way you treat others, think of yourself, your ability to focus on projects, and more.

The good news is you CAN stop sugar cravings. It’s not easy, but it is possible.

Here are 10 ways how to stop sugar cravings:

1. Get rid of anything sugary in your house: It’s hard to do, but if you want to stop sugar cravings, you need to eliminate the sugary foods in your house. You can choose to donate the food or simply stop buying it. (If you’re a sugar addict, you’ll find you go through those sweet foods fast enough that you won’t be waiting very long!)

2. Switch to Whole Grains: For many people enriched grains are processed through your body as sugar – meaning they can affect you the same as eating sugar can. Talk to your doctor about whole grains, and its likely they will agree you should eat more of them. Carbs are not the enemy necessarily – it is the carbs that are not whole grain that can deter your weight loss progress! You can switch to whole grain bread, whole grain rice, whole wheat pasta, and more. If you don’t like the taste at first, try going gradually half and half.

3. Look for Sugar Free & No Sugar Added Products: Many foods come in “sugar free”, “diet”, or “no sugar added versions”. Buy only these versions of the product from now on, if buying them at all. While artificial sweeteners are not great for you, it can help you gradually wean yourself off of sugar. However, you will need to stop eating these foods eventually or you could potentially fall back into the sugar habit easily.

4. Drink More Water: If you are a sugar addict, it’s very likely you do not drink enough water. Drink at least 3 glasses of water each day with no sweeteners or flavorings. Just plain old good water!

5. Eat More Vegetables: The more veggies you eat, the less likely you will be tempted to go to sugary foods. It will also occupy you long enough to hopefully get through the sugar craving.

6. Exercise: Exercising will make you healthier and stronger. The stronger and healthier you are, the easier it is to fight cravings. It can also help alleviate stress or boredom that may cause you to eat sugar when you really shouldn’t be!

7. Find replacement habits: Eating sugar can be associated with many habits. For example, maybe you put sugar in your coffee and tea regularly and stir it with a spoon. Often when you don’t add sugar to coffee, you wouldn’t think to put a spoon in it since it is not needed. Try having your coffee black – but with a spoon. Stirring the spoon keeps the habit, but without the sugar.

8. Get enough rest: Sugar affects your blood sugar levels, which affect your energy levels. If you aren’t on a regular sleeping routine, try to make it so you go to bed at the same time each night and wake the same time each morning. This will make you less likely to reach for a candy bar the next time you are feeling tired because you subconsciously need a boost.

9. Don’t give up if you cheat: If you gobble down a cookie after being sugar free all day, don’t despair and don’t give up. Just make a promise yourself to start over. Everybody struggles with giving up something – just because you have one slip doesn’t mean your doomed to not go through with continuing to live sugar free.

10. Identify and avoid triggers: Certain things make you crave sugar more than others. As I said above with getting enough sleep, it is important that you do not do things that make your body crave sugar. Some common triggers are needing more energy, boredom, depression, stress, etc. By finding alternative ways to deal with or completely avoid these triggers, you’ll learn how to stop sugar cravings for good.

It’s not easy giving up sugar for good, especially if you are a sugar addict! Even if you give it up for a few weeks or months, a relapse is possible for any former sugar addict. It’s important to take note of how much sugar you are getting each day and how it affects your overall mood. By doing this, you will likely see an improvement on days you go sugar free compared to days you had too much sugar. Have any other tips on how to stop sugar cravings? Feel free to leave your stop sugar cravings advice in the comments below.

You may also be interested in these about sugar addiction:

• Stop Sugar Cravings and Lose Weight Naturally
• Naturally Sweet Recipes – No Sugar Added
• Stop Sugar Cravings