How to curb your sweet cravings: 7 unexpected products

“Sweets are necessary for brain function.” This statement is firmly ingrained in the minds of those with a sweet tooth, although it has long been refuted by scientists. The brain, however, needs glucose, which is most easily obtained from sweets or cake. But glucose is not only sweets; it is found in almost everything we eat. Almost all carbohydrates are transformed into glucose: cereals, celery, fish, steak and much more. The fact is that our body really likes to conserve energy, so it’s easier for it to get glucose from fast carbohydrates, rather than waste energy on processing complex ones.

The problem with constantly wanting dessert is that it poses a health risk. You need to overcome it not only for the sake of your figure, but also for the normal functioning of the same brain. Scientists from the University of California have experimentally proven that sweets disrupt connections between brain cells and slow down the transmission of impulses between them. If you don't fight your cravings for cakes, your risk of early-onset Alzheimer's increases. Therefore, it's time to get rid of this bad habit. Fortunately, nature has rewarded us with a lot of useful products that will help with this.

Are you hungry

If you decide3 Reasons You Crave Sweet or Salty Foods / Cleveland Clinic to go on a strict diet and completely give up carbohydrates, often replace breakfast with a cup of coffee or skip lunch, then the body does not receive the calories it needs to work. And the easiest way to replenish energy is to eat cake, chocolate or candy.

What to do

To avoid overeating and gaining weight due to the abundance of carbohydrates, you need to adhere to the principles of healthy eating 5 key habits of healthy eaters / Mayo Clinic:

• Don't skip breakfast.
• Drink enough fluids. Men are recommended up to 3 liters, and women up to 2.1 liters per day.
• Eat more fruits and vegetables, grains, lean meats.

Chips, snacks, pickles

A craving for salty foods may indicate the following conditions:

• disturbance of water-salt balance in the body. It is possible that there is an excess of salt in the body and the state of dehydration is progressing. Salt holds water. When the body has too much sodium, it may crave even more salty foods to increase water cravings and compensate for dehydration. It is also possible that there is a process of inflammation of the genitourinary system;
• lack of iodine, potassium, calcium, zinc, magnesium, sodium.

Photo: unsplash.com/@negar_mz

How to restore balance?

• Maintain a water-drinking regime (approximately 30 ml of water per 1 kg of body weight) and monitor the amount of salt. To exclude inflammatory processes in the body, it is worth taking a general urine test and doing an ultrasound of the kidneys.
• Add iodine-rich foods to your diet: red and brown algae (kelp), halibut, cod, herring, shrimp, haddock, sea salt, shellfish, sardines, iodized salt, beef liver, eggs, onions, sorrel, white cabbage, cranberries, persimmon.
• Include foods containing potassium: beans, lentils, spinach, sweet potatoes, dried fruits, fish and seafood, bananas, nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pine nuts, cashews).
• Increase the amount of foods containing calcium: fermented milk products (natural yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream), nuts (especially almonds and hazelnuts), cheese, legumes, herbs and dark green vegetables (parsley, dill, watercress, broccoli).
• Include foods rich in magnesium and zinc in your diet: legumes, nuts, seeds, greens and dark green vegetables, bananas, meat, fish and seafood, buckwheat, oats, wheat, cheese.
• There are more healthy foods containing sodium: sauerkraut, olives, cheese.

Have you played sports recently

During training, the body actively consumes energy and then looks for ways to restore it. This is confirmed by an American studyC. K. Martin, W. D. Johnson, C. A. Myers, J. W. Apolzan, C. P. Earnest, D. M. Thomas, J. C. Rood, N. M. Johannsen, C. Tudor‑Locke, M. Harris. Effect of different doses of supervised exercise on food intake, metabolism, and non‑exercise physical activity: The E‑MECHANIC randomized controlled trial / The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 171 overweight people did exercises to lose weight. Scientists noticed that after long, exhausting exercise, the subjects' cravings for sweets increased.

What to do

It may be necessary to carefully select physical activity so as not to cause overwork. Special nutrition for training is also recommended. Here are his principlesNutrition rules that will fuel your workout / Mayo Clinic:

• Don't forget about carbohydrates. They need to be eaten at 3–5 g per kilogram of body weight per day if training is of moderate intensity, and 6–10 g if training is heavy. These should be whole grains, pasta, fruits and vegetables.
• Include proteins in your diet. Eat 1.2–2 g per kilogram of body weight daily. Poultry and fish are best. But you can use legumes, eggs, cheese or yogurt.
• Don't give up fat. The best sources are avocados, seeds and nuts, and vegetable oils.
• Eat 2-3 hours before exercising. Be sure to have a protein snack or protein shake within 15 minutes of your workout.

What is missing in the body if you want sweets - the root of all evil

Cravings for sweets can serve as a signal that there is a lack of certain substances and organic compounds. Here is a list of the main “culprits”:

• Protein. Contains tyrosine, necessary for the synthesis of dopamine. It helps to adapt to stress and gives a feeling of satisfaction. It can be obtained from avocados, seafood, poultry, eggs, and dairy products. Don't forget to buy bananas, beets, strawberries. Brew green tea, chew nuts, add sesame seeds to salads.
• Iron and copper. They are also necessary for the synthesis of dopamine. They are obtained from animal foods, as well as spinach and other green vegetables. A tasty and affordable source is orzo noodles, as well as rice, buckwheat, and lentils.
• Magnesium. Plays an important role in the regulation of insulin. With a deficiency, problems begin with the heart, and not just with appetite. How to deal with this - press on dried fruits.
• Zinc. There is a lot of it in pumpkin seeds, shrimp, and oysters.
• Calcium. Its deficiency provokes a need for sweets. If you have brittle hair, peeling nails or deteriorating teeth, consult a doctor to determine the deficiency.
• Sulfur. Part of insulin and many amino acids. Rich sources include egg yolks, turkey, chickpeas, garlic.
• Phosphorus. The element is necessary for protein and carbohydrate metabolism. You can get it from squid, cheese, cereals and meat products.
• Tryptophan is the most important amino acid for a good mood. Buy dark chocolate (not dark or milk!), poultry, eggs.
• Chromium and vanadium. Microelements help improve the efficiency of insulin use and reduce sugar addiction. Look for them in radishes, buckwheat, and wheat. Click on fish, offal, pearl barley.

If you want something sweet, look at the table to see what is missing in your body. From it it will become clear what deficits provoke unreasonable cravings for desserts, and how to compensate for them.

What do you want	What is missing	Where to get
Cakes	Fat-soluble vitamins	Sweet potato, cream, zucchini
Muffins and baklava	Healthy fats, nitrogen	Meat, pearl barley, almonds, lentils
Chocolates	Magnesium	Dried apricots, dried figs, raisins, pecans
Ice cream	Iron, calcium, tryptophan	Liver, Brazil nut
Halva, kozinaki	PUFA	Flax seed, walnut, mackerel
Soda	Calcium	Cottage cheese, milk, sesame

You consume a lot of artificial sweeteners

ResearchQ. Yang. Gain weight by “going diet?” Artificial sweeteners and the neurobiology of sugar cravings / Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine show that trying to replace sugar with artificial sweeteners often increases the consumption of sweets and high-calorie foods. This is due to the fact that aspartame and other substitutes do not provide the body with as much energy as sugar. The required amount of calories is not supplied, and the desire to eat something sweet does not disappear. At the same time, food consumption increases.

What to do

If you want to give up sugar, it is better not to switch to sugar substitutes, but simply try to reduce the amount in your diet. It turns out it's not that difficult. One studyC. Bartolotto. Does Consuming Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners Change Taste Preferences? / The Permanent Journal found that sugar cravings go away within 3-6 days of quitting.

Details

If you have a sweet tooth, it's completely natural. Preferring sweetness to any other taste helped our distant ancestors survive. Bitterness in nature indicates poison, sweetness indicates nutrition. Finding food is not a trivial task, and death from starvation is common. Under such conditions, those who are good at recognizing bitterness and sweetness and are highly motivated to avoid the former and find the latter live longer and have a greater chance of passing on their genes to subsequent generations. Including those responsible for cravings for sweets.

In the body, sugar increases the level of the neurotransmitter dopamine - the so-called “happiness hormone”. To be more precise, it does not give happiness, but motivates us to get something to satisfy our needs. In the case of sweets, this something is energy, extremely valuable for the inhabitants of the Paleolithic era. Back then, most of the foods that the ancestors of modern people ate were no sweeter than carrots. Honey is one of the few exceptions.

Then people took up farming and began to eat more starchy foods. But everything changed radically when we learned to extract pure sugar from these products and add it everywhere. And now the problem is the opposite of what faced hunter-gatherers: it is difficult to find food without sugar. It is found not only in candies, cookies and cakes - obviously “sugar” products, but also in sauces, bread, semi-finished products and ready-made dishes.

What's wrong with cravings for sweets?

Even before the Paleolithic, about 15 million years ago, during one of the periods of global cooling, mutations occurred in the genes of our ape-like ancestors, which allowed the body to more efficiently store reserves for a rainy day, easily turning sugar into fat. Today is not a rainy day, there is an excess of sweets, fat reserves are growing, and this, in turn, can lead to a deterioration in metabolic health.

Another danger is that sugar, or more precisely glucose, is an extremely active molecule that can react with proteins and change their structure. The concentration of glucose in the blood is regulated by the hormone insulin: after eating, it is released by the pancreas, and insulin allows cells to use glucose to produce energy. But if the insulin system malfunctions (the first signs of diabetes) or if glucose peaks occur too often (you eat carbohydrates and sweets many times a day), then excess glucose in the blood will gradually destroy, among other things, the walls of blood vessels, which will lead to the development of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases.

Glucose promotes inflammation in the body, which in turn leads to fatigue, anxiety and depression.

Doctors and health organizations recommend that adults and children reduce their intake of added sugar, which is found in almost everything from sugary drinks to sauces, breads, breakfast cereals and yogurts. WHO, for example, calls for reducing sugar to 5% of total calories consumed - that's about 25 g or 6 teaspoons of sugar per day. For comparison: a 0.33 liter can of Coca-Cola contains 35 g of sugar; 100 g of “healthy” breakfast cereal may contain 20-30 g of sugar.

How to stop eating so much sugar?

The problem has two sides: how to plan a diet with minimal sugar content (technical) and how to stop craving sweets (psychological). First, about the simpler side, the technical one.

The best way to eat less sugar is to learn to identify it in food and not keep such food in the house. Chocolate, baked goods and Coca-Cola are definitely “sugar” foods. Bread, sausages, ready-made salad dressing, low-fat yogurt, and cereals that say “sugar-free” on the label are less obvious candidates, but processed foods almost always contain sugar, and sometimes in significant quantities. Sugar can be hidden under different names: corn syrup, maltose, fructose and several dozen other options.

There are also plenty of tricks you can use to push sugar out of your diet: replace cookies with carrots or dark chocolate, eat bitter arugula, play Tetris or take a walk when you want candy, and so on. But they don’t work well if the reason for your craving for desserts is not a love of sweet taste, but so-called emotional hunger.

“Emotional hunger” is a fairly common concept: this is what some psychologists and nutritionists call the desire to eat something high in calories, contrasting this impulse with real, physiological hunger.

Real hunger

it grows gradually, is felt below the neck, appears a few hours after eating and goes away after eating. The meal itself is satisfying.

Emotional hunger

comes suddenly, is felt above the neck, does not depend on time and is felt even after eating. At the same time, eating food causes feelings of shame and guilt.

Watch yourself. If your relationship with sweets sounds like the description of emotional hunger, try to minimize sweets in your diet by analyzing and changing your habits or dealing with the “problematic” feelings themselves.

How to change the habit of eating sweets?

We associate eating with certain emotions and situations, so sugar cravings can be viewed as a learned behavior—and addressed through behavioral science.

Step 1: Identify triggers.

Habit is a reaction to a stimulus. What happens before you order carrot cake with your coffee or open the refrigerator in search of ice cream? Try to track the sequence of events several times and write them down at least in the notes on your phone. The trigger can be different situations and emotions - not just those that you clearly identify as “negative”.

Step 2: Have a plan in place.

If the triggers are clear, you need a plan—alternative behaviors when the habit takes over again. This advice was given to the doctor of medicine and author of the book “One More Piece!” David Kessler Behavioral Experts. The point is that it is easier to resist habits when you have developed a plan in advance: specific actions that you will take when something happens that you are used to eating sweets (trigger). The more often this plan is implemented, the sooner you will develop new automatic behavior that will allow you to cope with the old one. Solutions? Any other actions that can give you a feeling of self-care: drink a mug of hot tea, chat with loved ones, pet the cat, do a breathing exercise.

Step 3. Argue with your thoughts.

Behavior is largely controlled verbally, through mental pronunciation. Eating problems are no exception. This is the way to overcome the automaticity of habit. Psychotherapist Karin Melvin suggests using the ABC model: highlight the trigger (Activating experience), irrational beliefs that push you to eat sweets (Beliefs), and consequences (Consequences). Separately, imagine or even write down arguments that would challenge your beliefs. For example, the belief that the only way to calm down is to eat chocolate can be countered by many others: “Chocolate actually has nothing to do with my situation”; “Perhaps the desire itself is caused only by bright advertising of chocolate”; “The brain acts automatically - why should I follow this decision?”; “Walking is a healthier way to relieve stress,” and so on.

Meditation can help deal with automatic desires and emotions - there are studies showing that such practice allows you to better understand what causes the need for sweets, and consciously make the choice “to eat or not to eat.”

How to deal with emotions?

It is believed that behind emotional hunger there is a strategy of emotional avoidance: candy allows you to distract yourself and not have to deal with difficult experiences. The solution is to stop running away from them. It's a difficult process, but accepting your emotions will increase your ability to tolerate the discomfort that causes sugar overeating. That’s why it helps more effectively than just behavioral methods.

Step 1. Name the emotion.

What feelings does eating sweets mask? To recognize them, the visualization technique of non-diet nutritionist Carol Grannick comes in handy. Sit in a quiet place, close your eyes and remember the moment you ate a chocolate bar. Imagine that you only ate two slices and stopped. Ask yourself: what thoughts and feelings does this evoke? Once you find the definition you want, write it down. This will reduce the intensity of the emotion.

Step 2. Take a break.

When the desire to eat your emotions with a piece of cake arises, nutritionist Svetlana Bronnikova advises asking yourself: can you put it off until later? If you can wait 15 minutes and do something else, do it. And then ask yourself: do you want a cake? Or has the desire changed? If everything is the same, eat the cake and don't beat yourself up about it. The goal is not to give up food, but to learn to tolerate anxiety.

Step 3: Focus on problematic feelings.

A paradoxical method from the arsenal of dialectical behavior therapy. The point is not to try to control emotions, but to ride them like a wave (that’s why the technique is called “surfing”). This is what it looks like. You close your eyes and focus on the experience that makes you want sweets. There is no need to try to change it somehow. Just observe what sensations it causes in your body. So you will notice that the intensity of the experience is not constant: feelings sometimes reach peaks of pain, then decrease to the level of calm. Glide on them like surfers glide through the water. The peak, most painful moments will become shorter, and the experiences will become such that you can cope without chocolate.

Also on topic.

How I gave up sugar and found out the psychological reasons for my addiction. The story of psychotherapist Ev Khazina. Link.

Are you stressed?

After studying a small group of people, researchers noticed R. Sinha, P. Gu, R. Hart, Guarnaccia J.B. Food Craving, Cortisol and Ghrelin Responses in Modeling Highly Palatable Snack Intake in the Laboratory / Physiology & Behavior that cravings for sweets, as well as foods high in fat, increase in those exposed to chronic stress. ConsideredA. Bali, AS Jaggi. An Integrative Review on the Role and Mechanisms of Ghrelin in Stress, Anxiety and Depression / Current Drug Targets that ghrelin synthesis increases in this condition. This is a hormone that is produced in the cells of the stomach lining and stimulates appetite.

What to do

To avoid overeating, you need to find suitable methods to deal with stress. These could be Stress relief / Mayo Clinic:

• yoga;
• meditation;
• favorite hobby;
• playing sports;
• breathing techniques;
• any way to throw out emotions.

What vitamins are missing if you want something sweet, or where the dog is buried?

I have compiled a list of the main chemical compounds. Their lack negatively affects food habits. Try to make up for the deficiency if you want to stay healthy.

Vitamin	Where to find
F (essential fatty acids)	Hummus, nuts, seeds, vegetable oil
A (retinol)	Carrots, turnips, broccoli, cod liver
E (tocopherol)	Asparagus, sea fish, olive oil
D	Caviar, yolk, butter, cream
C	Kiwi, orange, pomelo, mineola, kohlrabi

I think the last point is the most important. I felt a tendency myself - the longer I take ascorbic acid, the less I want harmful things. It was ascorbic acid that helped me get rid of my sweet tooth.

The fact is that ascorbic acid promotes better absorption of glucose and its penetration into the cell. In addition, it is involved in the synthesis of thyroid hormones (which is important for hypothyroidism), helps tryptophan become serotonin - the hormone of joy. When your mood is high, stimulants are not needed.

Enrich your menu with seasonal vegetables, fruits and berries. This is a little more complicated than taking caramel from a vase, but much more useful.

You don't sleep enough

If a person does not get enough sleep S. Frank, K. Gonzalez, L. Lee-Ang, M. C. Young, M. Tamez, J. Mattei. Diet and Sleep Physiology: Public Health and Clinical Implications / Frontiers in Neurology, it, like stress, increases ghrelin levels. At the same time, the concentration of leptin decreases, which increases the risk of developing obesity.

What to do

Need to get enough sleep. If that doesn't work, try these rulesSleep tips: 6 steps to better sleep / Mayo Clinic:

• Go to bed at the same time every day. This will reinforce the sleep-wake cycle.
• Don't sleep during the day. Otherwise, it will be more difficult to fall asleep in the evening. If you really want to lie down after lunch, limit yourself to 30 minutes.
• Exercise regularly. This way you will release energy.
• Fall asleep in a calm environment. The room should be dark, quiet and slightly cool. Maybe a bath or other method of relaxation will help someone relax before bed.
• Don't use 5 ways to sleep more soundly / Mayo Clinic gadgets in the evening. They make it difficult to relax.
• Don't go to bed feeling hungry or with a full stomach. This is additional discomfort.

You quit smoking

When a person tries to get rid of R. J. Wurtman, J. J. Wurtman, M. M. Regan, J. M. McDermott, R. H. Tsay, J. J. Breu. Effects of normal meals rich in carbohydrates or proteins on plasma tryptophan and tyrosine ratios / The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition from this bad habit, the synthesis of serotonin, or the hormone of happiness, changes in the brain, mood becomes unstable, and even signs of depression may appear. And this leads to an increase in cravings for sweets.

What to do

If you want to quit smoking, you need to choose the appropriate method. Perhaps sports and a balanced diet will help some, while others need replacement therapy and work with a psychotherapist.

Why you crave sweets: obvious and not so obvious reasons

The love for sweets is not such a harmless thing. Sometimes it indicates the development of negative processes. This is caused by metabolic disorders, lack of nutrients, and hormonal imbalance.

Chronic stress, fatigue, lack of sleep - everything pushes you to eat sweets. Many people with a sweet tooth have no idea what changes are happening to them. There are two reasons. Let's take a closer look at them.

Psychological

When we eat sweets, the brain produces endrophins. These chemical compounds bring pleasure, reduce stress, and relieve pain. If food is the only source of joy, things are bad.

According to research, addiction to sugar develops 8 times faster than addiction to nicotine. Getting out of the vicious circle is difficult, but possible. Look for pleasure in creativity, movement, and learning something new.

One of the reasons for the need for “rewards” is increased anxiety and depression. Sweets calm and improve your mood. With emotional instability, attention is drawn to dishes that increase serotonin - the “happiness hormone”.

The next factor is simple boredom. When we have nothing to do, we compensate for the discomfort by eating sweets.

Psychologists also highlight a lack of love and attention. We eat up their absence with sweets. This eliminates psychological discomfort and gives a short-term feeling of peace.

I noticed that when traveling, you need much less sweets than at home. I don’t feel like eating cakes and pastries at all. Nothing surprising. The brain is busy processing new impressions. Hormones of joy “well, just load up”, there is no need to eat away stress.

Physiological

Here is a list of objective reasons that push those with a sweet tooth down the path of food addictions:

• Decreased blood glucose levels. It is caused by illness, taking certain medications, or malnutrition. Those at risk are those who follow strict diets.
• Fatigue, lack of energy.
• Hormonal disorders. The cause of the imbalance is menopause, PMS, and other conditions that lead to changes in hormonal levels. During menstrual periods, progesterone levels change, which is accompanied by a decline in mood. We try to restore it using serotonin.
• Poor diet, strict diets. If you don't get enough nutrients, you will develop a deficiency.

Why do you want sweets after eating?

“Catching up” with desserts is a harmful tradition. Sometimes the hand itself reaches for caramel soon after a hearty dinner. Losing weight with this approach is not easy.

Often the habit comes from childhood, when parents offered a “reward” for eating soup or porridge.

The desire for sweets arises due to an improper diet with excess starch and refined carbohydrates, which are quickly absorbed. This is accompanied by sharp fluctuations in blood sugar. When it drops sharply, the body gives signals that manifest themselves as a desire for something tasty.

A possible factor is salty foods or lack of fluid. Pay attention to the sensations. If you crave something sweet after a heavy lunch, most likely there is not enough protein, fat or fiber on the menu.

I advise you not to follow your desires. Better drink a glass of hot tea or dried fruit compote. It helps me.

Balance the menu, do not oversaturate it with light carbohydrates. The more you feast on buns, the more you want. Verified.

Do you have premenstrual syndrome?

In women, before the onset of menstruation, R decreases. J. Wurtman, J. J. Wurtman, M. M. Regan, J. M. McDermott, R. H. Tsay, J. J. Breu. Effects of normal meals rich in carbohydrates or proteins on plasma tryptophan and tyrosine ratios / The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition serotonin synthesis. Therefore, the mood worsens and Premenstrual Syndrome Clinical Presentation / Medscape cravings for sweets appear. And this is fraught with excess weight gain.

What to do

To reduce Premenstrual Syndrome Clinical Presentation / Medscape signs of premenstrual syndrome, doctors prescribe medications that maintain normal serotonin levels and also recommend a diet rich in vegetables and fruits. Some women benefit from massage, psychotherapy, or herbal remedies.

Are you depressed?

In people with depressionR. J. Wurtman, J. J. Wurtman, M. M. Regan, J. M. McDermott, R. H. Tsay, J. J. Breu. Effects of normal meals rich in carbohydrates or proteins on plasma tryptophan and tyrosine ratios / The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition cravings for sweets and high-calorie foods appear for the same reason - decreased serotonin production.

What to do

In this case, you need to fight Depression (major depressive disorder) / Mayo Clinic with a nervous disorder. For this purpose, medications, psychotherapy are used, and in severe cases they are admitted to the hospital.

Do you have diabetes?

This disease is accompanied by3 Reasons You Crave Sweet or Salty Foods / Cleveland Clinic a constant and intense feeling of hunger, and some people binge on sweets. Sometimes this is a sign of high or low glucose levels.

What to do

If, in addition to sweets, you constantly want to drink and urinate a lot, you need to see a therapist. He will order a blood glucose test. Once the diagnosis is confirmed, the doctor will give recommendations on what to eat and what medications to take.

And those who have long been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus need to discuss treatment with an endocrinologist and, perhaps, change something in it.

Fried potatoes, fatty fish, lard, avocado, nuts, seeds, oil

The desire to increase any (healthy and unhealthy) fat content in the diet indicates a low calorie diet and a severe lack of fat. As a result, there are disturbances in the hormonal system and a severe lack of energy.

Photo: unsplash.com/@achera

How to restore balance?

Add healthy fats: fatty fish, meat, nuts, seeds, olive oil, avocado. Fried potatoes can be replaced with baked or boiled ones.

You have compulsive overeating

This is the name for an eating disorder in which a person cannot control food intake. He eats a lot of Binge eating disorder / US National Library of Medicine high-calorie foods (usually sweets and fatty foods), even if he is not hungry. He often does this secretly because he feels remorse.

What to do

If you have compulsive overeating, you should consult a psychotherapist. The doctor will prescribe medications that reduce anxiety and eliminate depressive disorder. Various methods of psychotherapy also help.

You have a genetic predisposition

Scientists have discovered K. Keskitalo, A. Knaapila, M. Kallela, A. Palotie, M. Wessman, S. Sammalisto, L. Peltonen, H. Tuorila, M. Perola. Sweet taste preferences are partly genetically determined: identification of a trait locus on chromosome 16 / The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in humans, the region of the chromosome with which increased cravings for sweets is associated. If this gene is inherited, then the desire to eat chocolate or candy will be higher than in people without this chromosome fragment.

What to do

You cannot get rid of the problematic gene. But you can follow simple tips to eat less sweets. Here they are: Simple steps for cutting sugar from your diet / Mayo Clinic:

• Read the labels. Foods such as sauces and yogurt often contain hidden sugar or sugar substitutes such as corn syrup, molasses, and honey.
• Eat more vegetables and fruits, whole grains.
• Replace the candy dish at home with a bowl of fruit.

Identify sweet traps

Analyze your day and determine what times and places you are most susceptible to sweet temptations. Perhaps your office has unlimited access to cookies? Sorry. Read this article to your colleagues and suggest replacing sweets with fruits. Perhaps you can't resist buying chocolate bars from the supermarket after a hard day at work? Today, give in to temptation one last time, but buy an extra pack of nuts and put them in your bag. Tomorrow, before you go to the store, kill the worm.

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