5 Healthier Ways to Satisfy Your Sugar Cravings

By Ashley Meyer, Marketing Coordinator at Southwest Health

For many of us it would be unrealistic to completely cut our sweet tooth cravings from our diets. So here’s some easy tips for satisfying those cravings, while still being mindful of nutrition.

1. Combine Foods – Combine nutritious foods with your craving foods.  Here’s some tasty ideas for you to try: dark chocolate and coconut almonds, peanut butter and chocolate pretzels, berries with pudding, chocolate dipped strawberries, or simply toss a few chocolate chips into your trail mix.
2. Smoothies – With so many smoothie combinations out there, satisfying your sweet tooth with a delicious smoothie can be kind of fun.  One of my favorite smoothie recipes is a chocolate, raspberry, spinach, and Greek vanilla yogurt combination.  I realize the chocolate isn’t fantastically healthy for me, but if it helps me eat spinach, it’s worth the trade off (in appropriate portions).
3. Keep Fruit Handy – Fruit has natural sugars in it, so while you won’t be eliminating sugar altogether with this option, you will at least be choosing sugars that are paired with nutrients and fiber.
4. Don’t Skip Meals/Snacks – Cravings are a lot less frequent when we don’t allow our bodies to feel starved.  By eating smaller portions, but more frequently, you can help yourself avoid irrational eating behaviors.
5. Be Realistic – If you know that you’ll be more successful by cutting back on sweets, but not eliminating your favorite cravings altogether, then focus on portioning better.  When picking your treats, plan them out for the week, and choose quality over quantity.  If your favorite treat is chocolate, instead of reaching for a king-size candy bar, opt for a really high-quality brand of chocolate and buy a bag of smaller individually wrapped pieces.  Then limit yourself to 1 piece every other day and eat it slowly, allowing yourself to savor every bite of your delicious, high-quality treat.  By doing this, you’ll likely find that while you eat less sweets, you enjoy them more!