Many people are addicted to sugar, even if they do not realise it. Sugar addiction has become a big health concern today. We are consuming more processed foods day by day. Drinking sugary juices in tetra packs, soft drinks, milkshakes, and different kinds of coffees, sweetened ice coolers is very common. Then, we eat different kinds of ready-to-eat sweet cereals for breakfasts, desserts, and snacks like biscuits.
With a change in lifestyle and the ever-booming business of food delivery apps, access to processed and restaurant foods have tripled in the last five years. It is quite common to order a Starbucks Frappuccino in the afternoon along with a blueberry muffin while you are at work or at home. Consuming such sugary foods increases our desire for it. After a point, our brain drives us to eat more sugar. The more we eat, the more desensitised we get to sugar, which only leads to a higher need to consume more sweets.
So, it is important to break this vicious cycle of sugar addiction. Worry not, you don’t need to go rehab for this! You can manage to break your sugar addiction yourself. All it needs a few smart choices to fool your brain, small lifestyle changes and few changes in your habits.
Easy Ways to Break Your Sugar Addiction
In this article, we have listed three easy ways to break your sugar addiction and tame your sweet tooth.
Roast & caramelise
Fruits, vegetables and even meats can achieve greater sweetness when roasted in the oven or caramelised on the stove or grill. This is a great way to consume less sugary sauces. Add caramelised onions for more sweetness. How to caramelise onions to bring out the deep, rich sweet flavour? Take five onions (5 onions yield 2 cups of caramelised onions), slice them long. Take 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, a little salt, and half teaspoon of balsamic vinegar (optional).
Heat olive oil in a pan, toss in the sliced onions and cook them on a medium flame stirring occasionally. After 10 minutes, sprinkle the salt on the onions and cook it for 30 minutes on a slow flame stirring regularly. You can add little water to keep the onions from drying out.
After 30 minutes, turn the flame down to slow. To get a rich brown colour to the caramelised onions, you will need to leave them alone to cook (without stirring) for some time. Once they turn brown you can stir and scrape them off the pan and towards the end of the cooking process, add some balsamic vinegar or red wine to help deglaze the pan and inject some additional flavours to the onions. Get them off the heat and once cooled off, can refrigerate for days.
Use flavours your mouth associates with sweet
Now, this is a tricky one. The idea is to trick your ‘taste buds’ into sensing sweet, even if there is little or no sugar there. Replace sugar with spices you commonly use in sweet foods like cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla or coconut.
- You can start with adding cinnamon or nutmeg to your oatmeal instead of honey
- Sauté dark leafy greens with coconut oil
- Mix cinnamon with unsweetened to dry coconut flakes and add it to your yogurt.
- Replace sugar with cinnamon or nutmeg in your coffee or tea
Use lower-sugar whole foods
Some foods have naturally sweet and can become great low-sugar alternatives. For example, balsamic vinegar offers a great way to avoid sugar commonly found in salad dressings. For chocoholics, switch from milk chocolates to dark chocolates that are rich in antioxidants.
You can enjoy the sweetness of fruits which are not only sweet but also provide additional vitamins and minerals. Grate some peeled apple, add it to 1-cup of low-fat skimmed milk and refrigerate for 4 hours. All the sugar from the apple will seep into the milk making it a very comforting chilled dessert.
We have some natural sweeteners available on our online store. To shop for them, click here.