How to Manage Constant Cravings for Sweets
I can’t tell you how many times I’m asked about this. If you crave sweets daily, you are so not alone. So, what do you do about it? And is it normal?! Keep reading, girlfriend (or boyfriend… or non-binary friend!).
Cravings - in the most technical terms - are defined as an ongoing desire for a specific food. Cravings are specific - they’re foods that you know you want before you see them. For example, wanting mint chocolate chip ice cream from a specific ice cream shop vs. wanting ice cream or even just wanting something sweet.
Because cravings are specific, most often, only that exact food will satisfy the craving.
Even if you simply crave “something sweet after dinner,” there’s nothing wrong with craving sweets often, even daily. In fact, it’s normal to crave sweets daily. Read that line again for good measure.
I’m a dietitian and I eat dessert every single day. In fact, I recommend most of my clients do the same.
But, if you feel like your cravings are insatiable and/or that once you honor them, it would be hard for you to eat one cookie vs. the entire box, here’s what you can do.
Why cravings can feel impossible to satisfy
First, let’s go over why and how a craving gets so strong in the first place.
Point blank: cravings become insatiable when they’re ignored.
Think about this way: let’s say one day you’re craving ice cream. But, you tell yourself not to have the ice cream for a whole bunch of different reasons. The next day, you’re still thinking about ice cream. In fact, you can’t stop thinking about it! But you push on and continue to tell yourself you can’t have it.
After a few days or even a week of this, you finally let yourself have the ice cream. You go to the store, buy the ice cream and once you get home, immediately whip out a spoon to eat it straight from the container. Forget putting it in a bowl and sitting down with it - you want this ice cream now.
By this point, you also find it hard to stop eating the ice cream. You may end up eating more than you intended or even feeling physically uncomfortable. Maybe you even tell yourself that now you can’t eat ice cream anymore, and so the cycle continues the next time you crave it.
Let me be clear: I’m not shaming you for this scenario. There’s a reason this scenario will resonate with so many people, and that’s because it’s super common.
The longer you stave off a craving, the more intense it will get and the harder it will be to satisfy. Meaning, you’ll need much more food to satisfy the craving that’s been put off for so long.
Similarly, whenever a food is off limits for any reason, it makes sense to start to crave it. If you tell yourself that you can’t eat dessert, all you’ll think about is dessert. Just like when you give yourself an arbitrary rule (read this blog for more on rules) that you can’t eat past 7pm, you’ll just want to eat after 7pm.
Inevitably, telling yourself that you can’t have something you really want will just make you want it more.
What do to about it
There are 2 crucial solutions here:
Solution 1) Stop putting off your cravings.
When you realize you have a craving, honor it. Remember, the longer you ignore it, the more food you’ll need to feel satisfied.
Solution 2) Give yourself permission to eat all foods.
I know it sounds simple, but it works. Telling yourself that you can’t have a food gives that food so much unnecessary power. It creates a “last supper mentality” of needing to eat as much of that food as possible before you’re not allowed to eat it anymore.
Instead, once you truly understand that you can have more of that food tomorrow, and the next day if you want it too, it decreases the feeling of needing-to-eat-it-all-right-now-before-you-can’t-have-it-anymore.
Honor cravings in a healthy way
So, what do you realistically do if you find yourself craving sweets every day? Quite simply: you eat sweets every day.
Remember, once you regularly allow yourself you to do this, you might be surprised. You’ll likely notice that - over time - the intensity and frequency of your cravings start to decline. They likely won’t go away completely, but they also will probably feel a lot less all consuming (hallelujah!).
And keep in mind: if you’ve been ignoring cravings or not allowing certain foods for a while, it may also take a while to feel satisfied on a smaller amount. Your body is still learning to trust that it can have these foods, and making up for a lot of lost time too.
My favorite example is this: in her book, Breaking Free From Emotional Eating, author Geneen Roth talks about when she finally let herself have a food she never allowed - chocolate chip cookies - and told herself she could eat them whenever she wanted.
At first, she found that she wanted cookies all day, every single day. In fact, she felt like all she ate were chocolate chip cookies for 2 weeks straight. She started to get concerned.
But then, something interesting happened. After those 2 weeks, all she wanted was a fresh salad. She couldn’t even look at a cookie anymore.
Of course, this example is extreme and I’m by no means suggesting that you eat only cookies for 2 weeks straight. But keep in mind, like Roth, it may take a while at first to satisfy a craving.
But also, know that once you do finally feel satisfied, your cravings will also start to feel a lot more subdued and manageable. And eventually, this will mean being able to satisfy a sweet craving after lunch and/or dinner - daily - with something like a piece of chocolate or a small cookie.
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Remember: it’s okay to eat dessert daily. Even twice a day. One slice of cake, one meal and even one day will not affect your health overall in the scheme of the things.
In an overall healthy diet, having a cookie after lunch and some chocolate after dinner is truly no big deal. In fact, it’s much healthier than ignoring the cravings for them and eventually bingeing on them. And it’s definitely much healthier than continuing to obsess over but not allow them.
Want more tips on how to honor cravings and create a healthy relationship with food? Check out my membership program, All Foods Fit, with 12 thorough lessons to teach easy ways to create a healthy relationship with food. Or, check out my e-book, 7 Days to Make All Foods Fit, to learn a step by step guide to create a healthier relationship with food in just 7 days.
