Sweets – make relaxing more pleasant, are allies in moments of sadness, diversify the time spent with loved ones. They make us feel happier, because after eating them endorphins are released in our body. How can we free ourselves from them when they are so tasty and bring us so much fun?
Eating sweets gives us pleasure, so we reach for them. Maybe even every day. At the same time, we sometimes say in a humorous tone that we are addicted to sweetness. However, such an addiction really exists, although compared to alcoholism or drug addiction it may seem like something very trivial. Unjustly.
Ubiquitous sugar
Sweets, because of their sugar content, threaten our health. The list of diseases and ailments, which are favoured by frequent consumption of sugar, is very long. From caries to obesity to cancer. Although at a given moment eating a bar is satisfactory for us and improves our mood, in the long run it has a destructive effect on our body. To top it all off, we can find sugar everywhere, not only in the pastry shop and in the sweets section of the store. There is a lot of it in finished products, highly processed products, sauces, drinks, snacks, etc. We can find it everywhere, not only in the bakery and in the shop’s candy department. If we eat them at least from time to time, and additionally we do not limit ourselves to consuming sweets, the worse for us. We should significantly reduce the consumption of sugar and, above all, we should give up eating sweets every day. It is not easy, especially if you have your own habits, for example, after dinner you always eat dessert or buy chocolate or bars and cookies as snacks for work.
It will help us to reduce sweets by including more fruit and fresh juices in our diet. Instead of sugar, we can use good quality honey to sweeten our drinks (and more!) or switch to stevia. Shop cakes and pastries are worth replacing with homemade ones. If you choose chocolate, choose bitter, with as much cocoa as possible. When shopping, read the labels – the knowledge of what is in the individual store products will allow us to buy smarter and with health benefits. That’s all we can do if we’re afraid of the effects of eating sweets often, but we can control it. Unfortunately, a case of candy addiction where there is no control over anything requires more serious intervention.
When sweets have an advantage over you
We can talk about addiction when stimulants disrupt our daily lives and we, although we are aware of this fact, still use them. On the contrary, the need to do something – in this case eating sweets – is stronger than our will and common sense.
Addiction to sweets is mainly psychological. We eat sweets because they give us instant pleasure, which balances such feelings as depression and sadness, as well as stress. Physical dependence results from the fact that sweets contain simple sugar, which causes a sudden jump and then a drop in glucose. With frequent eating of sweets it is easy to deregulate the body’s need for sugar. One eaten bar will make you want to consume another one after a short time.
Both addictions should be consulted with specialists. Therapy is just as important here as it is for other addictions, although addiction to sweets or sugar is less common than alcoholism, tobacco addiction or workaholism. A dietician will help you change your diet to a healthier one.