Do you sometimes feel out of control or don’t have enough willpower when it comes to sugary sweets? Do you wish to be able to consciously enjoy sweets?
You may have already said to yourself …
- “Once I’ve started, I can’t stop.”
- “Oh no, I could never have just one.”
- “I can’t keep them in my house – they’ll be gone tomorrow morning!”
Do any of these common phrases sound familiar? If so, you may have difficulty consciously enjoying sweets.
You are not alone here! Many of our new Mindful Nutrition Method ™ members often tell us that candy is their “weakness” or that they feel out of control around candy. Since sweets are a huge part of the upcoming holidays, these foods can make you feel stressed or guilty.
It’s very common to lose control of sugar, but it doesn’t have to be.
Part of a balanced relationship with food is being able to enjoy the foods you want without feeling uncontrolled or guilty about it.
So read on to learn why these candies are so struggling and how to watch out for sugar.
Why are sweets so irresistible?
So what about sugar? Yes it tastes great, but it’s more than that, isn’t it? It almost seems to control your actions instead of just influencing your actions. Instead of wanting just a little more, you are forced to have more.
A combination of mindset, environment, and anatomy creates that pull or pull that sugar can have.
So let’s talk about why and how this affects us when we try to consciously enjoy sweets!
Labeling of “bad” foods and restrictions
Based on the mindset, we need to discuss the concept of attaching morality to food.
What I am referring to here is that when we say that nutritious foods are “good” while more enjoyable foods are “bad,” then we are assigning morality to the food.
Seems harmless doesn’t it? Not quite.
By negatively connoting an entire category of foods we like to eat in our minds, something called the scarcity mentality is set in motion.
We believe we shouldn’t have said “bad” foods, so we limit them to the best of our ability. Maybe we don’t have them in the house, only have them on special occasions or only when someone offers them to us and we can’t refuse them.
If you’re in one of these situations and you end up with the candy, then the shortage kicks in. Your brain is essentially saying, “This may be our only opportunity to have this ‘bad’ food, we have to have it all!”
Keyword overeating, thoughtlessness, gas, excessive bloating, guilt, stress and resentment. Have you ever experienced this before?
Environmental advice
Next, our environment also greatly influences our decisions.
Is there a certain environment that makes you feel constantly out of control while eating? Maybe it’s buffets at social gatherings when you order pizza on Friday nights or at the movies.
We are creatures of habit and love routine. Our environment plays a role in this! For example, if we are used to eating whatever whenever we go out to eat with friends, a habit has formed.
Your brain now associates social gatherings with thoughtless eating. It may have nothing to do with your hunger level, the type of food being served, or how you feel that day, it is simply the environment that affects you.
This is especially common with candy. It can make you feel out of control around them simply because you are so influenced by your surroundings.
Blood sugar and hunger
Next we have the anatomical reasons why you can lose control over candy.
Sweets are made up of sugar, a type of starchy carbohydrate. Starchy carbohydrates are the body’s most important and fastest source of energy. That means the body needs it to feel energized and can turn it into energy faster than any other food.
So what does this have to do with this pointless feeling we’re talking about?
When blood sugar is low and we don’t feel energetic, the body looks at candy like a gold mine. The body craves them and forces you to eat them because it needs to raise blood sugar levels. It can make you feel out of control and completely mindless around them.
Low blood sugar can occur as a result of an inadequate intake of starchy carbohydrates (intentional or unintentional) or an overall restricted intake of all foods.
5 tips for the mindful enjoyment of sweets
Conscious eating enables you to enjoy sweets with ease. A positive relationship with food, which is needed for sustainable and supportive eating habits, includes being able to enjoy the foods that one would like without feeling uncontrolled or guilty about it. ⠀⠀⠀
1. Start with Eat five balanced basic meals
Eating Foundational Five meals enables you to provide your body with the fuel it needs.
When you’re nourished, your blood sugar levels will be controlled so you don’t experience extreme spikes or drops that could cause you to eat more of those sugary candies. As a result, you naturally eat less sugar secondarily.
Instead, you will feel hunger and satiety the way your body needs it and can enjoy sweets without compulsion if you choose.
2. Ask yourself what candy you have Really enjoy
When you eat mindfully, you can choose and mindfully enjoy sweets that sound really delicious to you – the ones that you look forward to and can hardly wait for.
In return, you can throw away the stale cookies that have been outside for hours or the not-so-moist cupcakes that happen to be on your work today.
You don’t say no to these candies because you feel like you need or should, but simply because you know you won’t really enjoy them. You prefer to choose the candy that you think is really good.
3. Try to coat the candy you want to eat
Often times when people mindlessly eat candy instead of deliberately enjoying it is when they walk past a candy jar and pick up a Hershey kiss, or when a plate of cookies is on the buffet and you grab one every time you leave from.
This really doesn’t allow you to judge whether you really want the candy or actually enjoy it when you really want it.
Plating your food can be a supportive habit that will help you pause and think about which candy you would really like to enjoy instead of mindlessly grabbing chocolate from the supply as you walk by.
4. Be present so that you can fully enjoy the candy you are eating
Mindful eating is something we practice regularly here at Nutrition Stripped, and for good reason – it allows you to connect with your food, appreciate the taste, texture and smells, which will help you appreciate your food more enjoy and be happier.
To do this, you need to be present with what you are eating. That means eating, scrolling Instagram or TikTok, or working without distractions like watching TV. A helpful clue to remind yourself to practice this is to eat at the table, where these distractions are inherently less present.
Then, when you sit to eat and enjoy your sweets, really practice eating them slowly and tasting each bite and noticing the taste and textures.
5. Don’t label candy as bad
Eating mindfully means eating food for both pleasure and nourishment, and not just one or the other.
If you label candy “bad” or “prohibited”, or tell yourself that you can only have them “just this once,” you will have a greater desire to eat more candy.
Take Thanksgiving as an example. Let’s say there are a few desserts that sound really delicious to you. If you think, “I only allow myself to eat sweets today, and then they are off-limits again,” you are probably enjoying too much and not really enjoying what you eat. Maybe you’re forcing yourself to eat a piece of pumpkin and apple pie because you want both but don’t really have the space. It would be much more helpful to say, “I’m going to eat a piece of pumpkin pie and take a piece of apple pie home with me as the rest.”
You can then enjoy both to the full and are less likely to overeat or feel compelled to eat for lack of sweets. Instead, you can consciously enjoy sweets if you really want them.
Learn how to mindfully enjoy sweets
Do you feel like you could use more help to mindfully enjoy sweets?
If so, you can watch our free master class to learn how we teach you to be more balanced in your food choices so that you can become free from food and diet obsessions, maintain a balanced weight, and have a positive relationship with food and beverages Care for your body.
