Healthy Living: How to beat those sugar cravings for good!

written by Sorcha McElchar September 26, 2021

Sponsored by So Good Juice – 100% Organic | Home Sown | Home Grown Juices made in the North West – www.sogoodjuice.com

This week, Donegal Nutritionist Sorcha McElchar from Sorchas Healthy Living shares five easy ways to cut back on sugar. Plus, she celebrates the launch of her new-look website: www.sorchashealthyliving.com

Do you crave sugar all the time?? You’ve eaten a massive dinner, yet you still need dessert? What would you say if I told you it’s not you who has the sugar cravings, but tiny microbes in your Gut? There are over 100 trillion different microorganisms that live in and on us. That’s 14 times the human population. Crazy right! These microbes can either be good or bad. The good ones have loads of important functions like

Aiding absorption and digestion of nutrients from foods.
Making vitamins (bacteria make vitamin K in our Gut)
They play an important role in our immune strength
They play a role in our mood (unbalanced Gut bacteria can lead to depression, memory loss and mood swings)

If there’s more of the bad Gut bacteria than good it effects your digestion (you might get IBS symptoms), your mood and just your overall health.

These Gut bacteria crave different nutrients and if you consume a lot of sugar, you’re going to have a lot of sugar loving Gut bacteria…. which will crave more sugar. It’s a vicious cycle, but it’s not impossible to break!

Sorcha McElchar – Sorcha’s Healthy Living

Here are five simple tips to help you cut back on sugar which will in turn reduce the amount of sugar loving Gut bacteria. You might even start craving healthy food!

Cut back on sugar in your tea and/or coffee. Irish people drink A LOT of tea! If you put even 1 teaspoon of sugar in every cup it all adds up. Cut back ½ a teaspoon at a time and before you know it, you’ll be down to no sugar.
Cut out fizzy drinks. Swap to flavoured fizzy water for a treat, but honestly water is best. Approximately 82% of Irish adults don’t drink the daily recommended amount of water. Eight glasses or 1200-2000mls is the minimum amount of water you should be drinking. More on warm days and when exercising.
If you have a sugar craving, try fruit. Fruit does contain natural sugars, but it also contains fibre which will feed your healthy Gut bacteria.
Swap to wholegrain or 50/50 versions of bread and pasta. Approximately 82% of Irish adults get nowhere near the recommended 25-38g of fibre per day and by making this swap you should Definitely get closer! If you never choose wholegrain take it slow.
Don’t keep sweets, cakes, biscuits, or chocolate in the house if you know you’ll be nibbling at them all the time. Even if you choose a press that is difficult to get at it might dissuade you from going through the hassle of raiding it! Obviously, a treat every so often if fine, but if you’re serious about beating this craving you need to cut back on sugar to reduce the sugar loving Gut bacteria.

If you’d like to learn more check out my YouTube video below: