There's always room for sweet.
And it's one of the reasons why I'm always looking for 'waist friendly' sweet recipes for us.
But why do we crave sweet foods?
Well, a recent study in the Diabetes journal may be on to something.
We know that as we age, we become less fond of sweet foods.
Think about when you were kid
Sweets, coke, cakes...
We would literally have it all of the time if we could (is this actually due to a lack of knowledge of what the foods could do to us though?)
And we say that children today are having too much sugar? (debate for another day but is it actually because they move less?).
So, as we age, we actually don't get as much of a 'reward' in our brains from sweet food than when we're younger.
So believe it or not...
You probably crave sweet food less than you used to...
Or do you?
The researchers found that this wasn't so clear in people with higher levels of body fat.
They concluded that extra body fat not only impacts how we handle our food...
But also how our 'brain' perceives food as a 'reward' when we eat something sweet.
Could this be contributing to us feeling out of control around sweet food?
Does this explain that when low-calorie sweeteners are used in weight loss programmes with overweight and obese people...
They can actually outperform programmes that don't allow artificial sweeteners?
And it reminds me of a client of mine loved sugar-free jelly, putting Truvia (a natural sweetener) in their tea, and drinking sugar-free squash.
Because just by swapping:
A chocolate bar for sugar-free jelly
Sugar for Trivia
And drinking sugar-free squash...
is this ideal?
Maybe not.
But it was a MASSIVE step in the right direction.
She lost a ton of weight and toned up! (which according to the research may help improve how her body handles foods and how the brain perceives food as a 'reward')
So, how did help her lose weight?
It helped her overcome cravings.
She ended up drinking more water (with the squash) which meant she wouldn't mistaken thirst for hunger.
She consumed less fat and sugar from junk food.
And she knew she could still have chocolate and sugary foods if she wanted to...
As long as she structured her FLEXIBLE nutrition programme to suit it.
Speak soon,
Matt