Nutrition
Do you feel like your sweet cravings are inversely proportional to the amount of sugar you consume? In other words, if you eat less sugar, your sweet cravings decrease, but if you eat more sugar, you crave even more? If so, you’re not alone. This is a common story.
While I respect the truth of each person’s personal experiences, I also weigh those experiences against what we know from scientific evidence. Is someone’s reality based on their perception or on concrete physiological facts? Does science help explain their experiences or does it raise further questions?
For example, a review published in the British Journal of Nutrition in 2024 looked at recent human studies that looked at whether exposure to sweet foods and drinks influences sweet taste preferences (“sweet tooth”). Studies in both adults and children found no association between sugar intake and subsequent sweet taste preferences, or produced equivocal results at best.
The authors note that other studies have shown that sweet taste preferences vary from person to person, and that people who “like” sweet tastes tend to develop an increasing aversion to the sweeter foods and drinks when given increasingly sweet foods or drinks, until their preference eventually plateaus. On the other hand, people who “dislike” sweet tastes tend to develop an increasing aversion to the sweeter foods and drinks.
So what else could be going on if you feel like the more sugar you eat, the more you crave it? One possibility is a backlash from restrictive dieting. Forbidden foods taste the sweetest, and sweet foods are no exception. When you’ve been avoiding sugar and now you’re losing control, even a little sugar can make you crave a lot, and a lot can make you crave even more. This isn’t a problem with sugar itself, but a psychological backlash against restriction and deprivation.
Sometimes, emotional eating may be to blame. If you rely on food, especially sweets, to cope with big emotions, your sweet cravings may feel uncontrollable, but you actually need help finding other ways to cope. Or maybe you just have a habit of reaching for sugary snack foods when your afternoon energy is depleted or you’re bored. What once tasted special has now become “normal,” so you have to up your ante.
So if you objectively think you’re eating too much sugar, should you do a 180 degree turn and cut it out? Not necessarily. In part, that could lead to rebound eating as we mentioned earlier, but it’s also because not all sources of sugar are the same.
Vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes (beans and lentils), milk and other dairy products all contain Natural sugar They are found in varying amounts as simpler forms (glucose, fructose, lactose) or as complex carbohydrates that are broken down into glucose in the body. Natural sugars are included as part of a complete nutritional package that also includes fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytochemicals.
Added sugars Added sugars are a different story. Added sugars include white sugar as well as sucrose, dextrose, maltodextrin, fruit juice concentrate, and high fructose corn syrup that food manufacturers add to processed foods. They are highly refined and add calories, no nutrients. And while “healthy” alternatives like honey, maple syrup, agave syrup, molasses, coconut sugar, and rice syrup may contain trace amounts of nutrients, they’re not enough to be a problem. Ultimately, all of these sweeteners are refined and essentially the same regardless of their original source.
The problem isn’t the teaspoon of sugar in your morning coffee or freshly baked cookies, but rather the widespread use of added sugars in highly processed foods, even foods that you wouldn’t add sugar to if you made them from scratch at home. For some people, sugary drinks are a big contributor to their total sugar intake and are a good place to start making a change — the low-hanging fruit, so to speak.
One reason we don’t recommend eliminating added sugar is because it can lead to obsessions and make it hard to participate in social gatherings that involve food. Social isolation is not good for your health. But if you want to cut down on added sugar, there are gentler ways to do it. One is to rely less on processed and packaged foods or choose ones with less added sugar. Another is to cut down on added sugar by using natural sweeteners. If you’re a “lover” of sweets:
- Include fruit in your meals and snacks, especially summer fruits that are sweeter when ripe, such as apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums and melon.
- Roasting or grilling vegetables brings out their sweetness, and caramelized onions are cooked slowly over low heat to bring out their natural sugars and are especially delicious as a topping for burgers or grilled chicken.
- Add overripe bananas or chopped dates to quick breads, muffins, and pancakes to help reduce the amount of sugar in your recipes.
- Add a ripe banana or dried fruit to your oatmeal (hot or overnight), which eliminates the need for additional sweeteners. Adding cinnamon and vanilla adds a sweet sensation, even though these flavors themselves are not sweet.
If you tend to oversweeten your morning coffee or tea, or if you regularly order sugary coffee drinks, gradually reducing the amount of added sugar or syrup can help adjust your palate so that you’re satisfied with less. Again, this is a gentle approach. And if you suspect your intense sweet tooth might be linked to cycles of restricting and rebounding, emotional eating, or deep-rooted habits, focusing on those rather than sugar itself may be the best place to start.
