I've had a love of sweet things since childhood (and I'm sure I'm not alone here!) but the thing I've always struggled with is moderation and my overconsumption and emotional reliance on all things 'sweet' most certainly was a major contributor to my continuous weight gain through my teens, twenties and into my early thirties.
A lot of my failed attempts at losing weight can be directly pinned to giving into my sugar cravings after a period of complete restriction and when I cracked, I’d fall head first into all of the foods that I’d given up completely and once again, tell myself that there was no way I’d ever be able to lose weight if I had to give up chocolate / biscuits / cake etc in order to do it.
Understanding yourself and your triggers is key to making your weight loss a success and also for maintaining it for the rest of your life, and I knew that I had to learn how to incorporate desserts and sweet things into my life without overeating or guilt.
But, it’s also important to know that if you do want to lose weight, you will have to make changes and there will be foods that you have to cut back on or substitute for healthier alternatives.
A few tips and strategies to help manage your sweet tooth and cravings
1
Don’t deny yourself! Restriction or cutting something out of your life that you love can do more harm than good and quite likely will lead to overeating or binging and accompanied by feelings of guilt or failure. It’s not sustainable for the rest of your life and its much better to have a managed portion of the thing you are craving and enjoy it!!
2
Plan ahead! For me, I decide on ‘what’s for dessert?’ early in the day so I can plan it into my day and have it to look forward to. This also helps if an unplanned biscuit gets offered – I ask myself, ‘which would you prefer the most? A mid afternoon biscuit or my dessert after dinner whilst relaxing on the sofa and unwinding after the day?
3
A few practical tips to help stick to your guns:
- If you find you struggle to stop at one, simply don’t buy them. Biscuits are a prime example of this for me. An unopened pack in the cupboard offers me no real temptation HOWEVER as soon as that packet is opened, it seems to call my name at all times of day and no matter where I am in the house. So we just don’t buy them and the temptation doesn’t exist.
- If you are buying sweet things for family members, buy varieties that you don’t like
- Buy individually portioned items
- Buy the ‘fun size’ option
- Put them in a cupboard you don’t use throughout the day – out of sight, out of mind really does work!
4
Be prepared!!! Always have a back up. A prime example of this is when I worked in a busy office, the tradition was to bring in cakes on your birthday for everyone to share. The problem was that every week, it was always someone’s birthday and if I’d have eaten cake every time it was in the office, I’d never have lost any weight. I always had ’emergency supplies’ in my drawer so that if my willpower was low and I was feeling left out, I could still enjoy something but something much lower in calories and fat and sugar than a cake!
5
Are you getting enough sleep? Poor quality sleep can increase sugar cravings, more impulsiveness, eating more in general, appetite hormone imbalances so have a look at your sleep and see if getting a better night’s sleep has an impact on your food choices!
6
Ask for support! If you explain to friends, family and colleagues that you are watching what you eat and trying to cut down on the sugary stuff, they can become your allies in helping you by even simply not offering it you in the first place. For example, if I’m going to dinner with friends, I’ll tell them in advance that I’ll not be having dessert this time – that helps a lot when the dessert menu comes around and I don’t feel the pressure of people saying ‘go on, it won’t do you any harm this time’
7
Find alternatives! I love sweet things but I know its not good for my health or my weight to indulge in cakes, chocolate bars, muffins every day so finding lower fat, lower calories and lower sugar alternatives is vital to me and I’ll share some of my go to options in the next section!
Some of my 'go to' sweet tooth satisfiers
A low calorie ice cream – lots of supermarkets now offer these and they are really tasty and don’t taste like a low calorie version
Individually packaged malt loaves – they do lots of different flavours now and they are perfect to have in your handbag if you are going out for a coffee and want to avoid ordering a cake!
Your favourite fruit! I absolutely love melon in all varieties and serving up a portion in a dessert bowl after dinner feels like I’m having a proper dessert. Top tip – sprinkle a bit of ginger powder on your melon, it’s yummy!
One of my favourite desserts and probably one I eat most often: a salted caramel muller protein yoghurt, a tsp of choc shot (see the end of the article for my number 1 favourite product) with chopped fruit.
A bit of forward planning with this one but well worth it:
Mix 2 tbsp of chia seeds with 200ml of almond milk and 1 tsp of hot chocolate powder. Leave in the fridge for 8 hours to ‘set’. Serve with a tsp of choc shot and fresh fruit
An ice lolly! Go back to your childhood and discover the beauty of ice lollies all over again! There are so many really tasty low calorie options available (top tip – check out Iceland as they have the best range of flavours!)
I’m a big fan of peanut butter but I also know its one of my trigger foods so I’m wary about having a jar in the house. However, peanut butter powder is a brilliant alternative – simply mix with a small splash of water to create a much lower fat version of peanut butter which is delicious with apple amongst other things
A good old hot chocolate! If I’m feeling the need for chocolate, this often hits the spot perfectly.
My favourite is Options salted caramel flavour and I just make it with boiling water for a long lasting chocolate fix.
Sometimes you simply just want the real deal – a top tip: buy the fun size varieties of your favourite chocolate bars and keep the rest of them in the freezer and just take them out one by one.
My friend’s mum has an amazing apple tree in her garden and every year, I’m gifted dozens of apples. I simply stew them down with a tiny splash of water, a tsp of honey and some cinnamon and then I enjoy in a tasty dessert with quark or fat free natural yoghurt with vanilla essence or another sugar free flavouring.
Preparation is needed for these beauties but it takes a matter of minutes and they are definitely worth the wait whilst they freeze.
Mix together a flavoured fat free yoghurt (this one was a toffee mulller light) and 10g of hot chocolate powder. Put the mix into an ice cube tray and put in the freezer until set
Frozen jelly crystal grapes are probably one of my absolute favourite desserts and so simple to make. Literally get a sachet of sugar free jelly crystals, wash your grapes and then cover them with the jelly crystals. Put in the freezer for a few hours and they taste like boiled sweets!
Another childhood fave:
make up some sugar free jelly, add some fruit and allow to set in the fridge. Top with squirty cream or a dollop of fat free flavoured yoghurt.
Individually portioned bags of popcorn are a great option to have at home or to take out and about with you. There’s lots of options and different flavours too.
Eton Mess – meringue nests are a really good way to get that ‘sweet fix’ and are really low in calories too. I use a fat free flavoured yoghurt, fresh fruit, a crumbled meringue next and a tsp of choc shot for a yummy dessert!
You’ll see these little sweets appear a lot on my dessert trays – these are sugar free liquorice and blackcurrant boiled sweets from Aldi and are my personal favourites although there are lots of different varieties around.
They provide a perfect sweet fix (but word of warning, don’t eat too many in one go as sugar free sweets can have a laxative effect!)
A smaller portion!!!
This was my husband’s birthday cake last year, his family came to visit and brought a fresh cream chocolate cake for him. I chose to have a piece but I had a much smaller piece than everyone else – I enjoyed it a lot and didn’t feel like I was missing out but I used choice power to stay in control and not overindulge.
Turn a humble rice cake into a delicious dessert – this is a snack a jack topped with fat free natural yoghurt with a tsp of choc shot swirled through and some fresh cherries!
My most used dessert products
- Choc Shot – you can find this in all supermarkets in the hot chocolate aisle. It’s basically liquid chocate and a little goes a long way! They have many flavours as well as syrups too
- Peanut Butter Powder – I buy it online but you can also find it in health food shops
- Options hot chocolate powder – I use this to make hot chocolate but also to mix into yoghurts / rice pudding and other desserts
- Flavour drops – I buy these online but a couple of drops added to fat free natural yoghurt or quark turns them into an instant tasty treat.
If you’re more a fan of the savoury snacks, I published a blog post about that a while ago – click here to read! This blog post also contains more tips about snacking habits so definitely worth a read if you know that it’s ‘the bits in between’ that are stopping you from reaching your weight loss goals.
I provide my 1-2-1 coaching clients with lots of practical tips as well as strategies to help with their individual challenges when it comes to meeting their weight loss and healthy eating goals. If you’d like to find out more about my coaching services, please do get in touch. More info can also be found on the following blog post: mealplansmadeeasy.co.uk/weightlosscoach/ or you can call me on 07843 442607 or email georgina@mealplansmadeeasy.co.uk
Fabulous ideas – I have the options and choc shot in but don’t think deserts! So I’m going to try a few.
Aldo ice lollies