HELPFUL TIPS TO PREVENT SUGAR ADDICTION
• Get into the habit of nibbling on healthy foods in between meal Chew nuts, raw vegetables (you will be surprised how sweet many of these are), seeds, fruit cheese or even hard-boiled eggs This will stop you feeling you have to reach for the sweet thing In the early days of weaning yourself off sugar, it is a good id» to have fruit, for example, in the car.
The trouble with sugar addiction is that, like any other addiction it makes your body produce abnormal physical reactions – in this case a rise in insulin to combat the rise in blood sugar. Unfortunately, a rapid release of insulin produced in too large an amount in a sugar addict causes the blood sugar to fall about an hour later producing the classical effects of hypoglycemia. These are so unpleasant that it often does not take much will power to stop this self-destructive behaviour. Don’t see nibbling in between meals as bad-make it a virtue by nibbling at the right sort of foods. If you are eating healthily at mealtimes you will probably find you need fewer in-between meals snacks anyway. It is far better to eat six bulky, high-fit meals a day than two or three energy-rich, sugary blow-outs.
• Eat more high-fibre foods and complex carbohydrates. Unfortunately, the majority of sugar addicts like these foods least îf all so this could take a few weeks to get used to.
• Take more exercise – in particular, do something physical when you feel you would like to binge on sweets. When you crave sugar get down on the floor and do some push-ups or some other strenuous exercises.
• Use artificial sweeteners if you have to as a crutch while you wean yourself off sugar, but don’t substitute one for the other permanently. A cloud hangs over the safety of all the artificial sweeteners and using them to overcome your addiction simply substitutes one form of sweetener with another. Aim to be off all sweeteners within a couple of months of getting rid of your addiction for sugar.
• Keep well away from confectionary vending machines. They are disastrous for the sugar addict.
• Research has found that the  vitamins, especially nicotinamide, help kill the hunger in sugar addicts. Whole grains, fresh vegetables and wheat-germ are all sources of this vitamin.
• Eat more chromium, manganese and zinc. The trace element chromium is known to be vital in sugar metabolism, and zinc and manganese help stabilize blood sugar. Zinc has a vital role in taste generally and a recent study found that it can help control a sweet tooth. Ten healthy people were fed zinc supplements for fifteen weeks to see how it would affect their senses of sweet, sour and saltiness. The most dramatic finding was that they could all get by with less sugar.
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