I am sure that there are a ton of us who are still addicted to sugary sweets in one form or another. I use the term sugar addiction very seriously and know that it is perhaps one of the leading reasons to obesity aside from the dependency of meats. Becoming vegan can rectify the dependency on meat by products, but sugar addiction is another challenge altogether and I write this article in the hopes to help people get a foot up against sugar addiction.

Stop eating sugar – This goes without saying, but sugar addiction is exactly what it sounds like, an addiction. The more you eat it the more you will crave for it, so in that case the reverse could be said about sugar addiction. The less you eat it, the less you will seek it out. Start off with simple stuff and build your way up to cutting out of your life, you’ll be happy that you were able to kick off the sugar addiction before it becomes a real problem.

Sugar fast – This works hand-in-hand with the initial tip to kick sugar addiction, try to take a few days off sugar. Heck, make it an entire week if you can do it. When you do allow yourself some sugar after the fast, you’ll notice that you won’t want it as much as you did before, you’ll usually pass on dessert when just a week ago, you would’ve jumped on that cake faster than an ant could go after a picnic. Because you have avoided sugar for some time, your dependency on it gradually lessens and eventually you may not even look for it anymore.

Avoid processed foods – While this is number one in clean eating, it also tells us that a ton of processed foods has a lot of sugar in it. Kicking sugar addiction simply starts off by avoiding these processed foods as much as you can and eventually if you want to complete clean eating, cut processed food out of your diet completely. You’ll notice that not only have you greatly reduced your sugar addiction, you have also become much, much and have I mentioned much healthier?

Exercise – By exercising you raise your serotonin levels, which pretty much makes you happy. And research has shown that the happier you are the less you will crave for sweets and such, thus another step towards kicking the sugar addiction that you want to combat. Let’s not forget the added bonus of you becoming healthier, fitter and just all around better, we shouldn’t forget that aside from beating sugar addiction of course.

While some fruits and plant-based foods contain natural sugars, these are the healthier options when you transition to moderate sugar intake.

Vegetables are your new addiction – Now that you have a lot space since you’ve cut down on sugars, it’s ideal to push the envelope a little more and go for clean eating by eating more vegetables. Green vegetables are ideal however just make sure you get some with a lot of vitamins and fibers. This will make you full longer and boost your energy levels making sure you don’t need that sugar addiction to keep you going.

Water – Water, yes water, drink lots of it. Sometimes when we are the mercy of our sugar addiction, it feels as though we are craving for sweets when in fact all we are feeling is dehydration and a tall glass of clean water is all we really need. So before you go down the sugary sweet ally of the sugar addiction, try a glass of water first and wait it out. If that doesn’t help you stop the sugar addiction, there are lot more tips coming your way.

Fermented foods – For some reason or another, there is nothing quite as effective as eating some fermented food in order to kill a sugar addiction. Something about the strong sour taste seems to combat our need for sugary sweets and the more fermented foods you eat, the less you’ll be dependent on that sugar addiction. Aside from that fermented foods have a probiotic that combats bacteria’s in our bodies that are looking for sugar. Isn’t that neat? Just by eating fermented foods or even drinks, you can combat sugar addiction and even kick it completely if done correctly.

Regulate your blood sugar – When you are hungry you tend to pick up whatever you find lying around and what is usually lying around is probably not that good for you to begin with. A lot of people tend to snack on something sweet or salty, while this is alright, if you want to beat the sugar addiction and face towards the right direction of clean eating, it would be ideal to eat healthier and make a plan out of it. Don’t let yourself go hungry but don’t binge eat as well. Small snacks are great as long as you know what you are going to put in your mouth. This also holds true for the evening as you need to make sure your body is well regulated before you sleep, this will also help you fight the sugar addiction by getting a regular night’s rest, which will then in turn increase your serotonin levels and keeping the need for sugar at bay.

Green tea comes to the rescue – A lot of people and I mean a lot can’t help but drink their calories, those overly sweet drinks are a major source of calories and sugar, which further fuels your sugar addiction. If you want to go for clean eating, green tea is what you need to start drinking. Not only does it provide a lot of antioxidants that will strengthen your digestion, it will also help you fight off sugar addiction by avoiding the sugars in other beverages. So the next time you think of ordering a soda, think a little and opt for green tea instead. You’ll thank me when you’ve placed the sugar addiction in the trash.

Go natural – Again the sweet tooth and sugar addiction are a tough pair to beat, but it doesn’t mean that you should avoid sweets altogether. Just go with natural sweeteners such as maple syrup, honey for non-vegans or other stuff like that. Fruits are an amazing source of natural sweeteners and if regulated consumption is to be done and not over doing it, then you should not only beat sugar addiction, but you will be headed in the direction of clean eating as well.

Kimchi and other fermented foods like sauerkraut, pickled beets and radish aids in diverting sugar cravings. Plus they’re plant-based!

Meditation – I realize this is a little different from the other tips and not a lot of people meditate, however it has been proven that meditating lowers stress and pretty much gives you time to just relax. Through meditation you can further stimulate your senses to power through sugar addiction by taking the time to reflect and know deep down inside it isn’t a crutch you’d like to hang on to for longer than necessary.

These are just some awesome tips that should work to beat the sugar addiction and maybe even start towards the direction of clean eating. In fact for more about clean eating read my other article: How to guide to clean eating.  Know that you are not alone in trying to beat sugar addiction and quite frankly any addiction is not to be taken lightly. Mix and match some of the tips and see what works best for you and together we can beat sugar addiction.

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