How to Quit Sugar as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)
Have you ever made a sugar confession?
That’s where you call up a friend and admit that you’ve just eaten an enormous bar of chocolate or a bag of SweetTarts in one sitting?
I have.
Telling someone about my sugar binge was a way to release myself from the shame that would lead me to crave it even more.
I’ve had a long and often hidden love affair with sugar.
As a kid, I would find the Halloween candy hidden in my mom’s sewing closet and shovel Butterfingers into my mouth as fast as I could.
And in my twenties, after a long day at my job as a social worker and therapist, I’d roam the candy aisle deciding which sweet treat would accompany me home. Living alone, a box of Hot Tamales or SweetTarts was my companion and entertainment for the night.
As an HSP, my psychological and physical attachment to sugar was real.
Some people prefer a glass of wine to unwind after work. But pass me the sweets.
A 2005 study published in the journal Neuroscience showed that bingeing on sugar daily releases dopamine, a feel-good neurotransmitter in the fight or flight part of the brain.
Eating sugar has been a form of entertainment for me. And at times in my life, the highlight of my day.
Unfortunately, it comes with a downside.
The problem with eating sugar
Research links sugar consumption to low-grade inflammation in the body, increased gut permeability and insulin resistance.
Did you know there’s a correlation between inflammation, gut permeability and anxiety?
In the last year, I’ve seen first hand how healing your gut can reduce anxiety. Quitting sugar has been a key step for me.
But quitting sugar is hard because it’s super addictive. It triggers the brain’s reward centers in the same way that cocaine does.
Take heart. I finally managed to get the bags of jelly beans out of my bedside table. Here’s how you can too.
How to quit sugar as an HSP
1.Deciding to quit sugar is a leap of faith. While you’re still eating sugar, it’s hard to imagine that you can give it up. The psychological and physical attachment is so real. You just have to decide why this is important to you, choose a start date, create your plan for success. And start.
2.Know that the first few days are the hardest. You will have waves of cravings until the sugar is out of your system. Have you ever been haunted by the memory of a Coke you had the day before? I have. You can still taste the sweet bubbly goodness. So when you crave something like this, just label it as history coming out.
3.Get it out of the house, or at least hide it up and out of sight. When I’m in the early stages of quitting and until I’ve got it out of my system, I will go to great lengths to get sugar. That means it’s got to be out of the house or locked in a cabinet high out of reach for me to leave it alone.
4.Figure out what you’ll eat instead. When the tension of a sugar craving takes hold of my body, knowing that I can’t have it intensifies the stress and longing for it. Turn that switch off by giving yourself permission to eat something else. For me, a spoonful of peanut butter or almond butter does the trick to calm my cravings. Eat it with a wedge of 70% dark chocolate, if it doesn’t make you feel jittery (many HSPs can’t do even low-levels of caffeine). Having a cup of hot tea that’s sweetened with licorice root also works for me. Try a zesty ginger tea or lemon in hot water. Really, any tea with a strong flavor can work.
5.Don’t swap sweets with salty potato chips. Avoid salty foods, which will trigger cravings for sugar. Stay away from super salty olives, potato chips, and salty cheeses. And if you stop adding salt to your food, your cravings for sugar will naturally lessen.
6.Eat healthy fat, protein and veggies to feel satiated. Fat, protein and fiber help balance your blood sugar. For fat, try nuts or nut butter, seeds or avocado. For protein, have eggs, 4 ounces of chicken or fish. Or try vegetable protein, like beans or tofu. Get enough leafy and green vegetables for the fiber and nutrients.
7.Make sure you eat enough. Eat until you're full, otherwise you may mistake hunger for a sugar craving and graze on sugar until you’re stuffed.
8.Get enough sleep. Cravings for energy can lead to cravings for sweets. Plus, fatigue weakens your resolve to stay away from it.
9.Have naturally sweet foods and combine them with healthy fat. Try apple slices with peanut butter. A sweet potato with coconut oil and a dash of cinnamon. At times, naturally sweet things have triggered sugar cravings for me, so observe your body’s reaction and avoid them if they do.
10.If you have a craving, try to figure out what’s causing it. Remember BATTHHL. Are you Bored, Angry, Thirsty, Tired, Happy, Hungry or Lonely? Do you need protein or fat? Did you eat enough vegetables? Is something you ate a few days ago haunting you?
11.Swap guilt with gratitude. There will come a time when you think of yourself as a non-sugar eater, but you’ll be eating sugar again without realizing it. Don’t beat yourself up about it. Shame and stressing about it will only trigger your brain to want more. Instead, short circuit that part of your brain by finding something to be grateful for. Like the fact that you stopped at one bar of chocolate instead of three and look for what you can learn from the experience.
12.Slipping up gives you good information. If you slip up, notice how you feel from the sugar. If you’re sleepy, unfocused, jittery, impatient and hangry afterwards, this is exactly why you quit. Use these symptoms to strengthen your resolve to stay away from it. And get back on track.
13.Remember, it’s easier to stay away from it than to quit again. Be careful about giving yourself special holiday exceptions. If you give yourself a planned treat, make it something small and portion controlled. If you’ve been off sugar and then eat it again, it should taste too sweet. But if you ignore your taste buds and have a sugar binge, you’ll have to go through the whole quitting process again. It’s easier to just avoid it altogether.
14.Have an excellent reason for being off sugar that helps you stay the course. Mine is healing my gut microbiome and feeling less anxious. I’ve made so much progress with rebuilding gut health and internal calm in the last year, I don’t want to backslide and have my middle of the night angst come back.
The truth about quitting sugar as an HSP
Here’s what I’m sure of.
If I can do this, you can do this too.
Know that quitting sugar is totally worth doing.
Eating sweets makes a highly sensitive person feel more vulnerable.
Removing it from your life is freeing. You can finally stop battling cravings and the internal arguments you have with yourself about whether to eat something sweet. Plus you no longer feel bloated and sick, losing hours to a sugar coma.
Life is sweeter without sugar.
Give it a shot and see how you feel.