There’s no question that sugar is addictive. It lights up a pleasure trigger in our brains causing us to crave more making it harder for us to cut down from it. When it comes to losing weight, sugar can be one of the biggest hindrances. It can make us feel like we’re failing in our journeys and can cause us to beat ourselves over it when we do give in to it.

So, what’s the secret to conquering your cravings and getting on the right path to your weight loss goals? Our mindset plays a large role. Here’s how. 

Willpower won’t cut it.

How many times have you made it a goal to cut back on sugar? The same scenario often plays out—We set a goal for ourselves that we’re going to cut back on sugar, we start out successful in the beginning, and then our cravings hit and we end up going back to our old ways. 

When this happens, we start being hard on ourselves, we beat ourselves up, and blame ourselves for not having enough willpower to follow through with the goal. 

Willpower alone is not enough. There are so many reasons why we crave sugar, and beating ourselves up over giving into those cravings is only going to hinder our confidence, self love, and self acceptance. 

The first step is to get rid of the idea in our minds that we need to punish or push ourselves harder. This will often lead to more cravings and set us back in our progress. We need to change the mindset that not having the willpower is the problem. 

Think of a craving as a check engine light.

When we’re driving in a car and the check engine light comes on, it signals to us that there’s something off. What if we start to think of cravings as a check engine light? Perhaps our craving is a message from our body saying that something is off and needs attention. 

As humans, we use food for a lot of different reasons, far beyond just being hungry or nourishing our bodies. For example, some people may use foods to cope with their emotions. Additionally, people who are lacking nutrition may feel an extended level of hunger as well. 

Once we start to dig a little deeper and get to the root of the problem, we can start to make better food choices for ourselves.

Focus on what your body needs instead of what it doesn’t.

A lot of us spend a lot of time thinking about what our body doesn’t need, and that thinking often leads us to the wrong path. For instance, many of us have said we don’t need sugar because it’s bad for us, but we eventually end up giving into our sugar cravings anyways. If that way of thinking hasn’t worked in the past, it likely won’t now.

So, what can we do instead? Focus on what our body needs. Flip our focus on giving our bodies nutrient dense foods. Simply increasing your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, making sure you’re getting plenty of water and making sure that you’re getting enough rest can reduce our ability to look for sugar for energy the next day. Your body is going to feel good, well-rested, rejuvenated, and satisfied.

More often than not, our cravings aren’t just about the food. It’s about making sure our bodies have what it needs both physically and mentally to ensure that we are feeling satisfied and aren’t going to sugar when we don’t need it. 

Once you start addressing the additional internal emotions or deeper causes of what is causing your cravings, that is when you can start feeling better, healthier and happier, inside and out.