After finishing your meal and clearing your plate, there’s a lingering sense that something is missing until you indulge in a small sweet treat. Well, you are not the only one who feels this way. For many of us, a sugary nightcap has become your go-to indulgence. 

It’s not necessarily bad to give into this indulgence once in a while. But, sugar as we know isn’t our body’s greatest friend.

Let’s try and understand our relationship with sugar better.

Why Sugar Makes Us Feel Good (albeit momentarily)?

Our feel-good after having sugar is associated with what sugar does when it reaches our brain.

In our brains, sugar triggers the reward centers (basically the area of the brain that makes us go Ah! That felt so good).

This trigger releases dopamine, a chemical called dopamine, which creates a pleasurable sensation and motivates us to repeat the activity that gave us pleasure. 

This mechanism isn’t something bad at all. It helps us choose sweet over bitter, which can mean safe over toxic in the wild. It also makes sexual contact pleasurable and makes us reproduce, which is necessary for the survival of species.

Why We Crave Sugar After A Meal

Out of HABIT

For most of us, this is the reason for craving sugar. We have formed a habit of consistently eating something sweet after a meal. When easily accessible our brain may just lead us to sweets over and over again.

It’s important to remember that restricting sugar can actually increase cravings, so it’s okay to indulge in moderation. Satisfying your cravings can help prevent overeating later on.

But, can we change this habit so we don’t overdo it?

Charles Duhigg in his book The Power of Habit offers an explanation for habit change.

He talks about the Habit Loop which consists of three components: the cue, the routine, and the reward. The cue (basically trigger) sets our brain in automatic mode. In this case, finishing dinner is our cue. The routine is the behavior we engage in, which is reaching for something sweet to eat. The reward that makes us repeat this is the feel-good hormones that give us pleasure. 

Duhigg suggests that when attempting to change a habit, you should focus on altering the routine while leaving the cue and reward unchanged. In this case, we need to change our routine from grabbing a sweet to maybe making a cup of green tea, a walk, meditation, or reading a book.

Over time and with practice, this can help you overcome your habit of eating sweets after dinner. However, it’s important to note that if a daily sweet treat after dinner is a harmless part of your healthy diet, there’s no need to eliminate it completely.

Apart from the habit loop, there can also be other reasons for craving sugar. It is important to know them before implementing any change.

Not eating enough

Your body’s hunger hormone, ghrelin, can make sweets and high-calorie foods more tempting after dinner if you haven’t eaten well.

Eating too fast

Eating too quickly can reduce your enjoyment of food and increase feelings of hunger after a meal. This is because most of what we taste comes from our sense of smell, and rushing through a meal means we don’t take the time to appreciate all the aromas. Furthermore, fast eating can hinder digestion and nutrient absorption.

Stress or Lack of Sleep

Both increase ghrelin, your hunger hormone. Make sure to work on these and seek professional help if needed.

Fighting with Food

“Allowing ourselves to eat what we want, when we want “

Principles of Intuitive Eating teach us to make friends with food. Rather than battling with food, allow yourself to enjoy it. Restricting ourselves from certain foods can result in overindulging, which can lead to feelings of remorse and self-blame. When we internalize the belief that we are free to eat any food we desire and that nothing is off-limits, our cravings for such foods diminish.

Summary

• We all crave sugar. It gives us pleasure.
• The key is to indulge in moderation. 
• To be able to do that we need to become self-aware, allow ourselves to enjoy, and gradually break the habit loop.

References:

1. Duhigg, C. (2022). The Power of Habit: Why we do what we do, and how to change. London, UK: Century.
2. Reward system. (2022, September 24). Retrieved February 23, 2023, from https://rewardfoundation.org/brain-basics/reward-system/
3. Tribole, E., & Resch, E. (2012). Intuitive eating: A revolutionary program that works. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin.
4. Wiss, D. A., Avena, N., & Rada, P. (2018). Sugar addiction: From evolution to revolution. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00545