Don't be a dummy: control those sugar cravings.

• Author: DeFigio, Dan
• Position: Weight Control

IT is three o'clock on a Thursday afternoon. You are sitting at your desk, stressing over a project your boss wants in two hours, but you are not making much progress because all you can think about is how badly you want a candy bar. You practically can taste the sweet, melty chocolate encasing just the right amount of salty peanuts and fluffy marshmallow filling. As you begin to salivate, you give up your internal struggle, dig some quarters out of your desk drawer, and head to the snack machine. You know you never will accomplish anything productive until your sugar craving is satisfied.

If this scenario sounds all too familiar, you are not alone. Millions of Americans crave and consume all sorts of sweets--in large quantities--every day. That is not surprising: processed foods, sweetened beverages, engineered sweeteners, and refined grains are pervasive in the Western food supply. In fact, the average American consumes more than 130 pounds of sugar each year.

If that amount seems excessive, it is. Such large amounts of sugar can spark a myriad of health problems such as obesity, diabetes, chronic fatigue, high cholesterol, metabolic syndrome, and much more.

To make matters worse, sugar acts on your brain's pleasure center just like alcohol and has the same addictive characteristics as cocaine: the more you have, the more you want.

Sugar is everywhere, and resisting the urge to overindulge is not always easy. Stress, poor nutrition, dehydration, and lack of sleep all can drive you to grab whatever sugar-laden junk food is handy. That is why building good habits--specifically, good lifelong habits--is an essential task for staying off sugar.

For any major change to stick, it has to be sustainable. That is why you should not completely overhaul your daily routine and diet overnight. Start with one small, doable change. Once you are comfortable with it, move on to the next change. Using the baby-steps method, it is possible for anyone to wave goodbye to what was once an overwhelming sugar addiction.

Here are healthy habits and lifestyle changes that can help minimize the number and the intensity of your sugar cravings:

Eat small amounts of food every three to four hours. Low blood sugar can fire up cravings for high-sugar food. When blood sugar plummets, your energy drops, and your brain has trouble focusing, making turning to sugar for a quick pick-me-up all too easy. Moreover, with this strategy, you will not be as hungry at night, so...