'tis the season for sugar.
Maybe you started by gorging on Halloween candy, then came all those holiday desserts and before you know it, you can't stop craving sweets.
But one woman tamed her overactive sweet tooth for good and now you can too.
Erin Aselas can laugh now, but sugar used to be her obsession.
"Out of all the meals of the day, dessert was my favorite," she said.
Bastyr's Dr. Ryan Bradley says it's normal to crave sugar and carbs this time of year, but to keep from going overboard, start with a healthy breakfast to help balance your blood sugar throughout the day.
"Individuals who eat breakfast tend to be less overweight. They tend to be leaner and eating breakfast seems to lower the risk for developing conditions like diabetes," he said.
"My mom has diabetes and it's pretty serious and I started getting some bloodwork back that showed I was prediabetic, and so it served as a wakeup call for me to start getting serious about what I was eating," said Erin.
Some patients absolutely need to go cold turkey. Others can taper off by substituting foods sweetened with xylitol, agave, stevia or even cinnamon. But going cold turkey produces quicker results.
"The cravings resolve very quickly, within days to a week or two," said Bradley.
"Once I cut sugar out of my diet, I realized how much more stable my moods were, my energy levels were stable and actually one of the best things about not eating sugar is that you're not hungry all the time," said Erin.
So now Erin reads labels carefully. She's no longer prediabetic and there's another bonus – she lost 50 pounds over the last two years.
Intense sugar and carb cravings can also be a sign of depression, so Dr. Bradley says that needs to be ruled out first.
Sugar raises serotonin levels, but so does exercise and without the crash. That mid-afternoon slump may be a sign you need to get up from your desk and move instead of grabbing a candy bar.
