When Sugar is Love
Commercial marketing is sending signals that February is the month of Love. When we walk through the local grocery store it looks like love means sweets.
Even if you aren’t normally tempted by sweet treats, February with its chocolate kisses, red hots, pink frosted cupcakes and heart-shaped candy on every corner can be a struggle. However, we are Overcomers so let’s come up with a plan of attack.
Plan Ahead
One of the things we like about sugar is the instant energy rush.
This is real. Foods high in added sugar quickly spike blood sugar and insulin levels, leading to increased energy. Because these sugars are what we refer to as empty calories, or food that has no nutritional value they also cause us to crash. The crashing feeling leads us to seek more carbs in an effort to avoid the horrible crash. Instead of getting into the carb-crash cycle, why not plan ahead and carry your own energy-packed snacks.
My suggestion is to carry a small cooler pouch in your purse or the car with power snacks such as Greek yogurt, Baby Bells, cheese sticks, P3’s, Sargento’s bites or your own homemade version of those snacks.
Get Outside
Go for a walk outside! Exercise + sunlight = more energy.
Plus, changing your scenery can shift your perspective. Vitamin D is called the sunshine vitamin and the way our bodies get Vitamin D is by sunlight. As a Michigan resident, I know for some climates time outside is easier said than done, but the benefits of time outside are clear. Layer up and get it in.
Hydrate
Being dehydrated can make you feel tired, cranky and bring on the sugar cravings. Make sure you’re drinking at least half your body weight in ounces of water each and every day!
Try New Things
If you know February is going to bring on the temptations why not use those extra triggers to propel you into a new hobby.
Have you wanted to learn new hobbies such as crochet, gardening or reading a new book? Now might just be the time to give it a try. Get your supplies together and every time you are tempted by sugar direct that energy toward your new hobby. Let the sugar craving become a “read my book” trigger, or “time to crochet” trigger. Pretty soon you will have a new habit to replace the old one.
Healthy Swap
Nobody says you have to cut sweets completely from your diet.
We simply want to get out sweets from food in its natural state. Fruit is naturally sweet. Let’s eat that! And if you want to bake something sweet why not use fruit as the sweetener. Did you know in many recipes you can swap unsweetened applesauce or very ripe bananas in place of sugar? Pinterest is full of recipes for sweet treats that use fruit as the sweetener and came be a great alternative if you need a sweet treat. Let me know if you try one. I would love to hear what you think at: sisterhoodofstrong@gmail.com
February is the commercial month of love but we know that greatest Love comes from God. May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he’ll do it!
1 Thessalonians 5:23- 24
And we don’t need chocolate for that.
