How to curb a sweet tooth

A difficulty controlling sugar cravings is a common concern among athletes, especially in endurance sports. We’ve all been told that too much sugar is bad for us, so why do our bodies demand it so much?

Some of this is human behaviour – tell someone they can’t have something and it starts a ‘deprivation mentality’, so they instantly want it! But the ‘need’ for sugar is actually somewhat physiological too. Don’t forget if you’re training hard, with a percentage of your training at high intensity, then the body is going to need a readily available source of energy to fuel this work, and glucose is the preferred source.

Additionally, many of us don’t realise that the brain requires 120g of glucose a day in order to control all the vital processes within the body. If this isn’t available, (e.g. during starvation) then the body can use ketones. More research is still needed to see if this is as efficient as glucose.

Before you take this information as the perfect excuse to go and eat cake, remember that we already have glycogen and adipose stores in our bodies that generate glucose for us. Earlier this year, the SACN (Science Advisory Committee on Nutrition) said that ‘added’ sugar shouldn’t make up more than 5% of your total energy intake, or a maximum of 30g a day. This includes white table sugar (sucrose), brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, agave syrup, coconut sugar and high fructose corn syrup.

So if you’re consuming 3,000kcals a day, then your total amount of extrinsic sugar should be no more than 150kcals, or seven teaspoons. This excludes sugar naturally found in fruit or milk (lactose), known as intrinsic sugar.

My general advice to athletes is to use this as a guideline, aiming for a balance over the course of 7-10 days: e.g. if intake is 10-15% on some days then have others where it’s lowered to 5%. That said there are still some good nutritional strategies you can employ to reduce sugar cravings:

In periods when your training volume is high, ensure you base your meals and snacks on nutrient-dense carbohydrates such as whole grains (bread, pasta, rice, quinoa), beans/pulses, potatoes, oats, dairy, fruit and vegetables. I usually recommend fist-size portions at meals and halve this size for snacks – this prevents blood sugar fluctuations, which can lead to sugar cravings.

Four recipes for homemade energy balls

Aim to combine food groups, e.g. a banana with nut butter, chicken and avocado with a wholegrain bagel, sweet potato and feta cheese, or Greek yoghurt and fruit. This also helps to control blood sugars, and prevent that mid-afternoon biscuit tin raid!

Ensure you’re meeting your nutritional requirements by tailoring your intake to your training and recovery. Sugar cravings often occur when individuals don’t recover properly after a high-intensity session. Aim for a mix of carbs and protein such as fruit, yoghurt and milk smoothie or scrambled eggs with wholegrain toast.

When nothing but sugar will do, here are some simple tips that may prove to valuable:

Try freezing fruit – eaten straight from the freezer, frozen dates taste like toffees, usually two are enough to beat a sugar craving. Similarly, frozen grapes are a bit like boiled sweets, and frozen bananas taste similar to ice cream!

Some fruits like berries have a lower sugar load, making frozen berries a great addition to smoothies.

Three smoothie recipes

Try melting two pieces of good quality chocolate into a mug of hot milk to make a luxurious hot chocolate with added nutritional benefits.

Trying to find alternatives to energy gels and drinks for training is trickier – many ‘natural’ alternatives still use honey, agave, rice or date syrup. Regardless of what you’ve heard, these are all still sugars and should be limited in the same way as sucrose or table sugar. Some of my strategies include:

Baked/mashed sweet potato with added salt – this is easily digestible and provides sustained energy.

Banana nut sandwich – a banana cut in half and spread with nut butter. This can be tricky to transport but is a great option for refuelling.

While there’s no such thing as ‘free sugar’, you can make your own tea loaf or cake using vegetables – some ideas include carrot and ginger cake, courgette tea loaf or sweet potato brownies.

For some, dried fruit such as mango, cherries, raisins or dates may work well, but remember that the high sugar and fibre content may lead to GI problems.

Related:

How – and why – to bin the sugar

Triathlon diet: sugar intake

How to beat the afternoon slump at work

Renee McGregor Sports dietician

About

Renee McGregor (BSc (hons) PGDIP (DIET) PGCERT(sportsnutr) RD BASES) is a leading sports dietitian, specialising in eating disorders, REDs, The Female Athlete, athlete health and performance. Her practice and knowledge is supported by extensive experience of working in both clinical and performance nutrition, including Olympic (London, 2012), Paralympic (Rio, 2016) and Commonwealth (Queensland, 2018) teams. She is presently working with a number of national governing bodies, including Scottish Gymnastics, The GB 24 hour Running squad, Scottish Ballet, Women’s Reading Football and England National Ballet. She has also provided CPD to The Welsh Institute of Sport and Sports Institute, Northern Ireland. On top of this Renee is the diet lead for global ultra-marathon events series Ultra X, part of the Stylist Strong Women series and an ambassador for Bath MIND Charity. She is regularly asked to work directly with high performing and professional athletes that have developed a dysfunctional relationship with food that's impacting their performance, health and career. No matter who she is working with, whether that’s elite, club-level athletes or those with a dysfunctional relationship with food and training, compassion and care is always central to her practice. She provides a person-centred, holistic approach. She's the best-selling author of Training Food, Fast Fuel books. and Orthorexia, When Healthy Eating Goes Bad. She is the co-founder and director of #TRAINBRAVE a campaign raising the awareness of eating disorders in sport; providing resources and practical strategies to reduce the prevalence. In 2020, in order to increase accessibility to her knowledge and experience she started The Trainbrave Podcast and had over 40,000 downloads in its first year. She is on the REDS advisory board for BASES (The British Association of Sport and Exercise Science) and sits on the International Task Force for Orthorexia. Renee has been invited to speak at several high profile events including The European Eating Disorder Society Annual Conference as the UK expert in Orthorexia, Cheltenham Literature Festival, Cheltenham Science Festival, The Stylist Show and Google. She writes for many national publications and is often asked to comment in the national press. She regularly contributes to radio and TV, including News night and BBC 5 Live. On top of this Renee recently appeared on BBC to support as a diet lead in Freddie Flintoff’s ‘Living with Bulimia’ documentary.