How is a craving for sweets born?Yesterday I was visiting my parents. Out of my entire large family, I am the only person who doesn’t load up on cakes and pastries and can leave half of the dessert on the plate. This was not always the case, several years ago I consciously worked on this issue, and before that, like many, I was crazy about sweets and chocolates. How does addiction to sweets develop? - The love for sweet foods is inherent in nature. Mother's milk has a sweetish taste and from infancy, the sweetness on the tongue is firmly associated in the head with the emotions of bliss, security, satisfaction, somewhere even love. - In later childhood, this connection is reinforced, especially if the child begins to be “rewarded” with sweets. For example: “Eat all the soup - you will get candy”, “Behaved well - take the gingerbread from the shelf”, etc. Sweet desserts are complemented by all children's holidays - birthdays, events in kindergarten, New Year. Now it’s firmly stuck in my head: “If you want to be happy, eat something sweet.” Family traditions also do their dirty work. Sweets only after lunch, only one candy a day, a complete ban on sweets in case of childhood diathesis, consolation after negative emotions with sweets, obsessive propaganda of “healthy eating”, “pp” - all these and other family rules create additional mental stress in relationships with sweets food. At this stage, cravings can already become unhealthy, intensified, irresistible. With such baggage, by adulthood a person is accustomed to enjoying one way - sweet desserts in unlimited quantities at the speed of light. It’s logical: the more sweet, the more pleasure, isn’t it? And many people don’t even think about the fact that these emotions can be obtained in another way. Or some people go to the other extreme - they swing on an emotional swing: first there is a strict ban, sugar is white death, and then a breakdown in nutrition inevitably follows, the person experiences a feeling of guilt, scolds himself, and with even greater zeal takes himself “in a tight rein”, and so on for years. The result of such emotional swings is predictable - exhaustion of the nervous system, burnout, depression. Such abuses lead not only to disruptions in the emotional sphere, but also to a failure in the hormonal system, a failure of the microflora. The risk of various diseases, diabetes, for example, increases. Therefore, the first step in overcoming sugar cravings is to make a large list of ways in which you can still enjoy life. Creation? Walks in the park? Quality rest? Bathhouse? What other points would you indicate? What are some ways to enjoy life without sweets? Are there enough of them to feel the sweetness of life every day? And the second important step is to stop satisfying your emotional needs with the help of sweets (I’m sad - I’ll eat a whole cake and calm down, I’m bored - I’ll go have some tea with cookies, I’m tired - I’ll chew more food). If you’re sad, figure it out on your own or in therapy with a psychologist; if you’re bored, think about how to bring variety and joy into your life. I wonder how you and your children are doing with sweets? Write in the comments. Ekaterina online psychologist. Video consultations in messengers +7(914)709-32-71