If you wake up bloated, feeling sluggish, possibly constipated, dehydrated and exhausted because you tossed and turned all night, you may be coming off of a sugar binge. It happens to the best of us! Sugar is addictive, after all, and that’s why once you put that first piece of candy/cookie/slice of cake in your mouth, it’s hard to stop yourself from eating more. The desire for one more bite is stronger than the desire to not feel awful the next day. Isn’t that the nature of any addiction, really? Sugar is no different. If you’re like most people, you probably want to hide away the day after a sugar binge. You want to cancel plans and just wait until you feel back to normal. But you don’t need to hibernate for 48 hours to feel ready to face the world again. There are ways you can detox quickly. Here is how to recover from a sugar binge.
Throw out the evidence
The same way you might want to hair of the dog a hangover with more alcohol, your brain may tell you to reach for more sugar right now. So throw away any leftovers from yesterday’s binge so you don’t repeat your mistake.
Don’t skip breakfast
You may want to starve yourself because you’re so angry with yourself about this sugar binge. But your body is going to face enough of a blood sugar crash as it is right now, and skipping breakfast will only make that worse. In fact, skipping breakfast will make you crave sugar more later.
Find a new happy
First off, you should address the depression that comes the day after a sugar binge. Sugar gives you a small burst of dopamine and since you had a lot last night, today you’re coming down and you feel down because of it. So put on happy music, meditate and call a friend who makes you laugh—you’re going to need another source of dopamine if you’re going to resist reaching for more sugar.
Tell your friend
You probably want to conceal this sugar binge, but you should be open about it. If you tell your friend about it, she’ll probably tell you about a time she did a very similar thing. You can swap sugar war stories and realize that you’re not weak or weird—everybody gives into the sugar binge sometimes!
Take a quick walk
You have all that sugar in your body, right? And the energy that comes with it? So use it, rather than storing it. While you may want to sleep on the couch all day, you should get out for some exercise. This will also give you endorphins to beat the post-binge blues.
Drink a lot of water
Sugar binges throw off your leptin levels—these are the hormones that control how satisfied you feel by food. This happens because you’re dehydrated so make sure to have tons of water the day after a sugar binge.
Get some good fat and protein
Try having some avocado with hummus, peanut butter on celery, or plain nuts. Your blood sugar is all over the place right now—spiking, then dropping—making your appetite hard to handle. Getting some healthy fats and protein in your system will even things out.
Fixate on fiber
Get plenty of fiber. There’s nothing like a good bowel movement to help you feel like you’ve released some of yesterday’s mistakes—literally. Fiber will also help moderate your appetite today and give you a healthy way to cut calories because small portions of it fill you up
Skip the carbs
You want your body to burn the sugar as soon as possible. If you consume carbohydrates, your body will prioritize burning those. So skip the toast at breakfast so your body can go right for the sugar for energy.
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