4 Reasons You Crave Sweets After A Meal + RD-Approved Tips To Stop

You've finished your meal, maybe even cleaned your plate, but the meal doesn't quite feel complete until you've had a little something sweet. You're not sure how or why it developed, but your nightcap of choice is a sugary treat. You enjoy it, you look forward to it, but at the same time feel somewhat owned by the cravings. You're pretty sure too much sugar is not OK, so let's find some food freedom, shall we?

When sugar is metabolized, it activates the reward centers of our brain, releasing opioids and dopamine, and gives us pleasure1, helping our brains to be motivated to repeat that habit. This is a built-in survival mechanism to help us choose sweet over bitter, which in many cases in the wild meant safe versus toxic. Desiring a sweet after a meal may be due to a variety of reasons.

Maybe you created the habit of eating something sweet after meals, even if you didn't particularly crave it, and now it's an automatic habit. Or your meal lacked completeness or pleasure, so now you are looking for more. Did your meal hit umami? Was it colorful and appealing to the eyes? Did you enjoy it? Did it fill you up? It could be because you suffer from wildly swinging blood sugar levels and your body and brain are seeking the next sugar high. Or you have an emotional connection to sweets, which is related to your dopamine production2, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure. This can go back as far as childhood. Was dessert a special family event? Did your parents reward you with sweets? Or maybe you are genetically predisposed3 to having a "sweet tooth." 

The good news is that no matter the reason, cravings are typically short-lived4 (though they may peak several times throughout a day). Let's break down why you're feeling them and easy tips to combat the siren song of post-meal sweets: 

Our brains are programmed to be on autopilot as much as possible to prevent unnecessary effort. The part of the brain responsible for active decision making and complex thinking is the prefrontal cortex. The part of the brain responsible for habits is the basal ganglia. When our cerebral cortex is taxed throughout the day by typical modern-day culture and careers, the basal ganglia takes over, and we rely on our habits so we can take a break from decision making. If you have convenient access to sweets in your house or work environment, your basal ganglia may just lead you to those easy calories over and over again.

How to stop:

Habit change is arguably best explained by Charles Duhigg's Habit Loop. He lists three main components of a habit: the cue, the routine, and the reward. Your cue might be the conclusion of dinner, the time of day, or when you sit down to rest for the evening. Your routine is grabbing something sweet to eat. The reward varies from person to person and may be a surge of dopamine and pleasure, extra calories because dinner wasn't enough, or feeling relaxed or de-stressed from your day. Duhigg recommends only attempting to change the routine while keeping the cue and the reward the same. Your new routine might be to do five pushups every time you feel the urge to go get something sweet, or make a cup of tea, take a relaxing bath, eat a piece of fruit, or read a good book. Identifying your habit loop and being able to do something about it requires introspection and mindfulness.

Your hunger hormone, ghrelin, will let you know if you haven't had enough to eat. And when your ghrelin hasn't been quieted by your satiety hormone, leptin, sweets and calorie-rich foods after dinner become much more appealing, especially if you are already overweight or obese.

How to stop:

Try pushing your dinnertime back so that it's closer to bedtime. This way, you don't feel as hungry before bed. If you go to bed around 11 p.m. and you've been eating dinner at 5:30, push your dinner back to around 7 p.m. for a week and see if that helps. Bulk up your dinner with fibrous foods—like fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. In addition to fiber, protein increases satiety5, so you may need to up your protein as well. And lastly, increase the total calories of your meal. While the majority of Americans overconsume calories, if your stomach is still rumbling after dinner, it might be a sign you aren't getting enough. Try increasing your dinner by 100 to 200 calories. Fats like avocado, nuts, seeds, and oil are an easy way to add calories to meals and squash sugar cravings.

But watch out, some factors raise your ghrelin and lower your leptin levels, such as a lack of sleep and stress, so your hunger (by itself) is not always a reliable clue to how much you need to eat.

When you finish a meal within a few minutes, you've just capped your own pleasure experience from eating. You'll also feel more hungry after that 10-minute meal than you would if that same meal took you 30 minutes to finish. The majority of what we taste is based on our sense of smell, and when we "inhale" our food, we aren't taking enough time to inhale all the aromas. That limits our ability to enjoy our food and derive pleasure from the eating experience (not to mention efficiently digest and absorb nutrients).

How to stop:

Pace yourself at your meal. Aim to be done with only half your meal after 10 minutes. Sitting next to the slowest eater, putting your utensils down after each bite, and chewing each bite more times can slow you down. Also, force yourself to hit the pause button before you grab that snack. You'll survive the craving, I promise. Remember, a craving typically lasts only a few minutes, so distract yourself during that time to get through the intense feeling. Take a walk, catch up on some laundry, or prepare for your next day.

Simple carbs and those with a high glycemic index and load are digested quickly and spike your blood sugar rapidly6, causing your pancreas to pump out insulin, which ultimately causes the blood sugar to dip or "crash." Examples of simple carbs include white-flour-based foods, baked goods, desserts, candy, juice, and soda. Some people are more sensitive to these blood sugar swings, especially those who are prediabetic or diabetic, which makes you feel weak, shaky, nauseous, or fatigued. This sends you on a hunt for something, i.e., a sweetened food, to make you feel "better" in that moment.

How to stop:

Make sure you are eating enough fiber every day to minimize any blood sugar swings, at least 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men. Choose complex carbohydrates more often, such as beans, whole grains, and vegetables, which are more slowly digested and don't require as much insulin. And never carb it alone! Adding fat and protein to your meal or snack can also help. Watch your portions, too, ½ cup to 1 cup (or less) at meals meets most non-athletes' carbohydrate needs. Substitute regular sugar with erythritol, stevia, or fresh/frozen fruit to lower your refined sugar intake, which can help prevent those wild swings.

If you're genetically predisposed to craving sweets7, that doesn't mean you're a lost cause. Many of these tips can still help. Reach for fruit instead of dessert or chocolate to appease your sweet tooth in a healthier way.

Emotionally eating sweets? You're not alone. Next time you crave a sweet, ask yourself, what are you really looking for? Is it that comforting feeling of home? Is it to remember your grandparents? Is it to reward yourself for hard work or to celebrate an accomplishment? Strategize healthy non-food ways to get that pleasurable dopamine surge such as exercise, enjoying nature, make love to your partner, showing gratitude, or a preferred form of self-care.

We've all enjoyed a sweet treat after a meal, but when it feels like you are held captive to the cravings, it's time to do something about it. While you can go "cold turkey" on sugar or join a sugar elimination challenge and make some progress, avoidance likely won't last forever. Habit change takes a lot of upfront effort and may take a few weeks to up to eight months to become automatic, but practicing these strategies can equip you to better handle the next time sugar cravings hit.