When people eat sweets to satisfy more than one need, there may be more to it than just a craving for sweets. Unconsciously, we crave sweets when we have emotional or psychological problems, such as a bad day at work, problems with a love partner, money worries, etc. The first step to managing these cravings is to recognize them for what they are and understand the reasons for them.
Crave sweets
We have learned from our clients that the attitudes, behaviors and habits that seem to lead to cravings can be linked to their formative years through the study of feedback and close observation. Friends, peers, and family members all seem to have an influence, but primary caregivers are often the main sources of this conditioning effect.
Below are the reasons we have obtained from client situations to provide evidence of how this early conditioning occurs and how it can have long-term effects. Please keep in mind
“As long as you don’t eat everything on your plate, you don’t get any candy!”
This was a common punishment method used by parents, grandparents, and even babysitters in many of our clients’ households. Although the goal of this method was to instill discipline, it had the opposite effect because it made candy a special prize in the eyes of children and forced them to eat too much to get it.
Long-term training of this tactic leads to the development of a habit. This tendency has led to children eating even when they are already full. They are naturally compelled to have something sweet to round out the meal. Sometimes even when there is no longer a need, simply out of habit.
Some of our customers recall that when they were young, they often received snacks as a reward for good grades, good behavior, good athletic performance or other notable achievements. Giving them a way to streamline is all that can ultimately be accomplished.
The effects of long-term training
This programming led to a natural craving for sweets after successes or other accomplishments in adulthood.
Unfortunately, the parents of some of our clients were big contributors to the negative conditioning by giving them candy to calm them down. Candy was given to children in this situation to stop them from crying, being sad, or acting out.
Effect of long-term training: in most cases, this training resulted in our clients immediately reaching for candy to numb unpleasant emotions or negative feelings instead of dealing with them.
One client who struggled with her weight had a difficult upbringing. Her grandmother had tried to make her life a little easier by spending time with her and frequently taking her out for fish and chips. Of course, this client felt these were fond, incredibly intimate memories that also still had to do with… Food.
Effects of Long-Term Conditioning The client immediately began eating fish and chips to comfort herself when she felt unpleasant emotions such as anger, sadness, disappointment, or fear, unknowingly reliving a pleasant memory to ease the pain. This was a direct result of these bad experiences. When the client learned about the conditioning response, she realized why she was feeling these desires. Previously, she had not understood why she had them. This is often the first step to healing, as mentioned earlier.
Several of our clients state that they had a hard time controlling themselves when eating sweets because they were either forbidden to do so or, if they did, they suffered the consequences.
Long-term conditioning effect: as a result, they are now motivated to eat as many sweets as possible whenever they are offered them.
Last but not least, one of our clients only had childhood memories of eating sweets. This client’s mother was the “problem component” that we were able to identify as her “sugar addiction.” It was clear that her mother not only regularly gobbled up sweets for herself, but also geared most of her activities toward it.
Conclusion
Long-term conditioning effect: As a result, thinking about sweets was part of the client’s usual adult routine. She also admitted that she could not stop thinking about sweets whether she was working, shopping, driving home, meeting with friends, or doing anything else. This, of course, affected her health and herZ.