REALLY SWEET craving after my dinner....??

After my dinner at work, bout 2pm i get a real undyin craving for summat sweet.  Now im a savoury person, through n through......well i was, always crisps, chocs, pasties, sandwiches etc etc.  However now all i want is summat sweet, i go to work armed with fruit, yoghurt for this purpose but also i take a light weight watchers snack in case i fancy chocolatey cakey taste, sometimes i just really want chocolate or sweets.

My issue is not with calories etc, i never go over lol, im just curious as t why this happens, only at this time n only at work n why for something sweet all of a sudden????

Any help would be fabb!!!!! Cheers  x

I don't have an answer as to why it hapens, but I just wanted to let you know that your not the only one. Every night after we have dinner I always want something sweet. I guess for me its the "must have dessert" thing. At least you get it in the early afternoon, not at night when it is hardest to lose calories. I would say your doing really good with though. You bring things with you tht are sensible to eat so that you don't succomb to your desires. But yes, if anyones has any sugestions on how to get the sweet cravings to stop, please let me know!!!

i am the same way w/ the sweet craving right after dinner. What usually helps me is a cup of coffee and a cup of sugar free jello (its only 10 calories!)

A lot of it is mentally breaking habits that we've formed.

If you've always had desert after a meal or dinner - or if you've always had a chocolate bar in the afternoon - it is a tough thing to break yourself of that habit. Sweets = instant body gratification! - sugar highs and what not. why WOULDN"T you want desert? Our bodies are sadly designed to want these instant highs!

Aim for low glycemic index foods to moderate insulin levels in your body - small meals throughout the day to keep your blood sugar steady and avoid cravings. Aim for 'food group' balanced meals as well.

Sadly though - the after meal craving? Usually its due to habit - and habits are not something easily forgotten. If you've been eating desert for even 20 years (most of us its more than that!) after dinner - it will be hard to break that mentality in a fraction of that time.

Come up with low calorie substitutions for favourites. Expect predict and then manage the rough patches. Fruits, even a glass of milk (it has sugar content!) can help squash the sweet monster. Good Luck!

Yup, it's a habit that your body just gets used to.  One New Years I went "cold turkey" and after a month or two of no sweets broke the craving.  I stayed that way for years, until I had kids and started bribing them with dessert to get them to eat their supper.  After awhile of that, boom, the after supper sweet cravings returned.

I've still got them now.  I satisify them with sugar free things (sugar free jello, sugar free hard candies, sugar free pop, etc) and with tic-tac's.  2 tic-tacs sooth the cravings and have only 3 calories.  Sometimes if I'm really desperate I'll have a frosted cerel (mini-wheats, frosted flakes, etc).  Not really calorie wise but at least they have lots of vitamins and stuff (unlike a chocoate bar or baked goods). 

I keep some hard candies in my desk for cravings.... I am allowed two per day at work. Two hard candies add up to about 50 calories. I also keep 100 calorie chocolate chip granola bars around, for sweet mid-afternoon snacks. Just because it's sweet doesn't mean it needs to be calorie-laden!

One of the reasons you crave sweets after a meal is because your taistbuds need to balance out the salt you have just consumed. Dinner is typically the saltiest meal of the day and sugar is salts complement. (think chocolate covered pretzels)  If you try to remove some of the salt from your diet your sweet cravings should subside.

Heatholl - Sounds like a perfect explanation, i dont put any extra salt on my dinner though so what could i do to reduce my salt intake?  or would eatin more fruit (sweeter things) before my dinner, would that help???

Jef9up - Does sound perfectly reasonable however if you read my post I have never been a sweet/chocolate fan n have never had desserts, when we go out i always have a starter....im a savoury fan, sweet things n chocolate, cakes n biscuits dont bother me in the slightest....or didnt lol.  Its only last couple weeks since my new eating/exercise regime...'the life change' lol that this has started....i just crave a choc fix or cpl sweets. 

This is more so the last two weeks, could it be made worse by it bein TOM?

THanks a mill guys, n im glad its not just me lol  :0)

It's so funny that you say that because I've always been a sweets person and have been craving savoury since starting to loose weight! I just thought it have to do with my taste buds getting used to my change in diet. But I have no idea. lol.

Try to remember that all of the chocolate we contains chocolate made in the coast of west africa by incapable slave children who get beaten if they drop the 50 pound bags of cocoa beans.

Original Post by nutbox:

After my dinner at work, bout 2pm i get a real undyin craving for summat sweet.  Now im a savoury person, through n through......well i was, always crisps, chocs, pasties, sandwiches etc etc.  However now all i want is summat sweet, i go to work armed with fruit, yoghurt for this purpose but also i take a light weight watchers snack in case i fancy chocolatey cakey taste, sometimes i just really want chocolate or sweets.

My issue is not with calories etc, i never go over lol, im just curious as t why this happens, only at this time n only at work n why for something sweet all of a sudden????

Any help would be fabb!!!!! Cheers  x

I dont have a tendency of gaining weight but I do cheat and steal some chocolates after meals, about 50 to 70 gr each time. I like the dark ones. I also like icecreams-yoghurt with fruit, not the choc and nutty ones.

We should watch out for the sugars, carbs, cholesterol, fats, meats, nuts, ?? Can't we have some fun in eating?

I don't remember where I read it, but when your body is craving something it means it's missing some kind of nutrient and since it's happening at a certain time each day maybe whatever you are bringing doesn't include as much of that nutrient as it needs. Sweet cravings generally mean you are lacking protein. To the same effect when you crave salty or fried foods it generally means you are dehydrated. I hope this helps.

could be a dip in energy, alot of people getthat at night or in the evening. make sure the foods you eatat dinner are energizing. also, it may be from a spike in blood sugar, maybe not, but its a small possibility. if you consume too many calories at dinner or too much of your daily intake at once, you can find yourself craving even more. mayeb if you eat a little more for breakfast or ealrlier in the day your energy will stay up and you can cut a few calories for dinner. it is recommended to get 60-70 % of your calories at breakfast and lunch, and snacks if applicable before dinner. your dinner is so early though! make sure you snack after or else you might feel deprived