Mindset (32)

Life can be really hard, and today's political climate (and fallout from) is a lot. And let's be real—it's not getting better anytime soon.

This means we have two choices: let stress run the show or take control of how we manage ourselves.

Sugar cravings are something almost everyone experiences, but have you ever wondered why they happen and how to control them without feeling deprived? In this post, we'll explore the science behind sugar cravings, how to recognize patterns, and build better habits.

Sugar Cravings Don't Have to Control Your Day

Sugar cravings aren't just about willpower—they're rooted in biology, habits, and emotions. Understanding why they happen is the first step to breaking the cycle.

Sugar cravings are something almost everyone experiences, but have you ever wondered why they happen and how to control them without feeling deprived? In this post, we'll explore the science behind sugar cravings, how to recognize patterns, and build better habits.

Identifying WHY Your Sugar Cravings Are Happening

Are you tired?

Nothing will wreak havoc on your goals or motivation like poor sleep. If you're not getting enough sleep, you can be sure your body will find ways to plug energy gaps in the days and often with quick boosts of energy.

Are You Balancing Your Blood Sugar?

Eating too many refined carbs or sugary foods causes rapid spikes in blood sugar, giving you a quick burst of energy. However, these spikes are followed by sharp crashes, leaving you feeling tired, hungry, and craving more sugar to bring levels back up. This cycle can make sugar cravings feel relentless.

What Gut Bacteria Are You Feeding?

Your gut bacteria play a major role in cravings. The microbes in your digestive system adapt to what you eat most often. If you frequently consume sugar, your gut bacteria will start to demand more, reinforcing cravings and making it harder to cut back.

Does Sugar Make You Feel Good (… for a minute)?

Sugar activates the brain's reward system by triggering the release of dopamine, the "feel-good" chemical. This creates a sense of pleasure and reinforces the habit of eating sugar. Over time, your brain starts to crave that dopamine hit, making sugar feel almost addictive.

Is This Simply A Habit or Conditioning

Cravings aren't always physical—sometimes they're just habit. If you always eat sweets after dinner or reach for sugar when stressed, your brain begins to associate those moments with needing something sweet. This conditioning makes cravings feel automatic, even if you're not actually hungry.

Are You Fueling Your Body?

A diet lacking in protein, fiber, and healthy fats can leave you feeling unsatisfied, leading to sugar cravings as your body searches for quick energy. Low magnesium levels can also contribute to cravings, especially for chocolate. Balancing your meals with more nutrients can help reduce these cravings naturally.

Are You Stressed, or Experiencing Hormone Fluctuations?

When you're stressed, your body releases cortisol, a hormone that increases cravings for fast-digesting, high-energy foods like sugar. Emotional eating can further reinforce sugar as a coping mechanism, making it harder to break the cycle. Finding healthier stress-management techniques can help reduce these cravings over time.

Are They Biological vs. Habitual?

Not all cravings are the same! Some come from physical needs (biological) while others are triggered by habits or emotions.

Biological Cravings (Driven by the Body's Needs)

1. Blood Sugar Drop – Skipping meals or eating mostly refined carbs leads to a sugar crash, making you crave sweets for quick energy.
   • Example: You feel shaky in the afternoon and suddenly want candy or soda.
2. Low Energy/Fatigue – Poor sleep, over-exercising, or undereating can cause low energy, making sugar cravings stronger.
   • Example: After a bad night's sleep, you crave a sugary coffee drink or pastries.
3. Nutrient Deficiency – A lack of protein, fiber, or healthy fats can leave you unsatisfied, leading to cravings.
   • Example: You eat a carb-heavy meal (like pasta with no protein) and find yourself craving cookies an hour later.
4. Hormonal Shifts – Estrogen, progesterone, and cortisol impact cravings, especially around menstruation or stress.

• Example: You crave chocolate right before your period due to hormonal fluctuations.

Habitual Cravings (Triggered by Routine, Emotions, or Environment)

1. Dessert After Every Meal – If you always eat sweets after meals, your brain expects it, even if you're full.
   • Example: You feel like you need chocolate after lunch, even though you aren't hungry.
2. Emotional Comfort Eating – Sugar is often used as a coping mechanism for stress, sadness, or boredom.
   • Example: After a rough workday, you automatically grab ice cream.
3. Time-of-Day Triggers – Your body adapts to routines, making cravings habit-based rather than hunger-driven.
   • Example: You're not hungry, but at 3 PM, you crave a sugary snack because it's "afternoon snack time."
4. Social & Environmental Cues – Seeing or smelling sweets can trigger cravings even if you weren't thinking about sugar before.

• Example: Walking past a bakery suddenly makes you want a pastry.

Find Your Patterns & Proceed Accordingly

By tracking your cravings, you can identify patterns and make small changes. Ask yourself:

• What time of day do I crave sugar?
• What am I craving?
• What am I feeling? (Hungry, stressed, bored, tired?)
• What did I eat earlier?

Once you notice patterns, you can adjust—like adding more protein at lunch to prevent that afternoon sugar crash.

Balancing Blood Sugar:

• Eat more protein, fiber, and healthy fats to prevent blood sugar dips.
• Avoid extreme restriction—cutting out sugar entirely can backfire and make cravings stronger.

Replacing the Habit:

• Find satisfying alternatives (like fruit with protein) instead of processed sugar.
• Use sensory cues to manage cravings:
  • Warm drinks (like cinnamon-spiced tea) can mimic indulgence.
  • Crunchy foods (like raw carrots or nuts) satisfy the need for texture.
  • Sweet scents (like vanilla or cinnamon) can trick your brain into feeling satisfied.

Mindful Indulgence:

• Enjoy sweets without guilt—but portion wisely.
• Choose better options, like dark chocolate instead of processed candy.

Key Takeaways & Next Steps

Sugar cravings are normal, but they can be managed.
Understanding patterns (biological vs. habitual) helps reduce cravings.
Balancing blood sugar & making smart swaps can help curb sugar dependency.

Your Next Steps

Hit the low-lying fruit:

• get enough, high quality, sleep
• drink 8 cups (or more) of water per day
• eat 25 grams of protein and a source of good fats at each meal

Track your cravings for a few days to spot patterns.

Experiment with protein-rich meals to stabilize blood sugar.

Exercise does more than just strengthen your body—it also triggers the release of what scientists call "hope molecules." Regular movement, especially strength training, jogging, or vigorous walking, helps flood your system with mood-boosting compounds. In a world where stress and uncertainty can feel overwhelming, movement is one of the simplest ways to boost hope and resilience.

Self-Care Is More Than a Trend

We often see self-care dressed up in shiny fabrics, lavish dinners, and indulgent habits that don't align with our deeper vision for life. Social media floods us with this narrative, but what if there was a different approach?

What if you redefined self-care? IMAGINE how you could transform your relationship with yourself, your life, and your self-esteem.

Dog show nerves are real! As much as we tell ourselves that it's all about having fun, we still want our dogs to perform well. After all, we've put in countless hours of training and preparation, not to mention the financial investment. It's completely normal to feel a little nervous before stepping into the ring—but with the right preparation, you can keep those nerves in check and enjoy the experience.

Here are some of my favorite tips to help you and your dog feel confident, calm, and ready to shine in the ring!

On Tuesday, January 7, 2025, a brush fire – dubbed the Palisades Fire since it started along Palisades Drive – broke out in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, just a few miles from my home. This wasn't a unique occurrence; brush fires happen around Los Angeles every year, and there have been small fires in Pacific Palisades before. But conditions conspired to grow the Palisades Fire in a way I've never seen in the nearly 25 years I have lived in the area.

I do a lot of trial prep classes and classes designed to help dogs overcome their trial stress. One plan I hear over and over again from students is how they are going to enter a show for "ring experience." The dog is a bit unsure, and the only plan they know to try is getting the dog into the ring so they can get used to the environment and see that it's ok!!

Unfortunately, going to a trial for the pure sake of getting experience is a plan that usually leads to problems.

Failure is a word that has a bad bad bad rap. I mean the poor word really did get the short end of the stick. People just have it all wrong. They see failure as something bad. Failure means you're not good enough, you didn't try hard enough, people look down at you, you're a loser.

Failure evokes a host of negative feelings… depression, unworthiness, fear, anxiety, shame, disappointment, being less than, not measuring up, thinking that everyone else has achieved while I have not… I have "failed". We obsess about how it makes us look in other people's eyes. We define our self-worth by external accomplishments and when we don't achieve them, once again we have failed.

The truth of the matter is everybody's got it all wrong.

Host Melissa Breau with panelists Denise Fenzi; Kamal Fernandez; and Dante Camacho talked about The Future of R+ Training during our lunch break for the Lemonade Conference on February 13th, 2022 — and we've shared it here for those who missed it live!

How do you set goals for your training? Ever wondered how leading sports competitors do it? Megan Foster, Petra Ford, and Sharon Carroll recently offered a free webinar on the subject, just in time for the new year — and we've shared it here for those who missed it live!

"My dog loves jumping on the furniture and running across the back of the sofa. He would be great at agility!"

To my dog training friends… professional and hobbyist:

How many of you rolled your eyes?

Be honest! I know I have!

The idea that a "pet person" could think that because their dog liked jumping on the furniture – likely "out of control" – they could compete in agility?

How many of us have disparaged the thought, deemed that owner ignorant of what is involved in training for agility, and becoming competitive in the sport?

Or in freestyle (my dog loves to walk on his hind legs!), or flyball (my dog loves tennis balls!), or obedience (my dog has a great stay!). Pick your sport.

We were all there once.

Few of us entered the world of training and dog sports knowing what we know today, nor does what we know today mean we won't learn more tomorrow. We were once one of "those pet owners."

It's been a strange year to say the least....Many of us found that in trying to deal with the day to day stress of living in the year 2020 our motivation to train has suffered.

I did not train at all yesterday. Though that's not all that unusual. I often skip days and find that my dogs, based on their desire to train after a day (or more!) benefit from the break as well.

But go too long and it can be hard to get back on track and find the mojo that kept us motivated. It's easy to get a little sidetracked on your behavior goals when your normal day to day life is disrupted.

Think about this for a minute. What it is to have a dog, another species, for a friend? A companion who will be there with you, day after day, asking little more than something to eat and a safe place to live.

I can take my dog's leash off and know that she'll return to me. She will chase critters, smell good smells, snack on fresh grass or play ball, but always with an eye on me. When she is done with her most current adventure, we'll go home together.

It's the end of June, which means we are now exactly halfway through the year. Do you remember, way back in January, when you set your goals and plans for 2020? Do you even recall what you intended to accomplish? It feels like 100 years ago, doesn't it?

So, how are those goals working out for you? All met? Knocked out of the park? Or have they been thrown under the bus?

If your hopes and dreams for the year have tire treads through them, you're in good company. For the past weeks and months, many of us have had to put some or even all of our plans on ice and just focus on staying safe, staying calm, and staying healthy.

As a result, it's tempting to just write off the year and hope that 2021 will be better. But we still have a solid six months to turn things around and accomplish things we'll be proud of.

Pause for a moment and pay attention to what your brain just whispered into your ear when you read that last sentence. Did it say "Hell yes! Let's do it!" Or did it toss out something like "What's the point?" or "It's too late now!"?

Take note of how you feel when you look forward to the rest of this year. If you feel tired, heavy, sad, or scared, it's going to be hard to find the motivation to do the work it takes to train your dog and achieve your goals.

Here's why: Your thoughts create your feelings, these feelings fuel your actions, and your actions produce your results. If you aren't achieving the results you seek, work your way back up the chain to figure out the weak link.

(Spoiler alert: It's always your thoughts.)

You're picking up after the kids in the family room when you hear sounds coming from the kitchen….where your dinner roast is cooling on the countertop. You have a sinking feeling that your dog is about to make a meal out of your dinner.

You're a "positive" trainer who doesn't use fear, intimidation, or physical force to train your dog.

You enter the kitchen to see what is happening and your worst fear is confirmed – your dog is well up on the kitchen counter and heading for your roast.

What do you do?

Wait a sec – I have to change that around a bit, because I have no idea what you do. Let's talk about what I'd do.

So, what would I do?

(Caveat: If you're reading this post after the COVID-19 storm has passed and the world has gone back to normal, or a new normal, everything I have to say below is still relevant and useful to making your training plans a reality! So, read on…)

The COVID-19 pandemic has launched the world into crisis, leaving us all in uncharted waters. We don't know how things will unfold, or what's going to come next. And that's pretty scary.

The upside of this time of Social Distancing and self-quarantine is that many of us suddenly have time for doing things we have been meaning to get to for ages… like training our dogs! So, naturally that's what you've been doing since being stuck at home. Right?

No? Me neither.

Play is an interesting thing. Sometimes it is loose and unstructured, changing to suit the players and the circumstance; sometimes it is codified with rules, rewards, and consequences to suit the game. Even with our dogs – agility rules vary by organization and the structure of personal play changes depending on the dog and person!

Play is studied more often than most people realize and has been studied from a number of different directions – one essential work is The Genesis Of Play (2005) authored by Gordon Burghardt who carefully explored the ways play has been considered in regards to development and behavior across species. While he ultimately posits that it is not essential, nor always beneficial, he contributed some fascinating insights into play.

Yesterday I spent some time looking at the Facebook pages of other dog trainers. I saw videos that were new to me, became re-acquainted with some "oldies but goodies" and had a chance to hear different points of views on random topics. Not a bad way to spend some time!

Then I came across the Facebook wall of a trainer who shares a fundamental belief of mine; that dog training should be kind. And while we clearly take different paths from there, I'd say that's not very important. In the bigger scheme of things, we both believe in the importance of kindness to animals.

One of the first things I found on this trainer's page was a video of another trainer. There were several paragraphs of text explaining why this other trainer and her video were wrong. So of course I watched the video. Who was this person??

1. Persistence: Mindful trainers are willing to try, try again. They know that there will be more runs, more days, and the slow and steady approach wins. They understand that frustration is part of the learning curve and don't threaten to quit after every mistake. They don't make excuses; they don't blame others. They carry on. They live in the present experience without wallowing in the past or dreaming of the future. What is happening today is the focus of their attention even as they build for the big picture.

As dog trainers and handlers, we are bound to be critiqued. It can be by your teacher or, more importantly, by a judge at a competition.

If you are in the business of dog training, as perfect as you strive to be, you'll eventually get a student that didn't like your services. Maybe they had a rough day and were already trigger-stacked. Maybe you didn't find a way to connect with them. Maybe they simply didn't like your style.

All of these things are normal, and it's important not to take them too personally.

Easier said than done, right?!

I have to admit, I have a hard time taking criticism. I'm not the best at it. It's a constant struggle for me, because I subconsciously don't allow myself to fall short. I'm sure a lot of you can relate. We've all had difficulties with criticism at some point. No one wants to let the others down.

However, that doesn't mean I don't try as hard as I can to improve how I respond to criticism.

Critics are hard, but remember that both our pride and our need to explain can get in the way of learning how to be a better version of ourselves when someone points out our shortcomings (in a delicate or not-so-delicate manner).

So how can you take criticism the "right way"?