The Good Guide

Why Am I Craving Sugar? (And Why the Crisps Keep Calling)

Biscuits at 11, chocolate at 4, crisps you didn’t even want at 9pm. Here’s why the cravings keep coming, what the research says about protein, and the easy swaps that help.

By Honest + Good23 October 2026 6 min read

It’s 4pm. You’re not hungry, exactly. But somehow you’re standing in the kitchen with your hand in the biscuit tin. Again.

Or it’s 9pm, dinner was perfectly fine, and you’ve just opened a packet of crisps you didn’t really want. Sound familiar?

Sugar and junk food cravings can feel like a willpower problem. Most of the time, they aren’t. They tend to show up for a handful of very ordinary reasons, and once you can spot them, they’re much easier to handle. Here are the six most common, what the research says, and a few simple swaps.

1. You haven’t had much protein today
Think about what you’ve eaten so far. A coffee? Toast? A cereal bar on the way out of the door? Plenty of us get to lunchtime having eaten very little protein at all.

That matters more than you’d think. In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers compared three mornings: skipping breakfast, a cereal breakfast, and a higher-protein breakfast of eggs and beef, all with the same calories. The higher-protein breakfast reduced evening snacking on high-fat and high-sugar foods compared with both the cereal breakfast and skipping it altogether. The researchers also saw changes in the brain signals linked to food cravings.

It was a small study in young women, so it isn’t the final word. But it backs up something lots of people notice for themselves: on days when breakfast is mostly carbs, or nothing at all, the evening snack attack tends to hit harder.

2. The gaps between meals are too long
Breakfast at 7, lunch at 1.30, dinner at 8. That’s a long stretch twice a day, and those gaps are exactly where the vending machine, the biscuit tin and the meal deal crisps live. When you finally do eat, you’re more likely to grab whatever is quickest, sweetest or saltiest.

3. You didn’t sleep well
Ever noticed that after a bad night, everything you fancy is beige, sweet or fried? You’re not imagining it. Researchers at UC Berkeley scanned people’s brains after a normal night and after a night without sleep. When sleep-deprived, activity dropped in the parts of the brain involved in weighing up food choices and rose in reward areas, and people’s desire for high-calorie foods like doughnuts and pizza went up.

4. Ultra-processed food is built to keep you eating
A US government study put 20 adults on two diets for two weeks each: one mostly ultra-processed, one mostly unprocessed, with the meals matched for calories, sugar, fat and fibre. People could eat as much as they liked. On the ultra-processed diet they ate about 500 calories a day more, ate faster and gained weight. On the unprocessed diet, they lost about the same amount.

Crisps, biscuits and sweets are designed to be easy to keep eating. One leads to another. That’s not a lack of willpower. That’s the product working exactly as it was designed to.

5. It’s habit, not hunger
Do your cravings arrive at the same time every day? The 11am office biscuits. The 4pm slump. The 9pm sofa snack. When a craving runs like clockwork, it’s often a routine rather than real hunger. Your brain has simply learned that this is when the treat turns up.

The good news? Routines are easier to swap than to break. Keep the moment, change what’s in your hand.

6. You’re reaching for sweet when you actually want something warm
Sometimes a craving isn’t really about sugar at all. You want comfort, a pause, something warm to hold between tasks. Sweet snacks are just the easiest thing within reach. A hot, savoury mug can scratch the same itch, without the sugar.

How much protein is in your usual snack?
Here’s what a typical serving of some everyday snacks gives you, next to a mug of bone broth.

Pure Beef, 10g spoon: 9.6g protein

Beef Marrow, 10g spoon: 7.7g protein

Chocolate bar, 45g: about 3.4g protein

Cereal bar, 35g: about 2g protein

Packet of crisps, 25g: about 1.5g protein

Two digestive biscuits: about 1.5g protein

Snack figures are typical UK pack values. Bar length shown out of 10g.

Your craving moments, swapped

The moment	What usually happens	An easy swap
Breakfast	Coffee and nothing else	Stir a spoon of Pure Beef into the coffee: 9.6g protein
11am	The office biscuits come round	A handful of nuts or a boiled egg from home
4pm slump	Chocolate from the vending machine	A warm mug of Beef Marrow: rich, savoury, 7.7g protein
9pm sofa	Crisps you didn’t really want	Something warm in a mug before you open the cupboard

Five easy habits that help

1. Get some protein in early
Eggs, Greek yoghurt or a spoon of Pure Beef in your coffee. It doesn’t need to be a big breakfast. It just shouldn’t be only carbs. Need ideas? Try our high-protein breakfasts without eggs.

2. Mind the gap
If lunch and dinner are six hours apart, plan something in between rather than leaving it to the vending machine.

3. Keep a savoury option in the cupboard
If the only thing within reach is biscuits, you’ll eat biscuits. Make the easy choice the better one.

4. Protect your sleep
A better night won’t fix everything, but it makes the next day’s choices a lot easier.

5. Read the back of the pack
If sugar, syrups or a long list of things you can’t pronounce come near the top, it’s probably built to make you want more.

Questions people ask

Why do I crave sugar every afternoon?
The afternoon slump often comes after a long gap since lunch, a carb-heavy morning, or a short night’s sleep. It’s also very often habit: if you’ve had something sweet at 4pm for years, your brain expects it.

Why do I crave junk food at night?
Tiredness plays a big part. Research has found that sleep loss shifts the brain towards reward and makes high-calorie foods more appealing. Evening cravings are also often about habit and wanting comfort rather than real hunger.

Is craving sugar a sign I’m not eating enough protein?
Not always, but it’s worth looking at. A study found that a higher-protein breakfast reduced evening snacking on high-fat and high-sugar foods compared with a cereal breakfast or skipping breakfast. If your mornings are mostly carbs, adding some protein is an easy thing to try.

How much protein do I need?
The UK reference intake for an average adult is 50g a day, but your own needs depend on your size, age and activity. Our guide to how much protein you need walks you through it.

Will a savoury drink really help with a sweet craving?
Lots of people find that something warm and savoury in a mug scratches the same itch as a sweet snack, because often the craving is really about wanting a break or a bit of comfort. Give it a go at your usual craving time and see how you feel.

When should I speak to a doctor?
If you’re constantly hungry or thirsty, or your cravings come with tiredness, weight loss you can’t explain or needing to wee a lot, speak to your GP. The NHS lists these among the signs worth getting checked.

Our pick
For the 4pm slump or the 9pm cupboard, go for Beef Marrow Bone Broth Powder. It’s rich, deeply savoury and tastes closer to Sunday gravy than a stock cube, with 7.7g of protein a mug and no sweeteners. One spoon, hot water, ten seconds. It won Silver at the Taste of the West.

Shop Beef Marrow Bone Broth Powder →

For breakfast, try Pure Beef Bone Broth Powder. It’s neutral in flavour and high in protein, so a spoonful disappears into your morning coffee and adds 9.6g of protein. We call it the Broffee.

Shop Pure Beef Bone Broth Powder →

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Sources & Further Reading