How can a person get off the sweet/salty food cravings merry-go-round? It seems I never reach a point where I feel "just right"

 When in such a situation, usually I prefer spice but sometimes when something is too spicy, then I have to have some sweet to counter that. As a teenager, I loved sweets too but luckily I overgrew the affinity for sweets. Some of it was due to age and the other - I started ignoring icecream for hot coffee breaks with friends. I would always skip dry cakes at parties as I didnt care for it as much. I diminished my sweet tooth by leaning towards my natural inclination for spicy foods and hot beverages.

You can use neutral foods or palate cleansers like plain crackers, apple, celery and so on, to stop the whirlwind of salty and sweet. You can also try minimising the build up of this effect by limiting the portion of the food or even avoiding them by keeping track of your goals from that meal or snack. If you cant stop from eating that food, you should convince yourself that you can have the remaining another such fun time, if it is something rare made by friends. If it easy available outside, then you have to retrain yourself with less addictive foods.