Tag Archives: cravings

Questions & Answers

The Downsides To Sugar Consumption

Sugar used to be a very, very expensive commodity. Hundreds of years ago, buying sugar was like buying gold dust.

Things changed over time, with a particularly big shake-up occurring in the late 1950s. Around that time, the ability to manufacture corn-syrup and extract fructose and glucose from sugar developed.

Many researchers also point out the obesity crisis is literally in line with the production of high-fructose corn syrup.In the United States, obesity is out of control. 70% of the population now are overweight or obese.

Cargill is the biggest manufacturer of high-fructose corn syrup. This type of sugar is added to a vast range of foods, from cereal to soda, and from protein bars to salad dressings.

50 to 70% of all foods now available in supermarkets contain high fructose corn syrup. When fructose goes to the liver, it is split up, and one component contributes to triglyceride production. As a result, the risk of stroke and cardiovascular problems can go up.

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Multiple studies show that soft drinks made with high-fructose corn syrup are linked to obesity. One meta-analysis I read concluded that there’s overwhelming proof that people who drink one to two soda drinks per day will pile on the weight over time. High-fructose corn syrup also increases the risk of diabetes, stroke, heart disease, and goodness knows what else.

If you get used to having sugar in your diet at a young age, it gets harder and harder to break the habit. Of course, it’s crucial to differentiate between industrial sugar like corny syrup and the natural sugar found in fruit. Sometimes people get so sugar phobic that it can trigger an eating disorder, as they avoid anything with even a naturally occurring sugar content.

Remember, there is a big difference between high-fructose corn syrup and something growing on a tree that happens to contain fructose.

Big companies will continue to push profit over health and encourage the intake of lots of sugar. Keep your eye on your health and eat accordingly. I genuinely believe that high-fructose corn syrup will one day be seen as unfit for human consumption.

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Questions & Answers

Managing Cravings While On A Diet

How can you reduce cravings while you’re on a diet?

There are a number of ways to keep your diet on track.

1. Work out a plan beforehand: Make sure you know where you’re headed and what you want to achieve on a diet? Is it a lifelong commitment or a temporary change in habits? I think it’s a great idea to make a commitment to healthy food and activity with a goal six to twelve months in the future.

2. Clean up your pantry: Get rid of the food in your house that’s a temptation. That means junk food, crappy food, and the food that you can’t stop eating no matter how full you are.

3. Make a list of the healthy, tasty foods you’re going to eat on your diet: You need to go shopping and stock your kitchen with food that will help achieve your health goals. If you do have a snack attack, you want to be able to grab a piece of fruit or a small serving of nuts rather than a sleeve of cookies. One of my favorite healthy snacks is a small package of seaweed. Seaweed is a great way to get valuable minerals into your diet.

4. Make sure you eat enough protein: Eating protein is a key factor in reducing cravings. You need to eat protein with most meals. You could opt for chicken, fish, legumes, nuts, hard-boiled eggs, and seeds, to name just a few options.

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5. Chose satisfying snacks: A common snack for me it will be an avocado because I’ve got two avocado trees. One good size avocado can allay hunger for a few hours.

6. Eat at regular times: Skipping or irregular meals can contribute to getting overly hungry and trigger cravings. If you want to reduce cravings, I think eating a breakfast that includes protein makes good sense.

7. Drink several glasses of water between meals: Drinking water in combination with a high fiber diet will leave you feeling full for extended periods. A couple of small pieces of cooked sweet potato and a glass of water will leave you feeling as if you’ve had a two-pound steak. You won’t be hungry for a long time.

8. Catch the cravings early: When you start thinking about the pantry or refrigerator, chose a different activity. It could be a walk with the dog or a stroll on your own. If you distract yourself from a craving, often it goes away within five or ten minutes.

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Questions & Answers

What’s The Connection Between Stress And Food Cravings?

There’s a connection between stress, appetite, and sugar intake.

A study in 2001 took a look at this issue. The researchers exposed 59 premenopausal women to stress on one day and then had them experience a low-stress day. The caloric consumption on the stressful and non-stressful days were recorded. Some of the women had a very high cortisol spike on the stressful day. These participants were called super reactors. In contrast, there are some people who are “low reactors” to stress.

It makes the point that it’s often not the stressor that’s the biggest problem; it’s the reaction to it.

The women with the highest cortisol spikes in response to stress had the highest calorie consumption. The calories came primarily from sweet foods.

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In other words, life events can trigger physiological reactions in the body that lead to sugar cravings. People who are highly stressed often make the wrong call when it comes to food and drink choices. They reach for sweet foods. They reach for soda pop.

The take-home message is that it’s essential to not only reduce the stress in your life but also to manage how you react to that stress. It’s not possible to eliminate all stress, but you don’t have to deal with life by eating a box of donuts.

I recommend finding a way to compartmentalize your stressors, so they don’t invade all aspects of your life. Find ways to relax and keep your cortisol levels in the normal range.

High cortisol is associated with obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases. It’s clearly important to ensure that you’re living a low-stress life.

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Questions & Answers

The Why Of Food Cravings

I had someone write to me and ask, “Why do I crave chips, soda, pizza, burgers, and junk like that?”

One of the key reasons people like junk is because they develop a taste for it. Their body gets used to certain foods. There are multiple mechanisms involved in stimulating the appetite, but it’s like anything. It’s all about habits.

I’ve said this many times; people don’t decide on their future, their habits do. If you regularly eat fast food, you’re going to develop a taste for that kind of meal. Over time, it’s going to be harder and harder to break the habit.

It’s like tobacco. Once you develop a taste for cigarettes, it’s tough to stop smoking. Years ago, I smoked a lot and ate a lot of junk food. Do I like junk food? Not anymore. I was highly stressed at one stage in my life. The higher the stress, the more cortisol in the bloodstream, and the more salt, sugar, and fat cravings emerge.

Once you get a taste for high salt, you’ll find it difficult to break that taste. Slowly, but surely, when you start incorporating fresh ingredients into your diet, the craving for junk food will diminish.

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I now love sour things and bitter foods like grapefruit. Don’t let other people tell you what you should eat. Eat when you want to eat. But the trick is to very slowly wean yourself off the junk and replace it with fresh food.

For example, if you like French fries, try substituting olives instead. Olives will undoubtedly answer your salt craving. If you have powerful salt cravings, you may have an element of adrenal fatigue. Or you may be highly stressed.

If you have blood sugar levels that go up and down, adrenal dysfunction may be at play. Once you start understanding the concepts of eating good food, sleeping properly, getting your emotions under control, and living a healthy lifestyle, your cravings will improve immensely.

When you have been eating junk food for a while, the bacteria in your gut becomes “junky,” too. The type of bacteria you have can influence your cravings. Scientists are now working out that bacteria often call the shots.

If you want to stop your cravings, you need to fix up your gut flora. I suggest using a supplement like CanXida Remove to get the gut clean and tidied up a bit. Once you do that, you”ll find it easier to lose weight. You’ll find it easier to resist your cravings.

The “bad” bugs gave up on me a long time ago. And guess what I crave?
Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, a nice piece of fish, organic chicken, and free-range eggs. That can be true for you as well.

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Questions & Answers

Breaking The Carb Craving Habit

If you have a powerful craving for carbohydrates like chips, French fries, and white bread, there could be several things going on.

The first thing to identify is, does the food that you crave contain a lot of sweet or a lot of salt?

If you are craving salty carbohydrates, I would want to know if you’re drinking enough water. Probably not is my guess.

And the second thing I would want to know if if you are calcium deficient?

The third possibility is that you have adrenal fatigue or another type of adrenal problem.

Let’s remove those three possibilities.

Water has a tremendous regulatory effect on the gut. It helps the body immensely to improve digestion. Water also helps with the movement of food through the body and appetite regulation and control;

Water also influences various hormones that help regulate appetite as well as serotonin production and release.

I have found that regularly drinking a few glasses of water throughout the day can tremendously reduce carb cravings.

A lot of people who love bread and cookies and cakes and muffins often will have coffee or beverages also that contain sugar.

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They become dehydrated because they don’t have enough water in their diet.

Your urine should be relatively clear. If it is dark yellow or strong smelling, there is a good chance that you are dehydrated.

Next is calcium deficiency. If you crave French fries or potato chips, it is quite common to have a calcium deficiency. By increasing the calcium-containing foods in your diet, you can reduce your cravings for carbohydrates.

Some of my clients who started to drink unpasteurized cow’s milk began to notice that they didn’t crave carbs anymore.

A long time ago, people had adequate amounts of magnesium and calcium in their diet. Back then, the milling process and the production of grains was different; the soils were better quality; we weren’t using fertilizers that were stripping minerals from food.

Today, people often lack calcium and magnesium in their diets. The result is all sorts of cravings and desires for highly process foods.

Some foods that are a good source of calcium include sesame seeds, broccoli, and sardines.

Adrenal fatigue can also trigger carbohydrate cravings.

Many people today have problems with stress. Stress can put a lot of strain on the adrenal and thyroid glands.

The adrenal glands make the hormone aldosterone. Aldosterone regulates potassium and sodium. If the adrenal glands are producing enough aldosterone, sodium levels can drop because of excessive excretion of salt.

When sodium levels go down, cravings for salty foods is trigger. It can also leave people feeling weak and dizzy.

Potassium and sodium imbalance can cause muscle weakness and cardiac problems like arrhythmias.

If you have those types of symptoms and you are also craving salt, have your adrenal function checked out.

If you have carbohydrate cravings, it makes sense to address dehydration, mineral deficiency, and adrenal function. Making sure you are living a low-stress life is also critical.

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