Sugar Cravings and 6 Ways of beating them.

Sugar cravings I've been having them the past few days. I was originally stumped as to reasons why and now I hope I'm not trying to sabotage my own weight loss efforts.

I've also been searching the net and have come across a couple of interesting articles that I thought I'd share.


So what can you do about the sweet cravings? Here are 6 simple things you can do to help take control over the cravings:

1. Eat a low GI diet. This slows the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream and prevents rapid insulin surges. It keeps you feeling full for longer and prevents a rapid rise and fall in blood sugar levels. I'm thinking of incorporating low GI foods into my diet when I come home from overseas....

2. Get more chromium. Chromium is a trace mineral required for insulin to work properly, helping sugar to move into the cells efficiently. It is found in liver, brewers yeast, wheat germ, and mushrooms. A good multivitamin will also have some chromium in it, and some supplements are available that have a therapeutic dose of chromium for blood sugar imbalances. A therapeutic dose is at least 200mcg of 'elemental' chromium, but don't take large amounts for long periods of time without seeing a natural health professional.

3. Use the herb Gymnema. Gymnema can be useful for reducing sweet cravings, and reducing the sweet taste sensation on taste buds, making it less appealing to eat sugar laden foods. It can be taken internally with guidance from a naturopath or herbalist, and you can even make up a spray to use whenever you get sweet cravings. Spraying it directly on the taste buds seems to stop things from tasting so sweet and you are less likely to want to eat them.

4. Eat enough fibre. Fibre is important for slowing sugar absorption and making you feel full. Eating plenty of vegetables (preferably raw) will provide fibre, as will foods like brown rice and oats. You can also put a couple of teaspoons of psyllium husks on a low GI cereal or even in a drink to take before meals. This will combine with water and expand in your stomach, making you feel more full. You must increase your water intake when you have psyllium husks though, as they don't work on their own.

5. Clean your teeth! After dinner, clean your teeth right away. This works well for many people because you are less likely to snack on sweets when you have that minty taste in your mouth, and if you do, you know you have to clean your teeth all over again! This is not getting at the causes of sugar cravings, but it at least provides a way of helping to get you out of the habit of late night eating.

6. Snack smart. Between meals, you need to eat foods that satisfy you and nourish you, and prevent big rises in blood sugar. Try to have only nuts, seeds, and fruits, with the occasional low GI muffin. You can get roast chickpeas from the supermarket which are good. Many have added spices making them a tasty savoury treat. Also try a handful of mixed nuts like almonds, brazils, and cashews, and seeds like sunflower seeds and pepitas (pumpkin seeds). Good fruit choices are apples, pears, and strawberries. Whole fruit is best, but something you can do to have a healthy snack on hand is to make up 'fruit kebabs' every couple of days and keep them in the refrigerator. Cut up chunks of apple, strawberries, and other low GI fruits, thread them on small skewers, drizzle with lemon juice, and store in a glass jar in the fridge.

You can also reduce sweet cravings by substituting regular sugar with natural sweeteners like xylitol and stevia.

Curb your sugar cravings

Author: Philip Burt

Do you ever have a sudden overwhelming urge to eat something sweet, whether it be confectionary, ice cream or other sweet foods?

Many of us experience this sugar lust at some stage.

After satisfying this craving there is often an attack of the guilts. You know it wasn't such a good dietary move but you were almost powerless to avoid it. This phenomena is known as carbohydrate craving or sugar addiction. There are two main causes of carbohydrate cravings: low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia), and stress/depression. When you binge on high-sugar snacks, blood sugar levels increase significantly, resulting in increased insulin, which functions to lower blood sugar levels back to normal. Often insulin over-performs and lowers blood sugar to less-than-optimal levels. This vicious cycle of low blood sugar to high blood sugar back to even lower blood sugar causes an energy crash that makes you want to eat even more sugary foods to compensate for the crash. The cycle can be broken by helping insulin to normalise blood sugar levels. Chromium Picolinate Insulin's little helper is the mineral chromium picolinate, which makes your body's cells more sensitive to the effects of insulin. Numerous studies have shown that taking chromium picolinate supplements can curb excessive levels of insulin and make insulin receptors more responsive to its effects. By way of analogy, chromium picolinate helps to reset your body ís insulin and blood sugar thermostat. Without the peaks and troughs of high and low blood sugar and the subsequent craving to increase blood sugar levels, you no longer have the instinctual urge to consume high carbohydrate foods. In 2005, researchers put chromium to the test by giving 113 carbohydrate cravers either daily chromium picolinate supplements or placebo pills for eight weeks. At the end of the study, the participants receiving chromium picolinate (but not the placebo) had almost totally overcome their frequent sugar cravings. What's more, they also had lower overall daily food intake, meaning that they didn't compensate for their sugar cravings by eating more from other food groups. The dosage of chromium picolinate used in this study was 600 mcg per day (3 x 200 mcg tablets per day). Serotonin The second major underlying cause of carbohydrate cravings is depression and stress. People who are stressed or depressed often have lower levels of a neurotransmitter named serotonin in their brains. Serotonin is responsible for feelings of wellbeing and happiness. Carbohydrate consumption increases the secretion of serotonin in the brain. Hence many stressed and depressed people learn to self-medicate (increase their brain serotonin levels) by overeating carbohydrates. So if the real reason that carbohydrate cravers binge on sweet foods is because of a subconscious need to increase their brain serotonin levels to make themselves feel good, isn't there any other way to increase serotonin? Yes there is! Whey Protein Fortunately, the primary mechanism for the body's production of serotonin is via the conversion of an amino acid named tryptophan into this much needed neurotransmitter. Whey protein is a powdered supplement of all of the good elements of milk (not the carbohydrates, not the fat, only the beneficial protein components). One of the good proteins in whey protein is named alpha-lactalbumin and it contains particularly high levels of the serotonin-friendly building block, tryptophan. Well-conducted clinical studies have shown that a diet containing whey protein increases brain serotonin levels by 48% more than diets that don't include whey protein. Therefore, whey protein can circumvent the desire to indulge in carbohyrates to increase serotonin, by providing tryptophan instead of carbohydrates as a building block for serotonin. Whey protein also operates on another level to reduce overall appetite. It increases feelings of satiety (fullness) by increasing levels of a hormone named cholecystokinin (CCK). In one study, whey protein increased CCK levels by 60% more than other types of proteins. The suggested dosage of whey protein for eliminating carbohydrate cravings is 20 to 25 grams per day. Brindleberry Until you have successfully kicked your carbohydrate habit, it may be helpful to minimise the negative effects of over-indulging in sugary foods. Brindleberry contains a compound named hydroxycitric acid (HCA) that helps to prevent the sugars that you ingest from becoming body fat. HCA diverts your body's metabolism of carbohydrates away from the pathway that leads to body fat and redirects carbohydrate metabolism into the production of energy (a good thing for most people). Studies have shown that HCA also increases serotonin release in the brain by approximately 12%, which provides further support for its role in beating carbohydrate addiction.

Carlton