Struggling with cravings? For many people trying to manage their weight, dealing with sugar cravings and the urge to overeat anything sweet is a constant, uphill battle. Have you ever noticed that the more you try to limit what you eat, or use ‘willpower’ to only have one sweet treat, the hungrier and more out of control you feel? I have great news for you; it’s not your fault and it can be changed.
When we eat foods consistently that either are sugar, or convert to sugar rapidly in our system, we negatively affect different hormones and chemical messengers in the body and brain. As time goes by, the desire to eat sweet foods, and eat them more often becomes greater and greater as the body’s hormonal response changes and the desire for quick, easy energy (AKA sugar) becomes the norm.
Willpower is only going to get you so far. At some point you will break and eat something sweet or something that converts to sugar rapidly. We often end up blaming ourselves, thinking we are a failure or useless or have no willpower at all. STOP right here!!! That is totally not the case; your body will override you every time when it comes to accessing its preferred fuel source, so we simply need to modify our actions and we will get a different response. Below are my proven strategies for stopping cravings in their tracks.
My top tricks for in the moment
- Drink 750 mls of sparkling water with 1 tsp apple cider vinegar and 1 tsp chia seeds and wait 20 mins
- Mix 1 Tbsp. chia seeds and a pinch of cinnamon in 30 mls of Full fat cream and wait 20 mins
- Mix 1 Tbsp. Glutamine Powder (from health food stores) into 30 mls full fat cream or coconut cream and wait 20 mins.
Chia seeds are an amazing addition to your regime. Add 1 tsp to water and drink or mix into foods. They have a unique effect on blood sugar levels making chia an effective natural appetite suppressant. When you eat chia seeds they form a gel in your digestive tract that slows the absorption of not just their own carbohydrates, but also the absorption of any other starchy or sugary foods you might eat with them. By slowing down your body's absorption of carbohydrates, you can prevent a huge spike in blood glucose levels, which is what normally happens after you eat white flour or sugar.
Long-term fixes
1. Drop the ‘light’ - up the fat
Swap out any low-fat, diet or light products in your nutrition regime. These lack fats and tend to have more sugar/carbohydrates in them. So although lower in calories, they are higher in sugars that will trigger your ‘fat-storage’ hormone and influence your appetite to crave more and more.
Choose foods higher in natural fats; crackers made of flax seed or nuts over crackers made from flour, for example. Drop the morning cereal and trim milk (both of which convert to sugar rapidly) and have eggs and avocado with a few blueberries instead. Snack on coconut chips instead of a muesli bar or protein bar. As I say to all my clients and every single athlete I have worked with over the last 20 years “fat does not make you fat, sugar does”. Do not be afraid of healthy, natural fats. When you increase your natural fats, cravings start to recede and you can manage your appetite much more effectively.
2. Optimise your supplements
As our lifestyles are often incredibly stressful, we lack sleep and are on the go all the time, so if we want to achieve great health and weight, its often a good idea to supplement some of the gaps in our nutrition and combat some of what the environment is throwing at us.
B Vitamin Complex
B Vitamins are incredibly important, especially when we’re stressed. Vitamin B6 helps to metabolise protein and fat as well as helping the brain convert neurotransmitters that help manage appetite and reduce any emotional eating, while Vitamin B12 can help with managing appetite.
Zinc
Eating zinc-rich foods and taking zinc supplements raise our levels of the hormone leptin in the blood. High leptin levels result in weight loss and reduced appetite. In fact if you are low in zinc, this can reduce levels of leptin and actually make you hungrier. Increase your daily intake of zinc-rich foods, such as grass-fed meat, oysters, almonds, cooked dried beans and peas, and take a zinc supplement that contains approx. 15 to 20 milligrams of zinc. There are different types and forms so be sure you are choosing one that is right for you. Talk to a health professional for advice.
3. Lifestyle
What we consistently do has an immense impact on how we feel and how our brains function, which then determine the choices we make. Modifying some lifestyle factors can help a lot when managing cravings.
- If you are not getting enough sleep this will significantly hamper your ability to make good choices and manage cravings. Aim for bed no later than 10pm and avoid devices for an hour or so beforehand so you can actually get to sleep.
- Water is easy, cheap and simple. If your water intake is near to non-existent, your energy is likely to be low, your desire for sweet things increases and your ability to lose weight is severely hampered. Aim for 38mls per kg of bodyweight spread throughout the day, starting as soon as you wake up.
4. Know what your cravings are telling you
Knowledge is power and understanding why you may be experiencing some of your cravings helps us understand what the best solution might be. Some common cravings caused by deficiencies:
|
CRAVINGS |
LACKING |
TRY |
|
Chocolate |
Magnesium |
Raw cacao (rich in magnesium, great chocolate taste, no refined sugars and no milk fat) and magnesium supplements. I like to use my home made recipe for chocolate - 1 cup cacao, 1 cup coconut oil, 1 Tbsp. almond butter, 1 Tbsp. Manuka honey - mix and pour into ice cubes and freeze
|
|
Salty Foods |
Chloride |
Sprinkle sea salt or Himalayan salt on your foods - amazing with avocado to help reduce cravings and manage appetite |
|
Sugary Foods |
Chromium, Tryptophan, Sulphur |
Chromium supplements, 5HTP Supplements, spinach, red meat, kumara, apples, and bananas. Try a baked, honey banana after dinner to help you sleep and reduce cravings. |
|
Carbonated soft drinks, oily, fatty foods, French fries, pizza |
Calcium |
Broccoli, mustard or turnip greens, legumes |
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Lee-Anne Wann is a fitness specialist, nutritionist, presenter and author. She currently runs a health and fitness consultancy business providing companies and organisations with health, nutrition and wellness solutions and content, she also runs a private nutrition practice and was a television host for TVNZ’s ‘Kiwi Living’.
