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Sugary Foods |
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How can I stop being addicted to sugary foods? |
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Answer
(Published: January 20th 2007) |
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A short question with a book long answer! 
There are many factors which may cause someone to crave sugar:
- Waiting to eat until famished will cause one to head straight for a sugar fix as blood glucose is low and needs to be restored. Thus, do not wait until you are starving. Eat when you notice you are hungry.
- Adding complex carbohydrates and protein to each meal helps slow the need to eat more often. These types of meals also limit the desire for sugar as blood sugar will be stable for hours. Complex carbohydrates are found in whole grain breads, beans, some vegetables, brown rice and some dry cereals. Protein is also found in many complex carbohydrates so that helps simplify eating as well.
- Avoid the high sugar snack foods. This is a catch 22 as you crave sugar but this point must be addressed as if not, you will find yourself constantly in the candy section. High sugar snack foods cause your blood sugar to spike and then you 'crash' shortly afterwards. You crash afterwards as your insulin has 'overshot' the amount it needed to secrete and thus has pulled all sugar from your blood causing you to have Reactive Hypoglycemia. This causes you to crave sugar again as you actually do need sugar. So avoid the high sugar snacks and Reactive Hypoglycemia attacks will not occur nearly so often - hopefully never.
- Have a snack food with you at all times. Great snacks are nuts and unsulfured raisins. Brazil nuts, almonds, walnuts are excellent. Peanuts are high histamine foods so may not work well for many.
- If you have been on antibiotics, restoring the proper healthy bacteria to your gut may help. Most pathogenic harmful bacteria crave sugar - such as candida. Don't let harmful bacteria take hold and tell you what to eat. Supplement with a quality probiotic from the refridgerated section of your health store.
- If sad or depressed, people tend to crave simple carbohydrates for the high feeling. Exercise has been shown to reverse depression in 33% of subjects. So add exercise to your daily regime. It is not 3 days a week for 20 minutes any longer. It is now 6 days a week for 30 minutes. Find a buddy to do brisk walks with or join a local sports team.
Thank you for your excellent question. There are many that will benefit from you asking it - and I certainly hope you find it useful.
Thank you and I wish you well.
In health,
Ben |
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