Do you ever get tired of feeling hungry all the time?
Do you feel like you’re always craving carbs?
Are the two related?
Absolutely! Carbs can be addictive like drugs and other habit-forming substance. Simple carbs like bread and chips and foods loaded with sugar trigger a dopamine release stimulating the pleasure regions of the brain involved in cravings and addictions.
We crave salty chips or sweets, but the craving isn’t because the food tastes great, it’s because of the carb’s effect on the brain.
More than eighty percent of all the sugar you consume goes to your brain. This creates a spike in your blood sugar. When your blood sugar crashes after the spike, your brain thinks it can’t function anymore, and you crave more carbs.
The good news is that, like with any addiction, we can take steps to stop the cravings.
The first and most important step is to take away the “drug”, in this case, simple carbs. Identify the triggers that make you turn toward carbs and take proactive steps to do something different when the craving hits. For example, you can eat protein instead. Protein fills you up and provides some glucose (sugar) to your cells that has the same effect as simple carbs without spiking your blood sugar.
If you tend to crave chips, trying eating nuts and/or seeds instead. Nuts contain protein and healthy fat which help fill you up, and just enough carbs to satisfy a carb craving.
If you tend to crave sweets, google “fat bombs” and you’ll find a ton of great recipes! You’ll get the taste of sweet while filling up on healthy fats.
These same foods are all part of a ketogenic diet, one of the most effective ways to stop carb cravings. With ketosis, your body isn’t relying on sugar to function, it’s relying on fat. Your brain will stop telling you to eat more sugar.
Bye bye cravings!
