Overcoming Sugar Cravings
Americans have become accustomed to a high carbohydrate diet. In fact, the Standard American Diet is actually a high carbohydrate diet and what is called a “low carb” diet should be called the normal diet. Today there is very little controversy around high carbohydrate vs. a low carbohydrate diet. The consensus is clear: eating less carbs and starches improves health.
Some experts speculate that as much as 90 percent of illness results from carbohydrate metabolism and difficulty. Wow! 90 percent! When archeologists discover the skulls of primitive cultures, the first thing they do is open the jaw to see whether or not the teeth are still there. If the teeth are still present, the skeleton is classified as a hunter/gatherer. If the teeth are missing, the remains are classified as agrarian (eating cultivated grains). Even this simple classification points to the difficulty primitive people had eating a higher carbohydrate grain diet. They lost their teeth due to the damaging effects of sugar on the body.
Most people today want to control sugar in their diet because of concern about weight gain and overall health but many struggle with overwhelming sugar cravings. The reason for these uncontrollable sugar cravings often lies in the consumption of high amounts of starches. Starches are basically compacted sugar molecules. When you eat the starch – bread, potato, rice, pasta – the sugar molecules unwind and you end up with a big load of sugar in the blood. This triggers huge releases of insulin to manage the increased sugar load. Over time, this leads to problems with blood sugar level management and subsequent sugar cravings. It is very hard to get a handle on sugar cravings as long you are eating a diet high in starches. By eliminating pasta, bread, potatoes, rice sugar cravings greatly diminish and usually go away.
Because of outdated beliefs about the consumption of grains and starches, most people think it would be hard to stop eating them and therefore stop sugar cravings. It is quite the opposite. By eating more protein, healthy fats and oils, and complex carbohydrates like vegetables and fruits, sugar cravings go away. The results of this are more energy, less inflammation (think arthritis, IBS, Lupus), less pain and aching, and less food cravings, especially for sugar. There are other beneficial results: Lower triglycerides and cholesterol; reduced body fat; weight loss and increased concentration and attention.
A low carb diet has been shown to prevent and to help cure all three of the major diseases facing modern-day America - heart disease, diabetes and cancer. By addressing the deeper cause of these conditions (the modern day, high carb diet), it follows that longevity is served. Indeed, in my opinion, perhaps the most important step toward a long and healthy life is to eat a low carb diet.
So what if you cut out the starches and the sugar cravings remain? What then? In those cases, I find there is usually some organ weakness that is driving the sugar craving. In order to unravel those cases, I recommend a complete Nutrition Response Testing® analysis to uncover the weak organ and to find the specific, clinical nutrition program needed to support it. By eliminating the starches combined with a Clinically Designed Nutrition program created specifically for you, sugar cravings will soon be a thing of the past!
To learn more - or to make an appointment - call the office at 501-842-1004.