Blood Sugar and Cravings

Blood Sugar & Cravings
I quite frequently hear from my clients that "the cheesecake called to me" or "my diet just spiraled out of control." Giving in to these cravings are often followed by guilt and a sense of remorse for not having the willpower to stick to their diets. I will save the discussion of willpower and cravings for another day. What I would like to discuss right now is the relationship of your blood sugar levels and cravings. If your blood sugar is properly balanced, a good portion of your cravings will disappear. Then you don't have to use so much willpower to resist that cheesecake.
First lets talk a little about your body's insulin response. Insulin is a hormone in your body that is responsible for reducing the blood sugar levels in your body. It makes sure that they don't get too high and damage some of your bodies vital systems. This is very important. In Type II diabetics, this system doesn't work so well and so the blood sugars remain too high for too long and damages other systems as well. Again, a discussion for another day. Anyway, when you eat food, it is broken down into sugars and other nutrients that your body can use for supporting and repairing your body. The sugar is pumped into your bloodstream. When it reaches a certain level, your body produces insulin to bring it down. If it starts raising quickly such as it does when you eat refined carbs and sugar, insulin is produced in very high levels to bring your blood sugar down quickly.
When your blood sugar is low, your body will crave food. Let me say that again. When your blood sugar is low, your body will crave food. So the name of the killing a craving game is to not allow your blood sugar to get low enough to where that piece of cherry cheesecake has all power over you. How do you do that? You need to eat and you need to eat regularly. Every couple of hours in fact. Ideally, you would never let more than three hours go by without something going down the hatch. Yes, you will be eating more often, but in the end, if you make good choices about what you eat, you will undoubtedly consume fewer calories. You will also feel more satisfied and much less deprived with what you eat. The idea of eating three square meals a day is very detrimental to keeping a fit, healthy body.
Does it matter what you eat? Yes! Studies have shown that there are some foods that spike the blood sugar more quickly than others. Remember, a quick spike in blood sugar brings a quicker insulin response. Most of the time the insulin will actually bring your blood sugar down lower than it was originally. Then that cheesecake really becomes all-powerful. Then we give in to the cheesecake, we get another fast insulin response, our blood sugar drops even lower and we are back craving even more cheesecake. Yes, it is a vicious downward spiral.
So, what foods spike blood sugars faster than others? Studies have shown that foods high in refined sugars are the worst. Things such as white bread, cookies, candy, crackers, etc. spike blood sugars the fastest. Read the labels on your food for something called high fructose corn syrup. That is the big momma of a quick insulin response. If you see it in your food, put it down and walk away. There is no safe level of this substance. It is a cheap sweetener that manufacturers put into our food. Unfortunately high fructose corn syrup and the massive insulin response it creates is one of the leading causes of obesity in our country. Yikes! Run! Don't walk away from this stuff!
What is good to eat? Studies have shown that foods with complex carbs with good amounts of fiber eaten with a little protein give a slow increase in blood sugar and are the least likely to start an insulin response. So, things like whole wheat crackers with low fat cheese are great. A meat and veggie sandwich on multigrain bread would be fabulous. For kids, the old celery with natural peanut butter is a great after school snack. My favorite is apple slices with lowfat cottage cheese.
The point I am trying to make is that if you work with your body and give it what it needs, it will be less likely to sound the insulin response alarm. Making sure that alarm doesn't go off is a huge step in your ability to make good nutritional choices no matter what our current level of willpower is.
Take home messages:

Eat every 2-3 hours without fail.
Reduce the amount of refined white sugar in your diet.
Eliminate high fructose corn syrup from your diet completely.
Focus on eating complex carbs with protein when you need to eat.

Kelly is a down to earth personal trainer who loves helping her clients catch the fitness bug. She is a busy triathlete who has completed many sprint to Iron distance races. As a mother of 5, she personally understands the challenge of balancing workouts and healthy, but kid friendly meals. Having struggled with her weight and with type II diabetes, she really knows what it is all about. Check out her website at http://www.oneforfitness.com

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Blood Sugar and Cravings

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Blood Sugar and Cravings