As we begin this 28 Day Journey together the first order of addressing food addictions is to understand the difference between a habit and a craving. A habit is something you do without even thinking about it because it is something you always do. For example putting two packs of sugar in your coffee, or eating a few cookies after dinner or always going for the salty potato chips on the side of your sandwich or for an afternoon snack . A craving is different in the sense that it is not really a habit but more of an uncontrollable urge for that salty, sweet, fatty or sour something that you can’t resist eating. Cravings tend to come from deficiencies or poor digestive absorption of nutrients. Check out this chart of common cravings and lets begin to explore what you may be missing in your diet so you can reverse your cravings and influence your habits with new health promoting behaviors.
What can you do to manage Sugar and Carb Cravings?
Prepare your environment:
Remove all food that you wish to avoid from your home and work environment. Make space for yourself to reset your habits by keeping foods out of reach and make new choices so that in time you will, indeed, build new habits.
Eat More Protein:
Out bodies often are exhibiting cravings for sweets when we need more protein. Try some nuts, hard boiled egg or a full fat yogurt in a pinch or, you can add more protein to your meals.
Stock up on healthy snacks:
Instead of going for chips, candies, and crackers which may be typical go to snacks to keep you satisfied between meals, stock up on healthy alternatives like:
Nuts, Nut butters, fruits, veggies, seeds, avocado, and seaweed.
Protein rich and healthy fats are the best choices to satisfy the need when something is pulling you.
Eat Balanced meals:
Make sure you are preparing your plate when you have a meal with a protein, vegetables, and healthy fat to assure a balanced meal. Also when you are hungry and think about going for a snack, eat a full meal instead to keep you satisfied.
Drink Herbal teas:
Aside from all the wonderful detoxification, metabolism and nutrient benefits from herbal teas, they also can help regulate blood sugar and some can actually be very sweet without any sweetener. Regular bagged tea like Yogi or Traditional Medicinal are great for convenience but can get expensive, you can buy raw herbs and make your own tea blends using an infuser. Alfalfa, red raspberry, ginger, peppermint, marshmallow root, licorice, dandelion, and chamomile are some of my favorites.
Try Vegetable Juice:
Many vegetables, and their juices, are sweet. Beets, carrots, apples, and even spinach, have sweet flavors and make delicious juices/smoothies.
Cinnamon:
Is a great spice that gives food a sweet taste without the sweetener, it is also very beneficial in controlling blood sugar and can be added to many recipies. In Chinese Medicine, Cinnamon is warming and invigorates the primordial fire, meaning it adds energy to our deepest energy source, allowing for longevity and vitality.
Distract yourself:
Read a book, play the piano, write in your journal, do some yard work. By changing your focus to another activity you can redirect your attention to something else and forget about your craving, don’t spend time alone bored milling over your cravings!
Exercise!!
When you get your body moving you release dopamine, this dopamine is also at play when you are satisfying yourself with sweet snacks or cravings. Take a brisk walk, dance, jump up and down…get moving!
Take Note:
Journal the food you eat which can help you to accountable to your diet. Please also journal about how the foods you eat make you feel: more energized? Tired? Gassy? Angry? Did you have a good bowel movement after? Was it urgent or hard to push out? Any information you can gather about your own body and its responses to your nourishment are extremely valuable for your continued progress.
Eat:
Starting your day with a glass of warm water with lemon is a great way to support the cleansing process of the body and activate your organs. According to ayurvedic tradition the routines you create will either build up resistance to disease or tear it down. Having a morning routine in your dietary intake can help support finding the body’s natural rhythms and build discipline. To practice this simple ritual take the juice of ½ FRESH lemon squeezed into a cup and pour warm clean water over…Simple right? Check out the amazing benefits below.