Crazy Carb Cravings

You're eating a low-carb diet or keto diet and all was well for a week or two, then all of a sudden.... BOOM, the food CRAVINGS have hit and they have hit HARD!! Did you give in or did you grin and bear it and wonder what the heck happened?

I've been there my friend, more times than I can count and I know how grueling and difficult it can be, especially when you feel like you are doing everything right!

It's not your fault or your lack of will power! There are physical and emotional reasons why we crave sugary foods and high-carb junk food and there are ways to conquer these food cravings.

The palatability of foods is one common reason we crave. Food chemists create foods to have the right amount of fats, sugar and carbs that cause an intense desire for you to want more and more.

The good news is that you can get a handle on your sweet tooth!

Food Addiction or Carbohydrate Addiction

When you have sugar cravings and indulge, you raise your blood sugar levels, and that blood sugar spike triggers your dopamine levels, which is your excitement hormone.

This releases feel-good chemicals in the body, which tell your brain that, the simple carbs you ate filled with sugar gave you comfort and made you feel good.

The brain likes habits and this becomes stronger each time we give in to those high-carb foods like white bread, white rice, pasta, even whole grains. All contribute to spikes in blood glucose, which continues a vicious cycle of eating comfort food, weight gain, shame and guilt.

Keeping your blood sugar balanced and removing inflammatory foods is the way I have helped hundreds of women in my online sugar detox course to eliminate cravings, lose weight, reverse insulin resistance, lower A1C and improve their overall health. 

  Is Sugar Addiction like Drug Addiction?

At least a dozen different diet plans had been tried from the age of 12 until I was 32. I'd lose some weight and do pretty well for a time, only to think I could handle a few treats here and there at birthday parties and holidays, you know.... only special occasions. 

Then it became more consistent to have a nice special sweet treat, just on Sundays to reward myself for a good week of healthy eating.

Then Monday rolled around and I was determined to get back on track because of course, I knew how to eat healthy and loose weight since I had done it many times before and succeeded.

I could eat well until about 3 pm and then the treats from Sunday were calling my name that I could not resist. Many times I could make it through the rest of the week until the weekend and then the battle would begin again. 

Because there was always another party or get together and saying no to the snacks that everyone else was having was just not fair in my opinion. I wanted to eat the way my friends could eat and not gain weight and not have a problem.

I truly felt like sugar was a drug to me and I couldn't stop when trying to have "just a little".  After many failed attempts to limit the consumption like "normal" people could. I failed miserably because no matter what I did to try to limit eating sweets, sugars hold on me was too strong.

Studies show that in some people, sugar triggers a high dopamine response just like a drug addict. Some people can moderate sugar and some can't. I need to be an abstainer because moderation never worked for me.

Ways to Eliminate Sugar & Carb Cravings

As a nutritional therapy practitioner and sugar detox coach, one of the ways I have helped my clients achieve freedom from sugar cravings is with a high-protein, nutrient dense diet. Many women in my course think they are eating enough protein, but many times they are not. Once they increase their protein, the cravings are reduced.

Animal protein has essential amino acids that we can not make in our own bodies and must get them from protein we eat. Protein is very satiating and when you're body doesn't get the nutrients in needs, it will continue to seek all day long.

Cravings for a specific food is often a sign of an emotional craving. But when you are not even sure what you want to eat, but keep looking in the cupboard, pantry and fridge for "something" that is often a sign your protein needs have not been met.

I recommend clients to have a minimum of at least 30 grams of protein per meal or try to hit a goal of 90-100 grams of protein daily.

Calorie intake and carb intake still need to be tracked in my opinion, if you are looking to lose body fat. Not everyone in my online Sugar detox course follows a ketogenic diet. Many woman use a low carb approach to reduce their cravings and have successful weight loss.

Enjoying healthy fats is also another way to reduce and/or eliminate carb cravings. If you grew up in the low-fat era, learning to enjoy fat and not fear it will be a new change for you.

Dietary fat does not raise blood glucose and it helps you feel satisfied, not to mention it makes delicious, tasty food. Avocado oil, olive oil, butter, nuts, nut butters are a great way to get in healthy fats.

While high-fat foods are delicious on a ketogenic diet, if you eat too much fat, you will likely not be burning your own body fat. So being aware of how much fat you are eating is still important.

The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet

The 30-day Sugar Elimination diet is my new book out in December 2022. I decided that all the information that was helping so many people achieve freedom from sugar and carb cravings in my online sugar detox course needed to be in a book to reach more of you!

It's a four-part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings for sugar and carbs, balance your blood sugar to feel better and lose weight. You will focus on eating nutrient dense whole foods with a high protein intake daily. You will learn which kinds of carbs work for your body to get to your ideal weight and end cravings for good.

Freeing yourself from sugar cravings isn't about willpower or following a Paleo, or low-carb or keto diet. My 30-day meal plan has two tracks to follow, either low-carb or keto, you decide which is best for your body. All nutritional information is provided for each day for either track.

The best part about the recipes is that they are made for one person to follow the program providing 1-4 servings, using leftovers and freezing some meals to make this a very easy to follow meal plan.

The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet will teach you how to detox from sugar without horrible withdrawal symptoms. The tools I share in this book provide all the support you will need to balance your blood sugar, remove those intense cravings and lose weight, all while enjoying delicious food that keeps you satisfied.

Preorder The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Medical Review by Dr. Ken Berry