| Effective Strategies for Combating Carb Cravings |
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| Dr John Briffa | |||
| Wednesday, 01 July 2009 | |||
  Yesterday in practice I saw a female patient who, among other things, was troubled by the fact that she craved sugar “like you wouldn’t believe”. It is my experience in practice that many individuals with sugar cravings view it as a sign of weakness on their part. However, food can have powerful addictive qualities, and the physiological processes here can sometimes be overlooked. Often, taking an approach designed to normalise and balance whatever physiological issues are at the root of such food cravings can be extremely effective in stopping the cravings in their tracks.One potential and important cause of sweet cravings is episodes of low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia). If blood sugar levels get low, it’s natural for the body to crave foods that replenish sugar quickly into the blood stream (e.g. chocolate). While this can happen at any time, one particular time of day where such cravings are common is the mid-late afternoon. It may be that these individuals are suffering from a blood sugar low caused by the body’s reaction to a blood sugar high that can come after lunch (particularly something like a sandwich). My sugar-craving patient yesterday, as it happens, found that her symptoms were most intense at this time. The cornerstone of combating such cravings is a diet that helps stabilise blood sugar levels. This means, for the most part, regular meals/snacks based on foods that tend to release sugar quite slowly into the bloodstream. A relatively protein rich, carb-restricted ‘primal’ diet tends to work very well here. In addition, certain supplements can help. Sometimes, for instance, it can help to take some chromium. Chromium helps to stabilise blood sugar levels, and has been shown to reduce hunger and food cravings as a result. See here for more on this. Another nutrient that can help combat sugar cravings is the amino acid glutamine. Within the body, glutamine can be converted into brain chemicals such as gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) and gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB) which seem to have the capacity to reduce the desire for certain foodstuffs, namely sugar and alcohol. By pure coincidence, I recently bought some glutamine to try it. Yesterday, I dissolved 1 teaspoon of glutamine powder in 500 mls of water to sip throughout the day. Now, it might have been my imagination/placebo response/whatever, but I noticed a distinct reduction in my desire for carbohydrate throughout the day. I went out for dinner last night with some friends, and was offered a dessert (baked cheesecake) as part of a set menu I’d opted for. When the dessert arrived, I had zero desire to eat it. This is strange because while I don’t seek out this sort of food, once it’s plonked in front of me I usually am able to muster enough enthusiasm to eat it (or at least some of it). The value of stabilising blood sugar and combating cravings should not be underestimated, because I’ve seen it work well in individuals diagnosed with the condition bulimia nervosa (characterised by bingeing and purging). Purging has been shown to have the capacity to induce hypoglycaemia, which can lead to bingeing, typically on carbs, and so the cycle repeats. Recently, I wrote an article on the dietary management of bulimia (Why bulimia is not all in the mind, and the dietary approach that can put a stop to this condition). In addition to a blood sugar stabilising diet with some additional chromium, it might be that supplementation with glutamine might help break the bingeing/purging cycle.
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