You Are Fighting Against It?

Don’t beat yourself up about poor food choices, as that can be counterproductive and cause you to eat more junk food. Just get right back on track. Make the decision to take care of yourself now. Maybe you had cravings before, but they got worse when you tried to cut back on what you were eating. Why, when you try to lose weight, does your body develop a mind of its own and decide it wants the foods you are trying to cut back on?! Do you ever feel like you and your body are on different sides?! That you are fighting against it? Whilst I totally get that it can feel that way, it’s actually your body’s way of trying to make you feel good! There’s a biochemical reason why you can end up craving carbs when you diet. Returning to Sarah, in the past, every time she had tried to lose weight, it was futile. She’d ended up craving carbs and sugar. Even more than normal! So she was fascinated when I explained why this happened. Removing the focus from her weight onto balancing and supporting her body was a significant mental and emotional shift for her, as well as biochemical. It wasn’t like Sarah woke up one morning and suddenly her cravings for sugar and carbs had gone. It had been a gradual change, and sometimes her old pattern returned. But at a lower level of craving.

Black And Blue

More of a desire than a craving. She no longer felt compelled to eat the cake, the chocolate, the biscuits. It felt like more of a choice, where it wasn’t such a big deal not to have it. This was a big shift for Sarah. Craving carbs when you diet or when your mood is low has to do with serotonin, a chemical in your brain that makes you feel good. But why does low serotonin make you crave carbs? Your body makes serotonin from tryptophan. This can leave you feeling down. But why don’t you crave foods that contain tryptophan? Why do you crave chips, bread, cake or other carbs? Why do you reach for biscuits to cheer yourself up? Why not a bowl of tofu or some turkey, both of which contain tryptophan? This is because tryptophan is converted into serotonin in your brain. But first it has to get into your brain, and you need insulin to transport it there. So how does your body raise its insulin levels quickly? By getting you to eat sweet and refined carbohydrates. This is why you may crave cakes, biscuits or chips when your mood is down because of low serotonin. When you eat sugar and refined carbs, you release more insulin.

Life Is Just A Breath Away

This carries more tryptophan into your brain. So more tryptophan is able to be converted into serotonin. And you get a greater mood boost. It may seem counterintuitive that serotonin is made from a component of protein, yet at the same time when your serotonin is low you paradoxically crave refined carbohydrates. However, the insulin boost from the carbohydrates raises your serotonin more than if you eat foods containing tryptophan. For our distant ancestors, refined carbohydrates were not available. Our bodies are not well equipped to deal with them. In the short term you get the mood boost, but refined carbs destabilise your blood sugar, causing it to rise, then drop. This does not help your mood. Nor do these foods help your cravings over the longer term. Even though you may get an immediate mood boost by eating the quick fix, it is better to bring your body into balance and support it over the slightly longer term. You know by now that it’s not advantageous to have high levels of insulin! You need the correct levels.

Hostile To The Commonplace

Obviously, you want enough insulin to enable good serotonin levels. So how do you raise your insulin levels, without sending them rocketing? By including unrefined carbs. Tofu, turkey and chicken, fish, eggs, oats, milk, yogurt and cheese are high in tryptophan. It is best not to include large quantities of dairy, but to eat a variety of foods. Vitamin B6 is in a variety of foods, including chicken, turkey, some fish, oats, bananas, watercress, cauliflower, cabbage, peppers, squash, broccoli, asparagus, lentils, red kidney beans, Brussels sprouts, onions, nuts, seeds, eggs and whole grains. You need these nutrients to make and use serotonin properly. If you have dark skin, it is less efficient at making vitamin D from sunlight. To boost your vitamin D levels, expose your skin to sunshine, but do not let your skin burn. It is best to stay out of the sun when the sun sits high in the sky, typically between 11 a.m. Whilst dairy is a good source of calcium, it has a very high ratio of calcium to magnesium. We need our calcium and magnesium to be at the correct levels relative to each other, and many people are low in magnesium. Other foods that contain magnesium include whole grains, lentils, green peas and fish. If you have food cravings, eating breakfast, particularly one high in protein, can help. Having breakfast, particularly one high in protein, gives you a greater sense of ‘reward’ and reduces cravings for both sweet and savoury foods. The more weight you carry, the more likely you are to have a blunted response to dopamine. This means you need more food to get the same feeling of reward. Increasing protein at breakfast may help you regulate your food intake. Next step is to look at where you still need to make changes. Are you balancing your blood sugar levels? It has many benefits. It stops you from giving your body the message to store fat. Are you including foods that contain calcium and magnesium? Do you need to increase protein at breakfast to help stabilise your eating throughout the day? Write down one or two changes that you most want to focus on next. Serotonin is made from the amino acid tryptophan.