How to Decrease Sugar Cravings

It's the holidays and we all want be healthy and keep the weight down. At the same time with all the holiday festivities, there's more sugar at parties and then candies/desserts brought home. So you want to stay away, but it seems very difficult to. Watch the video I made you! These are 3 strategies you can easily use that can help curb that sweet tooth.

There are two kinds of hunger: 1.Physiological hunger 2.Cravings. How does physiologic hunger work? The brain and stomach communicate via the vagus nerve (the nerve is like the wire of a tin can phone system, connecting the two phones). When you are truly hungry (low blood sugar, low nutrients), the hormone ghrelin is secreted and tells the hypothalamus in the brain to secrete an appetite inducing hormone. Then when you are full, leptin is secreted, telling your brain that you are satiated.

Cravings are much more complicated. But research shows that cravings are increased when serotonin levels are lower in the brain. Often times, serotonin levels drop with decrease in vitamin D levels. Natural vitamin D is obtained by sunlight, so in the winter, people feel more sugar cravings, low mood etc when it is typically darker. Serotonin is the brain chemical responsible for feeling happy, and some forms of depression are associated with low serotonin. Sugar, carbohydrates, and wheat can act as opiates and give temporary feelings of euphoria. This may be why people crave sugar more in the winter when they need a "pick me up".

Given this information, you can increase outdoor activity to get some vitamin D. You can also exercise to increase endorphins (which is a natural opiate produced by the body and beneficial). Use the sunlight and exercise to feel happy rather than sugar. Sugar tends to contribute to mood swings, weight gain and lowered immunity. So enjoy your holidays and you will be surprised at how much you enjoy them more when you commit to healthy habits.

To Eat or not to Eat...That is the Question

How does our attitude about food affect how successful we can be to achieve a healthy weight?

Angelina comes home from work at 8:30pm. Her team at work has successfully completed a month long project today and all she wants to do is to go home, have a couple glasses of wine, some comfort food and desert to reward herself. She is 5'6 165lbs. She used to be 130lbs when she was younger, but the weight has slowly crept up over the years. She has tried various weight loss programs and has been able to loose 20-25 lbs or so, but she seems to always gain it back. Why? What are some obstacles to her keeping the weight off? 

Growing up, Angelina's mom always rewarded her for good behavior with ice cream. Her mother would have lots of cheese and crackers if she was having a bad day to soothe herself. If she was having an especially bad day, she would say to her daughter, "Mommy's tummy looks so fat. I wish I looked like you. You make sure you don't eat too much so you stay pretty."

Many of my patients and friends believe that the less they eat, the less they weight. Calories in = Calories out. But that is not true. When you consume a food with less calories, for example a plain bagel, 70 calories (Panera Bread plain bagel 290 cal), compared to 2 eggs, 170 calories; it is natural to choose the bagel with 70 calories because it has the lowest calories. However the bagel is a carbohydrate, which means if you don't burn it, it gets converted by the liver into fat. The egg is protein and has much less of an effect on weight. Also, the bagel has almost no nutritional value, so when you consume it, your body is still asking you for more food, because it is nutrient deficient and you are more likely to crave more food after consuming the bagel. A study shows that people who consume zero calorie beverages are more likely to gain weight in 1 year than people who drink non-diet drinks. That is not to say that I am advocating for sugary non-diet drinks, but the zero calorie drinks may be worse because of the chemical effects the artificial sweeteners have on your brain, programing your brain to crave more food, because it is empty nutrition. Every type of food sends a different signal to your metabolism, so choose foods that are nutrient dense, and your brain will get the signal that you are satiated. This will help reduce cravings.

Another tendency I see is that people believe that the less they eat, the less they weigh. So especially with my busy patients, this is both convenient and works with their innocently misguided beliefs. Many people will have a coffee and skip breakfast, then have a light lunch at noon and not eat for 8 hours till they get back home from work. By that time they are starving, and will binge on foods for the rest of the evening. They often tend to eat more than they would have, if they had eaten nutrient dense meals and snacks during the day when the point of "hunger to no return arrives". Nutrient dense foods such as good quality proteins and healthy fats induce a chemical called somatostatin, that makes you full. Therefore, having these foods combined with fruits and vegies (which generally have zero effect on your weight), will help you feel full and reduce cravings. When you are overly hungry, your blood sugar drops very low which sends a message to your brain to eat the fastest thing that will elevate your blood sugar. That would be sugar and carbohydrates! But these foods will turn into fat if you don't burn them. So please eat breakfast and it is generally healthy to have some food every 3-4 hours.

Lastly with popular culture, we have often associated the word diet with beauty and restriction of food. This can have profound psychological effects on us when we view food this way. Hippocrates said, "let food be your medicine". So perhaps instead of thinking about restricting foods or calories; what if the paradigm was shifted to, "what foods can I choose to have more of, that nourish my body". And if you have more of nutrient dense foods, you probably would just naturally be more full and not want foods that do not support your body. I believe we all should live life, so do not feel bad if you ocassionally have deserts, or choose whatever you like when you eat out. Let's not punish ourselves with guilt that should not be. Rather let us be educated and make decisions that support our wellbeing. If you generally had 80-90% healthy foods, you would feel quite well. If you have 60% or more vegetables and fruit on your plate, you would also feel quite well. So to eat or not to eat, I'd say eat with gratitude.