5 Ways You Crave Sugar

You feel deprived. Or desperate. Or foggy. Or you’re keyed in to a particular food. Or you need a stimulant.

These different ways of craving sweets can be indicative of why you’re craving. And knowing the reason for your craving will multiply your success for stopping your sugar addiction in its tracks!

Would you feed bananas to a cat, or fish to a monkey? Of course not, so why would you correct an emotional addiction with probiotics, or low blood sugars with social interaction?

Sometimes you crave because your customs, habits, and circumstances induce powerful brain cues. For example, you think about cake on birthdays, hot chocolate when it snows, or millk and cookies on Christmas Eve.

But that’s not the same as the signals your body sends out when it is deficient in amino acids or when you’re dehydrated, or when you need fatty acids. In short, nutrient shortfalls cause cravings completely separate from socio-emotional cues. This category includes lack of fuel from hypoglycemia, and also fuel shortages because of insulin resistance.

Then there’s the rush you get because you are addicted to a food. It’s a literal physiological occurrence. The body’s histamine reaction to a food that you are sensitive to is followed by a dopamine hit and an endorphin release. In a strange twist of nature, you want more of the very food that is harming you!

When your gut bugs talk to your brain, it’s a different sort of craving, born by the microbiome’s need for food. Different strains of yeasts, bacteria, and parasites have different fuel requirements. While certain desirable strains feast on vegetable fiber, other less beneficial strains pig-out on simple sugars.

Lastly, you often crave because you are stressed or tired – or both! In either case, you are trying to run on empty and you need a quick fix.

There are different nutritional answers for each of these scenarios. That’s why I have created a class to guide you through the key characteristics of all five types of craving and the strategies you can employ to overcome them. Join me locally here, or request the introductory price when our online version becomes available.