I have been craving junk all day as well as yesterday. I haven't been the best at clean eating, but I've been doing the best I can given that I had no choice but to eat at restaurants every weekend for five weeks. Really, all that means is that I've been living on watermelon, pistachios, Trader Joe's dried apples, a thousand different blends of tea, and dried pineapple and homemade beef jerky (thank you, Christa and Ragnar!) And I definitely had ice cream for dinner last night. But it was Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra, so at least it's quality ice cream. That counts for something. Right?
Anyhoo, the cravings for junk and fast food have been strong the past couple of days, and I'm managing it by living on pistachios and Trader Joe's dried apple slices. And tea. Lots and lots of tea. Today's blend is Tulsi Moringa. It's supposed to help relieve stress. Right...
In any case, I'm armed with high fiber foods to combat cravings and teas for the headaches and irritable stomach (mint for tummy and raspberry leaf for the lady parts). In any case, it's been helping me kick the soda craving. I don't generally crave salty things. I crave sweets. Soda and ice cream are probably the biggest culprits. And sweet tea. I looooooovvvvvve sweet tea. I also love Kinder chocolate. When I found out that they put it in bar form and my favorite candy store carried it...Hoo boy. Anyway. You get the picture. I have a sweet tooth.
Occasionally, when I have a craving, it's not even for something specific. It's just a driving need to have something sweet.
This has me thinking about the science of cravings. Why do we crave the foods we crave? Why do we have general cravings?
Apparently, hormones play a huge role in hunger. If you've been keeping up with my trials and tribulations, you understand why this made me laugh in way that made my eye twitch. It makes me wonder if maybe the hormones Dr. K checked aren't the only ones out of whack. My thyroid was fine, but that was literally the only thing that was functioning properly out of everything she checked.
When I got my lab results from Dr. K, she mentioned that processed foods have been found to adversely affect your endocrine system. She didn't get specific, but she suggested going to a clean diet, which I have been trying...and struggling with. As I've been reading, I've learned that Grehlin is the hormone produced in the pancreas that drives our hunger. It may even be linked to cravings, according to Dr. Ellen Hendrikson.
We've all heard that processed sugar and foods like chocolate releases endorphins into the brain much like opioid drugs would. But did you know that blocking those same opiate receptors will dampen cravings for such foods?
So, great. I'm quite literally chemically dependent on this crap that is possibly killing my endocrine system. Brilliant. How do I combat this? Well, after wading through an obnoxious amount of articles that gave suggestions like, "visualize a different craving" or "take a nap", I came across a pretty decent article from Fitness Magazine's website.
The article backed up Dr. Hendrikson's statements about the link between junk food and chemical dependency, but it took it a step further, stating that women are programmed to put a higher value on food. Why is that? You guessed it. Women are the baby factories! Our prehistoric ancestors lived in times of feast and famine, and the foods that had a higher sugar or fat content would sustain them longer. This is especially helpful when you're eating for two. In other words, we as a species have survived millions of years by making women chemically dependent on chocolate. Thanks a lot, guys. Really. Thanks so much.
The article goes on to say that giving in to the craving for sugary, salty, and fatty foods just makes the cravings worse. Processed sugar hits your bloodstream much faster than regular sugars, so you get a sugar rush that gives you an immediate boost, but it can't sustain you. Not only that, but if you give in to that desire for ice cream, you could spend the next three days craving it. The article then goes on to give examples of how to curb your cravings.
I've included links for the articles, because they have good suggestions for managing cravings. I was planning on listing out my favorites, but I'm exhausted, and I have a fierce migraine, so I'll leave it to you to explore on your own, my duckies.
