Sugar Cravings – What Can We Do About Them?
Sugar cravings – we can all experience them – but why? They can develop for many reasons, such as after periods of indulgence like Christmas and holidays, or during stressful and emotional times. Once the levels of sugar in our diet increase it becomes difficult to resist these foods as sugar is highly addictive in the same way as drugs such as alcohol and cocaine. We also develop a tolerance to sugar so that we are no longer aware of the negative effects it has on us. Sugar releases our neurotransmitter dopamine (involved in our reward pathways) so that as the addiction increases we are continually seeking the feel good feeling our brain receives when dopamine is released. That’s when we have the desire to eat more sugar and the cycle continues.
Other factors that lead to sugar cravings include fatigue, adrenal stress, emotional factors, hormonal fluctuations and nutritional deficiencies. However sugar cravings can also be driven by psychological factors which may also need investigation.
Eating sugar day in day out is harmful and can result in a variety of health problems such as insulin resistance, diabetes, weight gain, metabolic syndrome, fatty liver and elevated cholesterol, depression, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, hormonal balance and Candida. Symptoms of Candida (intestinal yeast) include digestive bloating and other disturbances, poor energy, mind fog and mood swings and can make life very uncomfortable. What can we do to reduce sugar cravings? See article here.