Cravings and the science behind them
There are many things that drive cravings for sugar and junk for like; poor sleep, stress, hormones and your menstrual cycle, upset, worry and anxiety, under eating, over training and dehydration. But also your microbiome or the bacteria that reside in your gut. Yes they play a BIG part in cravings! (rememer modbiotics and our offsetting hacks?)
When we eat certain foods we feed certain bacteria. So the more we eat sugar and feed the sugar feeder, the more our cravings increase. Because these little guys, what we would consider “bad bacteria” known as “fermicutes”, they makes us fat, sick and ugly.
So a key aspect of maintaining high energy levels and a lean body mass, is by making a conscious effort to consume foods and supplements that support the proliferation of a favorable gut environment and the “good bacteria”, like Akkermansia, Bifidobacteria and others from the Bacteroidetes family.
Check these out if you haven’t already ⇓
Your gut contains both good and bad bacteria. When we are exposed to sugar and toxins, this can allow the bad bacteria to gain a foothold and disrupt the delicate microbial ecosystem in our gut. This imbalance is knows as ‘Dysbiosis’ and can lead to stubborn body fat, inflammation, depression, skin conditions, brain fog, bowel issues and chronic fatigue. But also an imbalance of the bacteria rations, allowing the bad guys to take over.
Here are two simple strategies to keep your belly happy
Avoid the bad stuff like fried and processed foods, antibiotics, birth control, NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, homogenized dairy, vegetable oils, artificial sweeteners, wheat, grains, brown rice and excessive alcohol.
Consume a diet high in cellular carbohydrates. This includes vegetables, fruits and tubers. These carbs are cellular in nature, which means they are surrounded by fibrous cell walls. This fiber feeds good bacteria. Cellular carbohydrates have been shown to lower inflammation, address nutritional deficiencies, strengthen your immune system, increase hormonal activity and help to maintain a good body composition. Be sure to cook these if you find you have trouble digesting them.
Trust your gut feelings. Our gut is the center of our emotions – we feel fear, worry, anger, exitement and love, all in our mid section.
Cravings, emotions, the science and more.
It is my opinion, from my own personal experience and experience with clients, that stress is the number one cause of emotional eating, binge eating or “falling” off track. Followed closely behing by tiredness.
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to read this blog post I did. It looks at cravings connected to emotional disturbances, and what foods we crave that refelct how we feel or connect to specific cravings. I also recommend this book by Doreen Virtue if you would like to read more on why you experience cravings.
Why do we stress eat?
There are two main theories that explain why we eat more during stressful times:
The Distraction Theory. When we’ve a million things on our mind – the boss, the bills, the kids – our attention is distracted. We become less in-tune with our body, so we are less aware of internal cues of hunger and satiation. When we are stressed, we engage in “automatic eating“, and we are less apt to notice when our stomach is full.
The Opiate Theory. Under stress, our bodies produce pain killing opiates – hormones that help the body feel calm and safe like endophins. These opiates stimulate overeating. But just like if your body becomes used to opioid pain medication, its ability to create and use natural endorphins will decrease too if called on too much like in current times. So your body looks for other ways to boost its opiod production and that is through food – generally sugar. *Researchers have elimated stress eating in rats by injecting them with an opiate-blocking drug called “Naloxone”.
The Opiate Theory is what I believe most of us can agree on – this is what drives our stress eating 90% of the time. And it can be hard to over come this. So, to help, here are 15 healthy ways to help your body naturally produce more endorphins, to help you battle stress better.
- Exercise
- Mediate
- Get sunshine and fresh air
- Give someone a hug
- Boost your omegas/krill
- Have sex or orgasim
- Acupuncture
- Dark chocolate
- Strawberries
- Oranges
- Grapes
- Nuts and seeds
- Spicy foods
- Ginseng
- Animal products – meats, eggs and cheese etc.
Helpful resources;