Ever since I stopping consuming a lot of kefir, my sugar cravings have been out of control. The reason I reduced my consumption of kefir was due to a really bad detox reaction. I am slowly building up my tolerance to kefir, but in the mean time, I was feeling crazy going on and off sweets. When I ate dessert, even healthy options, all I did is crave more dessert, instead of satisfying that sweet craving. When I didn’t eat any sugar, my energy was crazy low almost to the point of feeling ill. Recently, I think I’ve figured out a good solution to my problem that could be a sustainable lifestyle change, instead of a diet trend. That solution is low-glycemic fruits.
I buy a large bag of organic frozen fruit high in antioxidants from Costco to add them to my smoothie every morning. The bag contains strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, pomegranate seeds, and tart cherries. Besides adding them to my smoothie, I’ve been snacking on them frozen. Berries generally have a GI from mid 30 to 40s and cherries have a GI of 22. I’ve also eaten an apple to cut cravings which has a GI of 38. Note that low-glycemic is 55 or less. Grapefruit is also a great option at a GI of 25, but I’m skittish after I cut myself eating grapefruit, so be careful! Now that strawberry season is back in LA, this diet change couldn’t have come at better time.
Dehydration and Sugar Cravings
I’ve also been trying to increase the amount of water I drink. According to Donna Gates, author of the Body Ecology Diet, “Cravings for sugar are often a sign of dehydration. Drink a couple of glasses of water before you give in to that craving and you probably won’t want those sweets after all.” Since fruit is hydrating as well as sweet, it may also satisfy your cravings better than a chocolate bar or cookies, which will actually make you thirstier and feed your sugar craving.
Why care about a low-glycemic diet and sugar?
Sugar has a inflammatory effect on the body, therefore, a low-glycemic diet is an anti-inflammatory diet. I just started reading The Hormone Diet by Natasha Turner, ND, and she recommends a low-glycemic diet for keeping your hormones in balance. I also recently watched the Paleo diet, featured on Dr. Oz, which is another low-glycemic diet that is extremely popular right now for weight loss and health. The Body Ecology Diet by Donna Gates cautions against sugar, as it can feed dangerous yeast, fungus, and bacteria growth.
If you have any solutions that you use to cut sugar cravings, I would love to about hear them!
Source:
The Hormone Diet by Natasha Turner, ND
The Body Ecology Diet by Donna Gates
http://nutrigenie.biz/gifruits/FruitsGlycemicIndexFoodListPage2.html
http://www.livestrong.com/article/401235-the-best-low-glycemic-fruits/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/21/inflammatory-foods-worst-inflammation_n_2838643.html#slide=2131351