Cravings v. Food Addiction & Food Rehab

Women especially bemoan food cravings, those urges to reach for an unhealthy snack in the middle of the afternoon or, even worse, in the evening. But these urges can be a beneficial reminder that your body is missing a nutrient that it should have had earlier in the day. Everyone experiences cravings at one time or another, some every day; others at some point every month. Women tend to experience more noteworthy and severe cravings so they are often written off as some kind of hormonal anomaly. Food addiction is a different animal and creates the rampant obesity we see swarming America. These problems can be managed and solved. BUT, look out, when food cravings snowball into food addiction. Food addiction grabs you and takes hold because it is essentially making you believe you are not just hungry, but you are a bottomless pit. You begin to disassociate hunger with eating and it is just an activity that you can not stop. Food addiction requires food rehab.

So, which do you have, a craving or a food addiction?

Craving: You are satisfied by a reasonable portion despite being so desperate to have the item that you would go out of your way to buy it, I mean really, blocks, even miles out of your way. With food readily available, this tends not to be necessary. But, you know the feeling.

Addiction: You came across the food, nibbled, and an hour later you are still eating, looking for more, scavenging through your cabinets, or driving out to the store. Like an alcohol addiction, food addiction can be triggered by the first bite, the initial taste sensation, the opiate sensation of food reaching your brain and bringing satisfaction.

What should you do about it?

Craving: Try a higher fat and higher protein earlier in the day. Drink lots of hot tea or mineral water. Make a schedule that works for you.We can manage cravings with these tips:

• Eat more fat in the morning or at noon (avocados, coconut oil, olive oil, nuts and seeds. Eat these generously. People who fear fat have more cravings.)
• If your diet does not provide enough vitamins, take some, especially B vitamins and Vitamin D. Both provide clarity and happiness.
• Manage stress (Create a schedule that is reasonable. If you hear yourself saying you are "so busy", that is no one's fault but your own. Do not over-schedule. There is literally no relationship between over-scheduling and human success. Organizing life whether you have four kids, no babysitter, a job, etc. requires time management. Recognize whether you thrive on quiet time (an introvert) or thrive on social engagements (an extrovert) and create a schedule accordingly. I plan my week to have blocks of free time despite technically being as busy as everyone else. I don't over-schedule myself or my children.
• Sleep. Sleep a lot. 8 or 9 hours per night.
• Exercise. Morning exercise curbs cravings significantly by acting as an appetite suppressant in the immediate aftermath and by helping ease afternoon stress. It is worth scheduling in exercise every day even if for a very short time. I will do ten minutes if that is all the time I have.
• Women in particular have different hormone levels throughout the month. A healthy diet of whole foods and no processed carbs will limit mood swings and huge hormone fluctuations. Recirculating estrogen is a cause of disease. Non-estrogenic foods and a cleansing diet will keep estrogen levels fluctuating normally and reasonably. One go around of estrogen is enough. You don't want it seeping through colon walls and going around again. Fiber, healthy gut flora and vegetables will prevent what processed foods, heavy meat, and dairy would encourage.

Addiction: Avoid any addictive flavors. For many, sugar is the most addictive thing, more addictive than cocaine. After that, greasy, floury chemical laden food is addictive. So avoid any chemical flavorings (flavorings in fast food and packaged food are designed to make you buy more). For many Americans, post-holiday, it is very difficult to avoid sweets because the holidays having awakened the sweet sensation and all of its addictive properties. The food was designed to do that. Your body is designed to become addicted to food and especially sugar because in a time of little food availability that desire kept people alive. We can treat food addiction with these tips:

• You have to recognize that you have to change your habits. Eat a lot of calories to avoid feeling a craving that would unravel your food rehab. Try macadamia nuts and pecans around noon or even earlier.
• Schedule yourself to be places where you simply can not eat. Schedule anything from meetings to extra time at the gym. At first, avoid places (like a kitchen at your office) that tend to trigger grabbing a cookie.
• Avoid everything processed, meat and dairy for three weeks. (Add nuts, seeds, and avocado as well as lots of vegetables so that this will not feel difficult.)
• Pick a few foods to keep (Maybe a non-sweet bread or a salty snack that is completely natural in small amounts. If there are non-addictive alternatives like kale chips instead of potato chips, choose them.)
• Seek out the support of a group. Mark Hyman's 10 Day Detox would set anyone on a healthy path. Their Facebook group is amusing to say the least and you can count on there being someone of every level of knowledge about food and cooking and every weight range. Note that you need a group that recognizes the problem is not your fault.
• If you do not have the support of friends or extended family, avoid them for the first two weeks. There is no need to be surrounded by tempting foods. If you were a heroin addict, they would not bring heroin to a family event. If they must bring sugar or salty processed snacks, take a few weeks to yourself. Go back to those events when you truly have conquered your addiction. (I encourage exceptions for holidays and bringing your own healthy versions of desserts or snacks when necessary)

Food addiction, the real problem that does not get enough attention, is a major cause of disease. Food manufacturers want you to be food addicts. They will fight to market addictive foods, especially anything with sugar. We all know it is confirmed science that sugar is more addictive than cocaine. That does not mean everyone is addicted. But many of you are, or if you eat enough of it, will be. If I eat sugar one day, I want it the next day. It always takes me a few days to unravel the addiction.

Food is sold everywhere from book stores to car washes, from street corners to coffee places, even at FedEx Office you can buy a high calorie bag of chips or movie theater sized candy while you wait to ship a package. You all know how exhausting standing in line can be. I mean, really worthy of a snack. As if you have burned a single calorie there. Add that availability to the American incorrect mindset that snacking is preferable to not eating between meals, and you will find major food addicts. People eat mindlessly while doing other things and people often simply cannot stop. David Katz of Yale once said in a lecture you will eat raw almonds until you are full but you will eat honey-roasted salty almonds until your arm is too tired to keep reaching into the bag for more. His point is the American food industry sells addictive foods and you need to choose wisely.