How to get through cravings
You don’t have to knuckle through cravings.
While working to change your diet and / or lifestyle, there is often a transition period as your body is getting used to the new way of eating.
The root cause of the craving will not be resolved overnight. It is for this reason I always suggest for my clients that we create an “emergency” plans for when those cravings hit.
The most common root causes for cravings are low levels of “happy or calming” neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin, adrenal dysfunction, dysbiosis of the microbiome, and micronutrient deficiencies.
Your history and key laboratory testing will help identify your individual cause for the cravings and then a unique treatment plan will be created to resolve these imbalances or deficiencies.
In this BLOG you will learn how to create your “emergency” plan for your specific craving.
We will cover the most common cravings I see (+ things you can do to help you through them)
🍫Chocolate cravings
9 times out of 10, those who I see struggle with chocolate cravings are deficient in magnesium. The first thing we do is to help boost your magnesium levels through supplementation.
This is not an overnight fix, so here are my suggestions to help you get that chocolate fix in the meantime:
►Reach for dairy free chocolate that has high concentrations of cacao. The even better ones are sweetened with stevia or monk fruit to help keep your blood sugar levels stable. Lily’s is one brand to consider.
►Make your own chocolate keto bark in less than 5 minutes. Here is a very simple recipe from https://www.ditchthecarbs.com/easy-paleo-chocolate-bark/ you can use seeds or nuts, or skip these and just stick with coconut flakes or for added interest you can also do freeze dried raspberries.
►Prepare an avocado-chocolate mousse. Sounds weird, I know... but it’s really yummy! This is my favorite recipe, Katie encourages you to use the “milk” and sweetener of your choosing: https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2015/10/15/avocado-chocolate-mousse-vegan-healthy/
🍟Salty cravings
The most common cause for salty food cravings is due to stressed adrenals.
My go-to tips to help prevent and/or find a healthier substitution:
►Balance electrolytes. Drink water with lemon and a pinch of natural salt.
►Replenish your micronutrients through a nutrient dense diet of colorful veg and protein aggressively seasoned w/ salt
►Choose salty carbs that are going to be more nutrient dense. An example of this may be root veggie chips that used avocado or coconut oil to make them.
🍦Sugar cravings
👉Sugar cravings are often due to a few different reasons why:
👉An overgrowth of gut bugs that are making your crazy with sugar cravings
👉A low amount of dopamine, and you need a sugar hit to normalize it
👉Adrenal exhaustion, and you need sugar to give you a boost of energy
👉Insulin resistance, and you are on the blood sugar rollercoaster
Since sugar cravings are kinda tricky with many different potential root causes, I often find that I may need additional testing to find out which cause it is & create a plan accordingly.
However, for those of you who are struggling with sugar cravings, here’s a good place to start: