March 1998

How to Control Food Cravings

One of the common biochemical similarities in depression, alcoholism, and carbohydrate craving obesity is low levels of a neurotransmitter in the brain called serotonin. Low levels of serotonin are caused by low blood sugar, chronic dieting, and emotional stress. Many antidepressant and appetite suppressant drugs work by attempting to regulate the way serotonin is used by the brain.

On the other hand, scientists who have studied the biochemistry of addiction have found that a neurotransmitter called dopamine that balances with serotonin is also necessary for a person to feel refreshed and happy. If you have been trying to lose weight and found yourself overeating instead, you might do well to discover the secret of how to control these brain chemicals naturally.

Don't Fight Your Body Chemistry, Understand It

Removing serotonin from the brain of rats causes them to engage in compulsive sexual activity and insatiable eating. If you find yourself eating large amounts of food without feeling full then that is one sign that your serotonin level may be low. Physical exhaustion, such as the kind that comes from working 12 hour days, and chronic emotional stress will also result in either high or low levels of dopamine. If you have low dopamine and low serotonin, you will probably feel depressed. If you have high dopamine and low serotonin, you will tend to be brighter, more vigilant, aggressive, and behave impulsively.

How Shaklee Nutrition Can Help

1. Soy Energizing Protein and Physique. As I explained in my last newsletter on weight loss, all the neurotransmitters in your brain are made from amino acids, the building blocks of protein. When you are under stress and/or lifting weights, as many of you do while you are training with me, your need for protein may triple or quadruple. In fact, if you do not eat enough protein while you are lifting weights, you are simply putting more stress on the body and will not develop the gorgeous muscles that many of us desire. Also, if you do not eat enough protein while you are lifting weights, you will end up feeling hungrier.

The solution: Listen to what your body is asking for. Shaklee has several excellent protein formulations I have used for years. When a doctor told me I was deficient in six essential amino acids and offered to give me amino acid pills, I decided to use the Shaklee protein instead. Shaklee's Physique is the only body-building shake that has been written up in scientific journals and proven to help you build muscle after working out. When your blood sugar level drops, so does your serotonin level. Shaklee's protein shakes have been proven to balance your blood sugar for at least four hours after you drink them.

2. B Complex. B vitamins work on the part of your brain where cravings occur. If you are trying to lose weight and not taking Vitamin B, you may find yourself so irritable and anxious that you end up eating to calm down because carbohydrates are natural tranquilizers.

3. Calcium and Magnesium. Chocolate cravings are a sign of calcium and magnesium deficiency. This is true even if you are not a woman with PMS. Reach for minerals instead of a Snickers bar.

4. Vitamin C. Vitamin C is one of the top stress-fighters you can use. When you are under a lot of emotional stress or adding physical stress by lifting weights or engaging in endurance activities like running, your body may become highly acidic. For example, after teaching eight classes one week in January, my body was so acidic my finger turned black under my gold wedding band. High concentrations of Vitamin C are found in the adrenal glands, which respond to stress of any kind. Regular use of Vitamin C can help maintain the acid-alkaline ratio in your body. So will eating lots of fruits and vegetables (the average American consumes only 1.9 per day - I hope you do better than that!)

5. Vita Lea Multi and Other Vitamins. A deficiency of any one of 80 essential nutrients will result in deranged body chemistry. According to the research I did for my book, Healing Depression, the brain is highly sensitive to all kinds of deficiencies because unlike muscle tissue, it can't store blood sugar in the form of glycogen. Your cravings may be a signal that you are missing essential nutrients. When it comes to vitamin and mineral supplements, your body can only use what it can absorb. Vita Lea has been proven to be assimilated into the body in a mere 7 minutes - as opposed to up to 4 hours by some other leading brands. Cheap coatings on many other vitamins may render them nutritionally worthless. Ask me for a nutrition assessment to see if you might benefit from other supplements.

6. Garlic. Yes, garlic. One of the common causes of sugar and alcohol cravings is an overgrowth of candida albicans, a yeast I talked about at length in my book. Eating fresh garlic or taking garlic supplements at every meal has been proven helpful for fighting off candida overgrowth.

7. Carbo Crunch Bars. When you are under stress or want to head off a craving, eat no more than 40 grams (no more than 140 calories) of pure carbohydrate - the amount in two rice cakes, a small potato, or 8 animal crackers - and wait 30 minutes. Eating pure carbs will raise your serotonin level. Shaklee has Carbo Crunch bars in peanut butter and cocoa.

Other Top Tips

1. Avoid aspartame. Aspartame has been proven to block the uptake of serotonin. I find this ironic because diet drugs recently removed from the market worked on serotonin levels for people who probably ate a lot of diet products with aspartame. Doctors probably could have been of greater assistance by explaining what they should be eating instead of handing out pills that resulted in severe cardiac distress. Also, researchers show that drinking diet drinks with aspartame will only cause you to be hungrier later because the sweetness tricks the brain into thinking you are actually going to need to raise your insulin level.

2. Drink water instead of diet drinks. Many dieters mistake thirst for hunger. Even Richard Simmons, the diet guru, said he lost 7 lbs. last year just by giving up diet sodas for water. 2. Lower your stress level. Yes, rest. I tell my clients all the time that you will have a hard time losing weight if you are under stress because high stress will raise your cortisol level. Cortisol raises your blood sugar, so you will simply be hungrier when you don't give yourself the emotional and physical rest your body needs.

3. Yoga. As many of you know, I got certified in yoga last year. Although yoga burns very few calories compared to weight lifting, walking or jogging, practicing asanas regularly can balance your body chemistry and make it physiologically and emotionally easier for you to control your cravings.

For further information about Shaklee nutrition, Brain Gym, Touch for Health, and personal fitness training, feel free to contact me.

Go to Catherine Carrigan's Total Fitness home page.