[00:00:00] Vesna: Welcome to the Peak Revival Podcast. My name is Vesna and today we're going to talk about how do you stop cravings. Sugar cravings, addictions to food, binge eating.
[00:00:08] And it's a real roadblock for women who are trying to lose weight. Now, you may be thinking that
[00:00:13] you don't have enough self control or willpower, but researchers in obesity have found that it's unlikely that we have an epidemic of low willpower that's occurred over the last 30 years. So what is creating our cravings that we can feel powerless around, say around Tim Tams, Oreos, potato crisps. What is creating that? And the way to overcome it is to really look at our hormones and our biochemistry.
[00:00:37] Now, number one. Ultra-processed foods is a huge factor. Ultra processed foods is energy drinks, cereals, ice cream, chocolate, you know, confectionery foods, eating out, takeaway, some sausages and hams and things like that are ultra-processed foods.
[00:00:52] Now these foods have an impact on our hormones, particularly our brain. And just recently I saw a documentary with a, you know, a English doctor who did an experiment for four weeks and his diet was mainly about 20 percent ultra-processed foods and he did an experiment where he upped it to 80 percent ultra-processed and he tracked his weight, his BMI, his hormones with another doctor.
[00:01:16] And what he found, or both doctors found very surprising at the end, after four weeks He had gained 6. 6 kilos, which is about 14 pounds. His BMI went up into the overweight range and his body fat, actual amount of body fat increased by 3 kilos or 6. 6 pounds.
[00:01:35] But the other very interesting thing that they noticed was two hormones had changed.One hormone was what? Grelin, which is our hunger hormone, stimulates our hunger, that had increased by 30 percent and the other hormone, leptin, which helps us to ] feel satisfied and regulates our metabolism, had decreased.
[00:01:53] Okay. And he said he was always hungry. He was never satisfied. He was always looking for more food
[00:01:58] and he really couldn't believe [00:02:00] it.
[00:02:00] Right. He was really. Surprised on the change that he had in four weeks. And ] this is the effect of ultra processed foods.Now, food companies, food manufacturers, they are a business and every business is to make a profit.
And this is no different.
[00:02:14] Now they have some of the best scientists in the world making sure that, you know, they create food, which is ultra processed. ultra addictive that our brains crave and drive our brains crazy, but we never feel satisfied, which is why we can keep endlessly eating those potato crisps, right?
[00:02:31] And I've also heard that since the decline of the cigarette industry, right? The scientists, the world's best scientists have moved from there and been employed into the food manufacturing industry, right? So, you know, these are some of the best minds in the world. designing food for the ultra addictive factor.
[00:02:48] So it's not a wonder that we're addicted to foods that are addictive.
[00:02:53] So the way that we get control of this or get a better handle of it, rather than just relying on willpower is we really have to. Understand our hormones and our biochemistry. In particular, one is leptin resistance. Leptin resistance can happen when you've had
[00:03:07] a diet high in ultra processed foods.
[00:03:10] It happens when we're overweight and there's insulin resistance. And I've talked about that in other podcasts. And this is where, you know, the main sign is belly fat, but we get fat all over and it does slow down our metabolism.
[00:03:22] stress is another factor because high cortisol levels will create leptin resistance.
[00:03:27] Now leptin is the hormone which, you know, tell, it's released by our fat cells and it tells our brain how much body fat or energy that we have on board, right? And when the brain is not picking up on that leptin, it becomes, you know, we become leptin resistant.
[00:03:41] And so that means that. We could have so much excess fat that our brain could trigger our body to increase our metabolism and reduce our cravings. But because of the, it's not picking up on those signals because of leptin resistance, it is not doing that job, right? So our weight should really be self [00:04:00] regulated.
[00:04:00] It's automated. I always say a metabolism is automated.
[00:04:03] We put so much effort and control into it mainly because we don't understand mainly because we're not working with our hormones and our chemistry that are really doing the job.
[00:04:12] of maintaining our healthy weight.
[00:04:14] Now the fourth factor which affects leptin and leptin resistant is circadian disruptions, a disruption to our circadian rhythm. So we have, you know, our body clock, every cell in our body, our organs have body clocks and they, all those clocks have to sync up to the master clock in In the brain, right? And when there is a disruption, it creates addiction.
[00:04:35] So it's been researched to show that it creates addictions. It creates that grazing behavior where you feel like you just need to graze or snack or eat all day.
[00:04:44] And it means that a metabolism is unable to function correctly.
[00:04:48] So what can you do? So with light of all of that, what we want to look at is, yes, we want to eat for our hormones, and we want to make small changes over time. Because if you've ever tried, like some people can go cold turkey, right? They cut out all the, you know, addictive stuff, or the sugar, or
[00:05:03] the, you know, the processed foods, and they can do it, right?
[00:05:06] They can go cold turkey. But for most people, they find it really challenging. And so what I recommend is, number one,
[00:05:13] The best you can remove the ultra processed foods. The sugar, the chocolate, the ice cream, the energy drinks, the cereals and so forth, right? Because you have to understand We get addicted to these foods and it feels like at the end of the day, if I eat something sweet or if I eat something, you know, sugary, whatever, I'm going to feel more relaxed, I'm going to feel better, that's my reward, if I'm stressed, if I've had a bad day, whatever it is, right?
[00:05:37] But the fact that you eat those foods is the
[00:05:39] only reason why your brain is craving them in times of emotional distress.
[00:05:44] Or even in times where you feel like you want a reward
[00:05:47] at the end of the day. Now, many years ago, I like to look at this like an addiction, like a, you know, smoking addiction. Many years ago, there was a guy called Alan Carr. He, he had, I think the most effective [00:06:00] treatment for helping people quit smoking, right?
[00:06:02] And he didn't use any tools or anything. He really showed people that the reason why they're addicted is because nicotine is addictive. And that sounds really obvious, but
[00:06:12] People didn't see that. They saw the stories that they related to
[00:06:16] having a cigarette, right? They, they felt that, you know, it really completed a meal when they had a cigarette after a meal, or it really helped them to be social when they went out with friends.
[00:06:25] It was more social. Or when they were stressed, it helped them to unwind. Well, he really broke it down. He said like at your mealtime, all you're thinking is having a cigarette, right? So really you're the least relaxed person having a meal, or you're the least relaxed person in a social setting because you're thinking about, you want to go out and have that cigarette or when you're stressed, it's a very isolated experience.
[00:06:47] And in fact, cigarettes do nothing to relax the nervous system. So he really broke down those stories to show you.
[00:06:54] You're addicted to an addictive substance. It doesn't actually do anything to soothe you.
[00:06:58] And this is kind of the same for ultra processed foods, right?
[00:07:01] the very fact that we eat those foods is the reason why we then need to self soothe with those foods, if that makes sense.
[00:07:08] So just by reducing ultra processed foods, what you're going to do, what you're going to find, is that your glucose levels stabilize. Because there's one thing that ultra processed foods do, is they cause a really sharp spike in glucose and then a sudden drop. And it's those highs and lows, it's like a roller coaster that you're on.
[00:07:23] It makes our energy up and down, our mood, our mental focus can trigger anxiety and irritability, but it triggers more cravings, right? When the sugar levels are low, we're going to need more sugar to bump that up really quickly.
[00:07:35] So just removing those will already start to stabilize that out. You'll have less cravings.
[00:07:41] Secondly, you want to make better choices with carbohydrates. So I'm not saying cut out carbohydrates or do anything drastic. But make better choices, you know like your starchy vegetables, fruits those things that you can keep in your diet to make sure that you're getting
[00:07:56] the carbohydrates which still relaxes the nervous system if you're stressed or have a busy [00:08:00] schedule..
[00:08:00] So the other thing is to make sure that you do initially don't go too long in between meals, I don't have, you know, skip breakfast and then have something at 11 a. m. And then you don't have anything till the afternoon and then you could be
[00:08:11] grazing all day up until the evening, right?
[00:08:14] So I had a client who found that when she, you know, came home from work.
[00:08:19] She basically went to the pantry. She had a head in the pantry the whole time, ate dinner and was still, still found herself snacking right up until she went to bed. And it was a complete roadblock
[00:08:30] for her to lose weight. Right. And all we did was regular meals. We cycled in some carbohydrates
[00:08:36] and she not only lost a lot of weight, but she got on top of her cravings, right?
[00:08:41] She didn't crave processed foods anymore. She wasn't in the pantry. And it felt. Key thing, it really felt effortless. She didn't feel like she was using her willpower.
[00:08:49] But her body and her chemistry was really supported and very stable. So, her body wasn't craving those foods.
[00:08:56] And the fourth thing is realigning your circadian rhythm. Okay,
[00:09:00] so one of the things that's really common in today's world is that we spend a lot of time inside, we spend a lot of time at a computer, we go to bed late, we eat too late in the night, there's so many things that disrupt our circadian clocks.And so
[00:09:13] ultra processed foods cause addictions, but so does circadian rhythm disruption. Okay. So if we can work on both, right, so this is best you can, you know, sun is out watching the sunrise and the sunset.
[00:09:25] Okay. So we can't. Reset our clock hours. We, we need an external cue and that cue is the sun. Okay. We're like plants. We need to be activated. So if you can watch the sunrise in the morning, amazing, 10 minutes, you know, out
[00:09:38] in the sun or in the daylight, if it's not sunny, in order to reset your circadian clock, reduce your glucose levels. So it's been found to reduce blood glucose levels, reduce your addictions, reduce your cravings and
[00:09:50] reduce how much you're grazing and looking for snacks throughout the day.
[00:09:53] Okay, so I hope that was really helpful. I would love for you to comment below if you're struggling
[00:09:58] with these cravings and [00:10:00] addictions and you have felt maybe in the past, a little bit powerless around them and what you could do out of what I've just said that would be the easiest thing that you could even start to do tomorrow.
[00:10:09] Let me know in the comments below.
