The Post-Halloween Sugar Slump: Understanding Your Sugar Cravings
Understanding your sugar cravings, and finally saying farewell!
You may have had a blood sugar nightmare, between candy at Halloween, and prepping for the up-and-coming holiday season. Simple sugars and carbs of any kind, causing a sudden spike in blood sugar, followed by the lows. You’re likely feeling fatigued or irritable at the time, and as the days go on, you may even notice an increase in acne, period cramps and a cycle of mood swings.
The food we eat, matters greatly for our hormones. We can see the ramifications last weeks, if not months.
We want to avoid the quick fixes, which have a tendency to be fleeting. We’re only interested in the long-term solutions. Are you with us?
The mini detoxes you’ve likely seen on social media, are not the answer to solve all your hormone problems.
I know you probably don’t want to hear that. It’s a nice thought, that a simple detox tea, will ‘regulate your blood sugar’ or ‘balance your hormones’, on their own. To achieve lasting change, we first need to figure out the reason for why you’re feeling this way, and use a more targeted treatment approach, while measuring your progress over time.
Sugar cravings have a hormonal component to them. Despite what you may have been told, our lifestyle and dietary patterns can greatly influence the presentation of these cravings.
Either for benefit, or detriment.
Have you ever wondered why fruit is deemed fine, when it comes to blood sugar control, but refined sugars are the problem? This is largely in part due to fibre content. We remove the fibre from processed breads, and in the case of candy – there is no fibre to begin with. Fibre slows the absorption of glucose into our bloodstreams, thus resulting in a less dramatic glucose spike, followed by insulin spike.
We want to increase sensitivity to insulin, as a way of crushing cravings. Here is how we do it:
We need to be eating for our hormones – including increasing insulin sensitivity – to lessen sugar cravings.
If you’re wanting to optimize blood sugar control, here is a great starting point.
Morning water: Add in 1 tbsp chia seeds, into a tall glass of water with lemon.
First meal of the day: 2 hard boiled eggs, with 1/2 avocado.
Lunch: Ground turkey, sautéed with greens like kale, spinach.
Dinner: Protein of your choice, paired with a small sweet potato, and baked broccoli.
Craving something sweet? Try out Chocolate Avocado Pudding. Try blending 1 avocado, 1 tbsp of sunflower seed butter or pumpkin seed butter, almond milk (adjust for consistency) cocoa powder, with our PurePaleo Chocolate protein powder.
Let thy food, be thy medicine.
If you’re looking for more of a tailored and long term approach to solving your hormone imbalance and sugar craving concerns, ask us about The Hormone Code – our 12 week online program, designed to use food, as a way to support healthy hormones. Book your strategy call today.
– The Naturopathic Doctors at Health Over All