The Glycemic Index Diet for Dummies (73 page)

Think about the last time you had a food craving. Can you point to your trigger? Becoming aware of why you crave certain foods can help you overcome and prevent these cravings in the future.

Keep in mind that the most common reason for food cravings in people trying to lose weight is low blood sugar. Unstable blood sugar can not only trigger food cravings but also make them worse. The following sections explain how a low-glycemic diet paired with timely eating are your secret weapons for fighting food cravings.

Low-glycemic foods to the rescue

Low-glycemic foods stimulate a slow increase in blood sugar; high-glycemic foods (as in the ones people tend to crave), on the other hand, trigger a fast spike in blood sugar. Excess intake of high-glycemic carbohydrates sets you up for a vicious cycle
in which your blood sugar and, consequently, your insulin levels spike, leading to a blood sugar crash soon
after a meal. Your body wants to get your blood sugar back up to optimal levels, so it may trigger you to feel hungry again even though you just ate recently. Eating low-glycemic foods throughout the day helps keep your blood sugar and insulin levels stable from morning to night.

If your food cravings are due to unstable blood sugar, then a low-glycemic diet can help reduce them drastically. If you have other physiological or psychological reasons for food cravings, following a low-glycemic diet can still help because it stabilizes your blood sugar, thereby reducing the intensity and/or frequency of your food cravings. I can't promise you won't ever have a craving again, but you can certainly curb them by following a low-glycemic diet.

Timing is everything

Eating a low-glycemic diet is only half the battle when it comes to decreasing your food cravings. The other half involves eating your meals and snacks in a tmely manner so you don't wind up with low blood sugar.

Anytime your blood sugar gets too low, you end up hungry, and that hunger can trigger your urge to eat foods that may not be the healthiest choices. For instance, have you ever waited too long to eat and then went straight for the potato chips because they sounded good? Or perhaps you had a hectic day at work and were so hungry that you decided to stop at the nearest drug store for a candy bar instead of driving home and eating the healthy snack of yogurt and nuts that was waiting for you. If you've ever experienced these types of scenarios, you're not alone. Choosing a healthy snack is always much harder when you're famished.

Eating in a timely manner and enjoying a healthy, low-glycemic snack when you're feeling comfortably hungry rather than starving helps stave off food cravings. Pay attention to your body's hunger cues, eat when you feel hungry, and avoid getting to the point where you're starving. (Trying to eat a meal or snack, preferably a low-glycemic one, every four to five hours is a good guideline.) Also, keep some healthy snacks in your car, purse, and/or office so you're prepared when you start feeling hungry. (For a few yummy low-glycemic snack ideas, check out Chapter 19.)

Strategies for Defeating Emotional Eating

If you tend to eat more when you're stressed or sad, you're engaging in
emotional eating,
otherwise known as consuming food when you aren't physically hungry in order to feel emotionally satisfied. These emotions or moods can be anything from stress, anxiety, and sadness to anger, frustration, loneliness, and even boredom.

Regularly eating to make yourself feel better without being hungry almost always results in weight gain because you're eating excess calories that your body can't use as energy. It also doesn't do much to boost your mood long term because the foods people tend to munch on when they let their emotions dictate their appetites are sweets and other high-carbohydrate snacks that send their blood sugar (and mood) on a roller coaster ride. Following a low-glycemic diet not only balances your blood sugar but also helps you eat more mood-supporting foods.

Research shows that eating mood supporters can help boost your mental health by improving the chemical composition of your brain, resulting in increased alertness, relaxation, and a better memory. Mood-supporting foods include

Water

Vegetables

Fruit

Oil-rich fish such as salmon

On the other hand, some foods can actually have a negative effect on your mood and overall mental health. Specifically, these mood stressors can cause irritability, hostility, anxiety, and even depression; they include

Sugar