Washington Post on Food Cravings

[Guest guest]

The following was in the Washington Post today. Food cravings can be

a major problem for CRON. For whatever reason, I lost all mine about

a year into CRON. Before I used to seriously crave mints, chocolate,

olives, and just about any candy or bread item. Now I really have no

cravings. As you can see in the article below, the study found that

ON does not eliminate cravings. So much for that theory. I thought

that might be it. I eat an extremely varied diet - so perhaps that's

how I do it. I also do not eat for volume, unlike many CRONies. I

figure that it's good to keep your stomach small - so small meals are

satisfying and large meals impossible. I also allow myself small

amounts of forbidden foods on occasion - which generally turn out to

not be as fabulous as I remembered. I find that when you get used to

lean meats, veggies, and fruits - and don't eat sugary stuff, the

rich sugary foods taste too rich - kind of like eating Crisco.

----------------------------------------------

You Know You Crave It

By Sally Squires

There's the gooey chocolate brownie that calls your name. The bag of

salty potato chips that seems irresistible. That unmistakable

yearning for a juicy cheeseburger, hot fudge sundae or a slice of

pepperoni pizza.

Food cravings are modern sirens that research shows regularly beckon

97 percent of women and 68 percent of men. Since few hanker for

asparagus -- unless, of course, it's topped with hollandaise sauce --

cravings fuel chronic over-consumption of calories and help widen

waistlines.

Those who fall under a food's spell frequently say they crave it

for " a nutritional need, " said Marcia Pelchat, an associate professor

at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, a private research facility in

Philadelphia. To test that theory, Pelchat and her colleagues put a

group of healthy young adults on a liquid diet that provided plenty

of calories and all the essential vitamins and minerals needed. Study

participants still craved certain foods, suggesting, Pelchat said,

that " nutritional deficits are not necessary for cravings. "

So people don't crave chocolate for its magnesium or porterhouse

steak because of the iron it provides. But their bodies are sending a

message of desire to the brain. " It's a psychological need, " said

Adam Drewnowski, who researches food cravings at the University of

Washington's Center for Public Health Nutrition in Seattle. " They're

too stressed. "

To compensate, the body " drives them in the direction of food,

usually food with sugar and fat, " said Drewnowski. " I often notice

that offices with very stressful mental work and deadlines usually

have bowls of M & M's around. " That's because food rich in fat and

sugar appears to boost the brain's production of endorphins, the so-

called feel-good chemicals. " In essence, food is being used as a form

of self-medication, " noted Yanovski, director of the Obesity

and Eating Disorders Program at the National Institute of Diabetes

and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in a paper published last year.

Studies suggest cravings are different for the citizens of Mars and

Venus. Men are more likely to desire " mixtures of protein, fat and

salt, " such as roast beef, burgers, fries, steak, pizza and chips,

Drewnowski said. Women yearn more often for sweet, high-carbohydrate,

high-fat foods: cookies, ice cream, pasta, bread. And chocolate " is

usually in the top five foods they crave, " he said.

Since life isn't likely to get less stressful, here are some ways to

help mute the call of food cravings:

Trick, not just treat. People generally crave foods with at least

three calories per gram. So when a craving surfaces, try fulfilling

it with the lowest calorie food possible. Think chocolate sorbet

instead of chocolate ice cream; salted popcorn or pretzels instead of

chips; " oven-fried " chicken vs. deep-fat fried.

Distract yourself. Time can weaken even the strongest cravings. So

when a yearning for chocolate chip cookies arises, waiting just 15 to

20 minutes " will sometimes allow a craving to pass -- if you get

involved in other things, " Yanovski said. Physical activity --

walking up and down a few flights of stairs in your building, taking

a stroll around the block -- can serve both as a distraction and help

to diminish cravings.

Variety really is the spice. In Pelchat's study of food cravings,

participants drank a slightly sweet, vanilla-flavored beverage that

fulfilled all their daily nutritional needs. The researchers thought

this regimen would dull food cravings. But the study found that

participants' cravings rose three to four times higher for salty and

other non-sweet foods. " People crave something that differs in

sensory quality " from their normal diet, Pelchat said, noting that

this is another good reason to eat a wide variety of food with

different tastes and textures.

Get the real thing. Instead of trying to eat your way past the

craving with other foods, have what you really want. Just make it a

small portion. " Go for the most intense taste possible, like a

chocolate truffle, or a small square of bitter chocolate, " Drewnowski

said. " Sometimes, cravings are not satisfied except by the real

thing. "

Keep " trigger " foods out of the house. That way, when they beckon,

you'll have to go out of your way to get them. Just seeing the food--

or getting a whiff of a something you love to eat -- can also help

trigger cravings and undermine resolve. If you do still indulge in

one of your trigger foods, buy a single serving -- an ice cream cone,

one candy bar or a small order of fries -- that can be consumed in

one sitting.

Deconstruct your craving. Most overwhelming desires for food mask

other emotional states, for example, feeling tired, stressed, bored,

anxious or angry. " Figure out what's going on, " Yanovski said. And

then take action. " If you're tired, take a nap, " she said. " If you're

stressed, take a walk. If you're angry, talk to a friend. " •

[Guest guest]

I suppose there are lots of reasons that your cravings might be

tempered - from loss of smell to control over blood sugar.

The article piqued my curiosity over the researcher and her " liquid

diet that provided plenty of calories and all the essential vitamins

and minerals needed. " I couldn't find that specific study but I did

find her publications:

http://www.monell.org/Refs/pelchatrefs.htm

The list is hilarious. It includes titles like:

" Influence of glass shape on the perception of wine aroma. "

" Of human bondage: Food craving, obsession, compulsion, and addiction. "

" Strategies for motivating the selection of novel foods: Immediate and

carry-over effects of information in a dining hall "

Must be a fun place to work. And the list of journals in which she's

published includes such gems as:

Appetite

Chocolate and Cocoa (I'd love to be the Editor of this journal!)

The Aroma-Chology Review

Physiology & Behavior

Food Science and Nutrition

Don

[Guest guest]

> I suppose there are lots of reasons that your cravings might be

> tempered - from loss of smell to control over blood sugar.

>

<snip>

> Don

I find my sense of smell is heightened on CRON - I think this is

typical. A benefit I think, most of the time.

You are right, low blood sugar creates its own hunger sensation,

which is also difficult to deal with. CRON has greatly improved this

for me. I found low blood sugar hunger (which includes light

headedness and crankiness) to be a separate issue from cravings. I

used to have very specific food cravings that seemed unrelated to

blood sugar status. My olive fixation was particularly ridiculous. I

had jars of olives in my desk drawer at work. I bought a whole case

of olives stuffed with almonds on the internet - and ate all 12 large

jars within 6 weeks.

There is an alternative health theory that your cravings can often be

for foods that you have a food sensitivity to - an IgG reaction.

This is true for some of the foods that my family tested positive

for. My husband tested sensitive to pepper and had been seriously

overseasoning everything he cooked with pepper for a year or two

before he was tested.

[Guest guest]

The converse theory is more plausible - that your husband became

sensitive to pepper from eating too much of it or too frequently. If he

been sensitive for two years at the same time that he was using it

constantly, he would've been in pretty bad shape, no?

Don

maxwell_mom wrote:

>There is an alternative health theory that your cravings can often be

>for foods that you have a food sensitivity to - an IgG reaction.

>This is true for some of the foods that my family tested positive

>for. My husband tested sensitive to pepper and had been seriously

>overseasoning everything he cooked with pepper for a year or two

>before he was tested.

>

>

[Guest guest]

I don't find it particularly authoritative to be making such a

statement without further qualification as the one below, when

a " vitamin or mineral is not a vitamin or mineral " just as much as

a " calorie is not a calorie " .

With the technology now available to provide true bio-natural

vitamins and minerals of at least the RDI levels, there's absolutely

no reason to still utilize synthetic vitamin and mineral isolates,

economically supporting the same chemical conglomerates (Roche, et

al.) who have an insidious agenda of controlling and suppressing

natural therapies. Vote with your money and these conglomerate's

political power will become meaningless.

Logan

--- In , " maxwell_mom " <mrobinso@m...>

> Those who fall under a food's spell frequently say they crave it

> for " a nutritional need, " said Marcia Pelchat, an associate

professor

> at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, a private research facility

in

> Philadelphia. To test that theory, Pelchat and her colleagues put a

> group of healthy young adults on a liquid diet that provided plenty

> of calories and all the essential vitamins and minerals needed.

Study

> participants still craved certain foods, suggesting, Pelchat said,

> that " nutritional deficits are not necessary for cravings. "