Sweet Tooth

[Guest guest]

Thanks, I've tried a couple of your recipes and have always been very

pleased! I'm excited about embarking on CR for real this time. I think I

just really needed a catalyst--my high blood lipid levels being it. To

longevity and a healthy life--Cheers!!!!

-Becky

[Guest guest]

Becky wrote:

> I'm the type of person who would

>live on cake and ice cream if I could. That's what I crave tremendously and

>when I'd eat it I'd end up hungrier, sluggish and craving more.

Becky: try chewing sugarless gum. Also sweet potatoes are a wonderful

nourishing food, highly recommended by Walford and helps with a sweet tooth.

They now make sugarless ice cream (Edy's or Healthy Choice) but you should

limit the amount you eat to a small portion each day. Also try the Chessey

Poo cake recipe in our archives for which I have gotten excellent reviews.

Let me know if you can't find the recipe; it's in the October 2000 posts,

one of the first posts to the group.

[Guest guest]

Sweet Tooth

Want to suppress your cravings for sweets? According to Western

Research Laboratories, magnesium can help you do just that. In fact,

one theory has it that women often crave chocolate and other sweets

during menstruation because their magnesium levels are significantly

lowered.

But reducing your desire for sweets is apparently just one of the

ways that magnesium can help address type 2 diabetes.

In the e-Alert " It's Elemental " (10/21/03), I told you how a good

intake of magnesium is essential to heart health. While researching

information for that e-Alert I came across a study that's not

exactly recent (in fact it's four years old), but still offers an

important conclusion that anyone who has type 2 diabetes or a pre-

diabetic condition needs to know about.

Intake & absorption

A team led by researchers from the s Hopkins University School

of Medicine (JHU) designed a study to further explore previous

findings that low serum magnesium levels are associated with a risk

of type 2 diabetes.

As reported in the archives of Internal Medicine, researchers

assessed six years of data on more than 12,000 subjects who

participated in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Serum

magnesium levels were recorded from blood tests, and at the outset

none of the subjects had type 2 diabetes.

The ratio of white subjects to black subjects was about 3:1. Over

six years, 8 percent of the white subjects and 14 percent of the

black subjects developed diabetes. Among black participants, there

was no significant association between low magnesium levels and

diabetes risk. But among the white subjects there was a clear

association. In fact, white subjects with the highest levels of

magnesium had half the risk of type 2 diabetes compared to those

with the lowest magnesium levels.

Although the discrepancy between whites and blacks was unexpected,

researchers speculated that magnesium's protective mechanism

was " overwhelmed " by the higher rates of type 2 diabetes among black

subjects (a well-known phenomenon in the medical community). Blacks

are also known to have more complications associated with diabetes

than whites.

The JHU team also examined dietary information that showed no

significant correlation between low dietary intake of magnesium and

diabetes risk. And while that might seem at first like a paradox,

remember that body stores of magnesium can be depleted in a number

of ways. As I mentioned in last week's e-Alert, a high intake of

starches, alcohol, diuretics and some prescription drugs (such as

antibiotics) can increase urinary excretion of magnesium. And in

addition to menstruation (as I mentioned above), stress can also

contribute to magnesium depletion.

So while the foods you eat may be magnesium-rich, these depleting

factors can easily starve your body of this essential mineral.

The calcium connection

Recently, HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., gave us some good

pointers for supplementing with magnesium. Today he'll take the

supplement issue a little further in answer to a question from an

HSI member named .

In the e-Alert " To Lower, or Not to Lower... " (9/9/03), Dr. Spreen

explained that calcium should always be taken with a magnesium

supplement because calcium alone can create problems. writes

to ask for Dr. Spreen's recommendation on how much of each

supplement to take. She says:

" Most resources, alternative, including ayurvedic, as well as

conventional, recommend a ratio of 2:1 for calcium to magnesium,

typically 1500 and 750 mg. However, a couple of sources that I find

convincing, one being Dr. s, the other Dr. Nan Fuchs, both

recommend equal amounts at 500 mg. daily. I do not know Dr.

s' reason, but Dr. Fuchs' reason is that bone breakage is

more due to brittle bones than less dense bones, and hence more

magnesium is required to promote bone flexibility. "

Regarding calcium-to-magnesium ratio, Dr. Spreen told me that he's

vacillated back and forth between the two ratios during his

practice. But no more. He said, " I have returned to my original

preference for the 2:1 ratio, as the 1:1 ratio is too risky for

getting enough oral magnesium to cause a faster transit time through

the intestines. That causes decreased absorption of needed

nutrients. "

Dr. Spreen typically recommends 500 mg of magnesium per day, with

the added note that one should avoid magnesium oxide, which he

describes as a " poor form " that doesn't contain enough elemental

magnesium. Dr. Spreen says, " Magnesium gluconate or chelated

magnesium would be my choices for the general buyer. "

Benefits abound

So to quickly recap magnesium's potential benefits, both large and

small:

* Helps prevent type 2 diabetes

* Helps prevent coronary heart disease

* Promotes bone flexibility

* Reduces the cravings for sweets that can contribute to the

development of type 2 diabetes

And in the September e-Alert Dr. Spreen said that he also uses

calcium and magnesium to treat muscle cramps and bruxism (gnashing

of teeth at night during sleep).

If you're concerned that you might have a magnesium deficiency, ask

your doctor to test your blood for magnesium levels. A normal range

is anywhere between .66 and 1.23 mmol/L (millimoles per liter). Then

you can be reassured that your magnesium intake is being absorbed to

deliver all the benefits from this essential nutrient.

[Guest guest]

>

> Does having a sweet tooth or craving carb necessarily mean that a

> person have candida? in other words does anyone who craves sweet and

> carb has candida?

+++Hi. Welcome to our group. What is your name please? Cravings for

carbs and sugars doesn't always mean the person has candida

overgrowth. To see if a person has candida take Dr. Crook's Candida

Questionnaire: http://www.healingnaturallybybee.com/articles/intro3.php

The best in health, Bee