How many times have you heard about “Combatting Sugar Cravings” or “Reducing Carb Cravings” ?

I’ve heard vegans supporting each other on “Overcoming Meat cravings” -and Hell! -when I was raw vegan I would read in the community forums people discussing overcoming their evil and addictive “Cooked Food Cravings“.

Cooked Food Cravings! Oh the horrors.

In my post In Defense of Sugar- Part 1 I talked about how I came to believe that sugar was not inherently bad. Here I will go more in depth, and relate it to addiction, cravings and more of the mental components.

Sugar Addiction Myth

Sugar is treated like an evil drug, and any desire for it is feared and shamed. And while it is true that sugar can be used like a drug in binges or emotional eating, it is not inherently evil or bad, and neither is the desire for it. Craving carbs is not a symptom to be squelched.

I am under the firm belief, that food cravings are not a problem unless you have denial or guilt associated with the craving. In my opinion and experience, denial and guilt are the things that lead to overeating and intensified and irrational food cravings, not the food itself.

If there was no guilt attached to a craving, you would eat it, and go on with your day. You would digest it and gain the maximum benefit from the food that your body had been asking for (cookies included). And you’d probably be feeling great!

Last Supper Syndrome

If you are giving into a craving under the conditions of “Just This Once then Never Again”. Then you will most likely subconsciously fear for your impending lack and potentially abuse it- maybe overeating till you’re sick. Then you blame the problem on the food itself, instead of your disordered relationship with the food. You will also have feelings of guilt associated with eating this food.

And guilt never helped no-no-nobody.

But You Swear! You Really Are Addicted to Sugar!

This is what I have come to see that the supposed “sugar addiction” really is:

Eating carbs and sugar is calming and feel-good for the brain. This is normal and natural. If you do not allow yourself to eat carbs regularly, you may find yourself “addicted” to the way you feel on carbs when you give into your natural cravings for them. This may lead to overeating or bingeing. Is this because carbs are bad? No! It is because you are denying them!

Sugar also elevates blood sugar. This is also normal and natural. If you are not used to eating sugar, your body will not handle the sugar as well. It may rise too high. It may rise high and crash, leaving you to crave more. Is this because carbs are bad? No! It is because you are denying them- and not used to metabolizing them.

The more you deny carbs, the more you risk “addiction” symptoms because of the feel-good properties, the body’s ability to metabolize them, and because of abuse due to denial and guilt.

What Does This Mean?

Start eating what you crave.

I do not know what you crave. I would never dream of forcing you to eat cookies or pizza or a rotisserie chicken just because that is what I craved and ate today.

You are the only one who knows what you crave.

Your cravings may not be ‘rational’ but do not discredit them. What you crave is what you need. Not only because your body is probably asking for something quite specific, but also because the longer you deny your cravings, the more insane and intense they may become.

What If You Crave Twinkies? Should You Trust Yourself THEN?!

Do I think that there is great nutritional value to Twinkies? Not necessarily. The reason you crave them specifically and not “cake” is probably psychological. Linked to some past denial or memory from childhood.

But it is a food, and if you crave it, the sooner you start eating as many damn Twinkies as you want, the sooner the Twinkies will likely loosen their hold over you.

The first healing that has to happen is your denial/guilt relationship with food. Only then can you feed the body for the right reasons instead of fear-based reasons, denial reasons or guilt reasons.

So, Should You Be Eating Lots and Lots of Carbs?

While I do not believe that sugar or carbs are villains, and that they are necessary, for example for optimum thyroid function etc., that doesn’t not mean that I believe people always need to be pounding sodas and cakes for their health and well-being. Again, it all comes down to what you crave.

But, I feel very strongly about defending and supporting carbs because:

1. your body does need carbs
2. denial of cravings often leads to disordered eating
3. guilt with cravings often leads to disordered eating
4. food phobias are detrimental to intuitive eating

I think that a moderate, healthy intake of carbs is only sustainable and health supporting if it is coming from your true desires and cravings. Only then will you eat what nourishes you and be happy to stop when you are satisfied. Not out of fear for your waistline and health, but out of true desire.

BUT the only way to get to that point is to allow yourself to heal your relationship with food. Which means allowing and indulging all cravings. Which, may lead you to eating a shit-ton of sugar for a while.

And I want you to be ok with that.

For as long as I can remember I have been unable to sleep if I’m hungry.

I must eat before bed or I won’t fall asleep. In fact, the nights I have tried to sleep with a hunger pang because I convinced myself I was tired enough, I just ended up lying there until I got out of bed and ate some damn food.

So out of necessity I have been ignoring the rule: “Don’t eat 3 hours before bed” (or whatever variation you may hear) because it was truly impossible for me to follow.

But recently, as I have been reading more about adrenal fatigue, hypothyroidism and recovering from diets, it appears that I was onto something all along.

1. If you are in a metabolically compromised state, bedtime snacks are not only ok but beneficial.

And if you have been living your life from diet to diet, and are reading this post, you are most likely in a metabolically compromised state.

The most important way to support yourself through adrenal fatigue or a slow system/hypothyroidism, is to eat. And that includes before bed. (And it can and should include carbs and fat, too.)

2. Calories Don’t Need to Constantly Be Burned Off

One of the reasons people have argued against eating at bedtime, is that your body will turn the food to fat because it can’t burn it off. But this is submitting to the incorrect, stressful (and disordered) assumption that calories need to be manically burned off as soon as they are consumed. This is just false, and also a huge reason why obsessive cardio doesn’t work. Don’t get on the treadmill of calories-burned obsession!

3. True Starvation at Bedtime Can Point You in the Right Direction

If you are hungry at bedtime, chances are you did not eat enough during the day.

If you don’t eat enough during the day, your body is going to need to get those calories one way or another. Logical!

One mistake I would make in my earlier “intuitive eating” days, was to get in a habit of “listening to my body” (not really) during the day and not eating very much, but then by the time bedtime rolled around, I had to eat a huge midnight meal. So if you are extremely hungry at bed time, let this be your FULL PERMISSION to Eat More During the Day. 

You clearly need it anyway.

If you read any “mindful eating” advice, it will tell you that the keys to a good relationship with food are:

• Eat What You Want, When You’re Hungry
• Stop When You’re Satisfied

And I agree. After all, it is logical and natural- and following those guidelines will lead you to health and nourishment. In the right state the body should be able to do this no problem.

So why is it so hard? Why do people hear this advice and think I can’t trust myself to stop when I’m satisfied!? I’ll stuff myself! I can’t trust myself to listen to my own desires? I’ll never stop eating! I’ll only eat cookies!

Why It Hasn’t Worked

It has been so hard to trust yourself because your mind is still scared that food is scarce. The only reason stopping when you are full is hard, is because you are petrified you won’t feed yourself well in the future. And why shouldn’t you be? You haven’t seemed to be feeding yourself well in the past!

When you aren’t scared that you will deny yourself food in the future, stopping when you are satisfied is the pleasurable thing to do. And it is not a struggle or a fight.

That is why committing to not depriving food quantity or type is essential to intuitive eating. The body and mind know when you are tricking it; Well I’ll say I’m allowed to eat ice cream, but I better stop at 1/2 cup. If I can’t stop at a half a cup I must not be listening to my hunger anyway, because who would really be hungry for ice cream. Its not nutrition like liver or kale!

Fuck It. Seriously.

You will have an impossible time making peace with food, and letting yourself happily stop when you are good and satisfied if you are still telling yourself, Ok, I’ll let myself eat as much pasta as I want tonight, but I better not want this tomorrow too, because it can’t be good to have too much pasta two days in a row.

No! Your worried mind cannot know what you need. AND as long as you are making weird arbitrary rules you heard from Cosmo Magazine or The South Beach Diet, your body will not be able to relax and actually eat what it wants. And it will not be able to relax and actually stop when it wants.

Because truly, once you get used to it, it become easy.

The hard part, is being strong enough to get to the easy part.

So Where To Start?

1. Commit to letting yourself eat whatever you crave. Whatever. You. Crave.
2. Trust that it is a process and be in it for the journey. You won’t trust yourself overnight. It takes time.
3. Expect you may gain weight in the process- see it as part of the healing. Hard but often very necessary.

Trust Trust Trust.

Easier said than done, but Oh So Worth It.