18: Balancing Blood Sugar to Curb Cravings

In the current industrial food environment, most of the foods that are marketed to us are pretty far removed from whole foods. Recent research indicates that over 70% of the food supply in the U.S. is ultra-processed. Many ultra-processed foods (UPFs) contain little fiber and are high in added sugars, meaning they are rapidly digested, and cause blood glucose levels to rise quickly. 

Our ancient brains and bodies are struggling to catch up with this new food environment, filled with modern conveniences that we love the taste of. But the impact of a diet high in UPFs goes beyond negative physical health outcomes such as a heightened risk of diabetes, obesity, and cancer. It may also have a significant impact on the health of your brain. 

Today, I am exploring two ways we can reduce our consumption of UPFs to improve blood glucose management, reduce cravings, and lower the risk of disease.

A lot of people come to work with me as a patient or a coaching client because they are so distressed by having constant food urges and cravings. That means they're not hungry, but they crave specific foods and suffer from an ongoing “brain chatter" which preoccupies them with thoughts about what, when, and how they’re going to eat. Not only is their weight not where they want it to be, but they are struggling with the amount of energy it takes to manage that constant chatter.

One of the best ways that I know to help people with this is to help them more toward an unprocessed diet. When you do that, your insulin levels are not raised as much. Insulin is greatly tied to knowing if you're hungry or if you've had enough, and usually dictates where your weight set point is.

There is a resistance in someone that's overweight and has raised insulin levels.

So how is it that we can help bring down some of these insulin levels? 

On a practical day-to-day level, movement and exercise is a great way to bring it down. Another really practical way that you can do this is to decrease your ultra-processed food consumption. Those are foods like chips, candy, bread, and pasta. While I am in no way saying that those are “bad” foods, it’s important to understand what they're doing to your body physiologically.

Every time you have a manmade food like chips, for example, you are increasing your blood sugar, and so it's normal that your body needs to produce more insulin to bring it down so that you don't have pre-diabetes or diabetes. But every time you do that, the insulin is constantly spiking and so the problem is that throughout the day, insulin is much higher than it needs to be. Your blood is having to work overtime and you also usually see a certain emotional response, meaning you'll be more fatigued during some parts of the day, feel good after a candy bar, and then have a crash and feel irritable.

If you are someone who struggles with craving certain types of food all day long that you know don't support you the best, you feel tired and exhausted, your weight is up and you can't release it, then moving more toward an unprocessed diet would likely be super beneficial because your insulin levels will come down.

There are two main ways I recommend to eat less processed food:

• Add, don't subtract.

Instead of having a one hundred percent ultra-processed snack like a bowl of chips, try to balance this out by having a little bit of protein and fiber first. For example, you could try some Greek yogurt with ranch powder, or some carrots beforehand. 

If you start with veggies first, and if you balance with protein and fiber first, then you end up decreasing the blood sugar spike, even if you eat the same amount of chips. This matters because you're starting to metabolically heal things. You might think that by doing this you’re just adding more calories, but if I said to you not to have the chips at night, it feels very restrictive. People feel like they can't stick with it and like everything they love is being taken away. But if we start like this, typically you don’t end up wanting as much of the ultra-processed food, and things become more balanced.

2.  Add a friend.

If for dinner you’re thinking of mac and cheese again, could you add some salad first? Can you add some veggies and some protein so you don't have these ultra-processed carbs without other things?

Again, it's about making sure your blood sugar doesn’t spike as much, reducing urges and cravings, and ultimately making you feel so much better. One of the best books that talks about this is The Glucose Goddess Method, which breaks it down into four steps that you could try if this is something that really resonates with you.

If you're either trying to have fewer urges and cravings, improve your relationship with food, or release weight and keep it off, I would always advise supporting your physiology first with adding, not subtracting. 

People often have the desire to eliminate everything to start out with and do a radical overhaul, but that never accounts for your taste preferences, and never works in the long run. Instead, start with this balancing approach and then see after two or three weeks if you might be willing to get rid of a snack if you’re not hungry. Your insulin levels will gradually start to come down and you're going to start feeling a whole lot better!