Bottom Line/Health: People talk about cravings all the time and food cravings, but the fact of the matter is that most times, people aren’t craving broccoli; they’re craving ice cream, cookies, candy, and cake. So what is it about carb cravings that have us jumping to the snack aisle?

Dr. Brooke Kalanick, ND: It’s important to know what’s causing your carb cravings, because you hear a lot of advice of “Do this for a carb craving” and you try that and it didn’t work, because that may not be what’s driving yours.

So, the first thing to think about is are you eating too few or too many carbs. Both of those things can make you crave carbs. For example, if you’re overeating and having too many carbohydrates at dinner and you’re sleepy after dinner, or you start craving more sugar—you know those people that say, “I just have to have something sweet every time I eat”? They’re overshooting their capacity to tolerate those carbs. It’s a component of insulin resistance to lower their blood sugar, so they’re having trouble there. So if you’re having too many, it can make you feel like you’re having a carb craving.

Bottom Line: I call that the blood sugar roller coaster, where I went up and then I went crashing down.

Dr. Kalanick: If you feel like you’re on that roller coaster where you’re having cravings between meals or after meals, play with what kind of carbohydrates you’re having and the amount. We all need a different amount. My husband can eat a whole sweet potato; I can tolerate about five bites and then I’m starting to feel sleepy, but craving and wanting to eat the rest of that sweet potato.

So using what I call your unique carb tolerance. Take a little time to figure out what kinds and what amounts and meal timing, how far you can go between meals. A lot of people think that they’re having a craving. When it’s truly been 4 or 5 hours, they’re actually hungry. So it’s important, too, to recognize if you are hungry, which you feel in your stomach, or are you simply craving, which is more you feel in your head. It’s a little bit more attached to an emotion.

Low neurotransmitters, both low serotonin, and low dopamine can drive carb cravings significantly. Therefore, you’ve got to treat the right thing.

Bottom Line: You talk about that roller coaster of blood sugar, and something that I noticed—because I was a very big carb eater, and then I stopped—I didn’t realize how bad I felt after I ate carbs until I stopped eating the processed carbs or the simple carbohydrates.

So I think that that’s a really important point, people aren’t aware, and they need to almost pay attention, like watch themselves eat something and see how they feel, to be able to become self-aware of the nutrients.

Dr. Kalanick: And it feels really tedious at first, but it’s really worth spending—it will only take you four or five days, honestly. All my patients say, “That seems like a lot of work.” Well, it’s work worth doing; because that’s the only way, you’re going to figure out what works for you. Because there’s a reason there’s a million diet books; they don’t work for everyone.

Finding out what does work for you takes a little time, but it’s the only way you’re going to get on top of it. And people do—they’re completely oblivious. They think everyone feels tired after they eat lunch. That’s why they have a coffee break, right? You’re not supposed to feel anything from eating other than not hungry anymore.

Bottom Line: How come after sitting at a computer for hours and hours or doing heavy brainwork, do the carb cravings somehow get bigger? We’ve done articles about how the brain is fueled with glucose; is that what’s at the root of that carb craving?

Dr. Kalanick: Parts of it. Our brain is fueled with glucose, so just like going through a workout—if you’re going to spend some time doing some really heavy thinking or reading or working, you may feel like your carb cravings are worse after that. So that has something to do with your stress mechanism, how well you can sustain yourself and fuel your brain while you’re not eating.

But that might also be a time to look back at what did you eat in the meal previous? If this was dinner, maybe you do need a little more carbohydrate or a little different one, or a little more fiber to help the carbohydrate that you are having be a little bit more level.

So when you get a sensation, like in your case, a craving after working on the computer, look back to the last meal and see what you could possibly do better—usually starting with more protein, more fiber, and then could you adjust the type or amount of carbs to help you feel better?

Bottom Line: What’s your favorite slow-burning carb?

Dr. Kalanick: I hate the “favorite” terms in my work, because everyone’s got our biases. I really think, again, it’s the best one that works for you. For me, personally, I love squashes and pumpkins and things like that because they are a really great high-fiber carb with not a ton of starches. I do better on that than I do on sweet potato.

But someone else might not do the same, and someone else might do really well with fruit, where I tend to gain a lot of weight if I eat a lot of fruit. So again, going back to what is the perfect carb and the favorite carb for your unique metabolism?

Bottom Line: But nonetheless, cake, cookie, candy…

Dr. Kalanick: That is only usually going to taste good and then not be the best for our metabolism in the long run.

Bottom Line: All right. Thank you, Dr. Brooke Kalanick on curbing our carbs.

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