Top 10 Foods That Stop Sugar Cravings

Hello Health Champions. Today we're going to talk  about the top 10 foods to stop sugar cravings and  

if you're like most people you have probably tried  to reduce or cut out sugar at some point in your  

life and you've also probably found how hard it  is and for some people it seems almost impossible  

so we're going to talk about some of the  mechanisms today to understand why it can be so  

difficult and how to overcome that. So cravings,  especially for sugar, are tied to three factors  

and the first is that sugar stimulates opiate  receptors that means sugar is a drug it is highly  

addictive and of course it's going to  affect different people differently just  

like an alcoholic can't have one drink and then  stop whereas some people can and the sugar is  

exact same way secondly we have to break our  carb dependency if you have taught your body  

to top off to expect to top off blood sugar  every couple of hours then your body doesn't know  

how to generate energy without that frequent snack  and those high carbohydrate and if you also tied  

that habit into the pleasure of sugar from these  drug receptors that makes it even more difficult  

and third is emotional conditioning that we can  break our physiological addiction in a matter of  

days three four days and we're done your body has  rewired but then there's all these different cues  

in our environment so maybe after a meal or  in front of the tv or on a trip in the car  

we trigger these reward seeking behaviors we  feel like we've got to have something else even  

though the physical addiction is gone we still  have this emotional conditioning so we have to  

understand that this transition is a process that  we have to be firm it's going to take some time  

the physiological addiction is going to be  pretty fast but the emotional is going to be  

taking that transition it's going to take a little  bit longer and we have to recondition every system  

in our body that's involved so we're going to talk  about 10 different foods and categories to make it  

easier for you to break that sugar addiction but  don't click off at the end because there's a bonus  

that you're going to love one of the  most important things to recondition  

is our energy production so realize that if your  body is used to sugar for fuel and you cut it  

out then it's not going to know what to do in the  short term so you have to give it something else  

such as fat and protein and another thing is don't  try to do too many things at once so someone might  

say oh I'm going to start my life over I'm  going to stop drinking stop smoking I'm gonna  

do intermittent fasting and stop sugar and  lose weight and exercise all at once that's  

a recipe for failure you cannot go hungry and  stop sugar at the same time so don't make any  

drastic changes other than cutting out the sugar  the next thing to recondition are enzyme pathways  

and fat uses certain enzymes carbohydrate uses  certain enzymes and your body is going to have  

to adapt and up regulate some and down regulate  others but like I said this happens pretty fast  

in two three four days most of that is going to be  taken care of for you as long as you're consistent  

and at the same time your body will also need to  rewire neural pathways and some emotional habits  

and this is going to take a little bit longer  probably three to four weeks so because of these  

opiate receptors that we mentioned sugar is a  highly addictive substance but it's not just  

the substance itself it's because of what we  have done with it so if you take this flower  

it's called poppy and it is perfectly natural  however if you refine it a thousand times and  

turn it into heroin then it's not natural anymore  we changed it we extracted a powerful component  

and concentrated it a thousand fold and now it  becomes one of the most addictive drugs there are  

and sugar is the same way it is one of the most  natural substances in the world there's a little  

bit of sugar in everything but the key is a little  bit when we concentrate it when we refine it  

then it's not natural anymore and now it  becomes a drug so I'm not opposed to sugar  

in all the different forms because sugar like I  said it's in everything but you have to find out  

at what level does it become a drug for you so  food number 10 is berries so based on what we just  

talked about with rewards it can be nice to have  something to transition with so instead of having  

sugar instead of having processed candy and snacks  and desserts a berry can be a very nice reward you  

get a little bit of sweet and for most people it's  not going to set off any addictive behavior so  

it's only slightly bad you're getting a little bit  of sugar but for most people it's going to be all  

right however that's most people not everybody  so this is not okay for some for some people  

it's going to be like an entry it's going to be  a pathway drug where it's going to set off that  

addictive behavior and this could be even just  the sweet taste even things that don't even have  

sugar in them such as alternative sweeteners  like stevia and monk fruit and sugar alcohols  

that don't actually have anything that raises  blood sugar but just this taste itself can set  

off that behavior so is stevia all right for  most people yes but you have to recognize if  

it is okay for you or if it triggers some  addictive behavior so in order for this to  

work you need to set a goal and if you're truly  addicted to sugar then you need to understand  

that you can't have just a little bit you need to  cut it out completely to break that drug addiction  

and once you make a decision decision means to  cut off all other possibilities so it's like you  

draw a line in the sand and I always think of  the movie lord of the rings where Gandalf says  

you shall not pass and that's how you want to  think of this line in the sand once you've drawn  

it once you made that decision then it is not even  an option to cross that line then you set a time  

limit for yourself so I would suggest that you  do it for a month your physiological addiction  

is going to be broken it's going to be fine  in a few days time but then you have all  

these emotional habits and it takes somewhere  around three weeks to make new habits so I think  

a month is a good goal good time period for a goal  and unless you are super human then you want to  

throw out all the sugar because if it's around and  you're not superhuman then you will probably eat  

it at some point it's too much of a temptation  don't keep it around number nine is spices  

and we have things like cinnamon that actually  help stabilize blood sugar it helps the body  

control blood sugar better and therefore it's been  shown to reduce cravings we've got fenugreek and  

turmeric there are two herbs there are pretty  major components of curry so if you like curry  

then just eat a bunch of it have some cinnamon  you don't have to go buy supplements that have  

these in in capsules or anything because the  the spice is going to do the same thing for you  

cloves is another one and ginseng is another  so ginseng you probably would have to go buy a  

supplement but again don't don't spend a fortune  the reason this is number nine is that this is  

like the the last few percent they can help you a  little bit but don't count on this you have to do  

all the other things that we talked about  number eight is leafy greens and seven is  

non-starchy vegetables so what do these do they  fill you up they have some volume because of the  

fiber and if you have some fluid some water  with the fiber then they create some volume  

and it's not going to be satisfying by itself  because you can eat these and they have some  

volume but they don't really give you any energy  they don't have a lot of calories so you don't  

want to eat them just by themselves but it's going  to be a foundation it's going to be part of the  

things you eat and then you add other things to  it and here's probably the root of all of these  

addictive behaviors and all these imbalances  when it comes to sugar it's carb dependence  

that your body requires stable energy you  have to have energy to function your mood  

your energy your ability to do things  depends on stable energy but it should not  

come from snacking this is one of those  absolute worst things we've ever been taught  

is that you have to keep your blood sugar up with  snacks we have four different hormones to raise  

blood sugar between meals we have an  excellent system we have a fantastic capacity  

to allow the body to maintain energy levels as  long as we don't screw it up with a bunch of  

snacking and a bunch of refined foods and so forth  so what most people do is they eat refined foods  

and with that refined food and sugar we get a much  faster rise in blood sugar than we could ever have  

there's nothing in nature that will give us that  kind of blood sugar spike and if something goes  

up really fast then it's an emergency the body  needs to maintain a stable blood sugar level  

and if it rises super fast then it's an emergency  and it's going to pump out insulin and with a lot  

of insulin it's going to drop quickly so now if  we keep eating and keep living like this and keep  

listening to the stupid advice of having snacks  every two hours then our blood sugar is going  

to look like this like a roller coaster and every  time that the blood sugar crashes a little bit we  

think that we have to have something to bring  it back up and the body has three sources of  

fuel it has carbs fat and protein but protein is  only in an emergency with long-term starvation  

so during regular living we have carbohydrates  and fat for fuel and if we live with this model  

now we're going to train the body mostly to  use carbs and if we cut out the carbs the body  

learns again to use fat and fat is a very  very stable fuel it doesn't spike blood sugar  

it is processed very slowly we store it on the  body and when we don't eat for a while then we can  

retrieve it from the body and use it for energy  so if you were to reduce those refined carbs that  

cause this blood sugar roller coaster and  instead you eat what we talked about you eat the  

non-starchy vegetables and the leafy greens  and then you add in some protein and fat  

then your blood sugar is going to look like this  it's not going to have those huge spikes because  

there's nothing to set it off and then you also  don't get the big drops that give you the cravings  

and what you find though in the beginning it's  okay if you want to eat four five six times a  

day because that's what your body is used to then  do that but when you don't get the spikes anymore  

you won't be so hungry you'll find that eating  a couple of three times a day is plenty and then  

your energy levels are not going to fluctuate your  blood sugar curve is going to stay within a very  

narrow range so healthy fats is something that you  want to add you don't want to be afraid of that  

and nuts is good they have healthy fats plus some  protein and seeds do as well so nuts could be any  

sort of nut that you like it could be walnuts  pecans macadamia are my favorite also almonds  

are pretty good but there are lots of different  nuts that work seeds some of my favorites  

are pumpkin seeds chia seeds flax seed hemp seed  but again you can use a lot of different seeds  

there are very few that are not going to work well  for this so because these foods are richer they're  

more concentrated with fat and protein they're  going to help satisfy you the leafy greens and  

non-starchy veg they put a little volume there  but they don't satisfy now you're adding some  

things that are satisfying you can go much longer  between meals and you can add these healthy fats  

to the vegetables you can add nuts and seeds to  the vegetables and nuts and seeds you can also  

eat them by themselves as snacks don't be afraid  to snack if you are trying to break an addiction  

and you feel like you have to have something then  it's okay to do some snacking in the short term  

while you're breaking that addiction just  make sure those snacks don't have anything  

to spike blood sugar number three is avocado  it's just a fantastic food it's rich creamy  

filling there's really no limit to how much  you can eat of that it's plenty of fiber  

tons of fiber and very very low carb you can eat  it as a snack you can eat it as a whole meal you  

can put a little oil and vinegar in it some spices  and it has a dressing you can just spoon it out  

so many different ways and of course  you can turn it into guacamole as well  

number two is eggs and dairy and these foods are  very filling they're high in fat and protein and  

they're also complete foods much more than nuts  and seeds these can become a meal in themselves  

and the key here is to go for the rich foods  if you want to break a sugar craving you want  

food that is satisfying and filling and keep  stable blood sugars you don't have to be afraid  

of the butter and the heavy cream and the sour  cream what you want to be afraid of is the skim  

and milk because the skim milk not only does it  taste nasty but it is also mostly sugar virtually  

all the calories in skim milk come from the milk  sugar and even though that's not spiking blood  

sugar it's not nearly as addictive as processed  sugar it's still not what you're looking for  

and number one on the list is meat and this  could be any sort of meat could be fish  

chicken beef lamb organ meats game meats etc.  and why is this number one again it's not that  

you should eat only meat or that it's the best or  any of that but it is the most complete it's the  

most satisfying because you get a combination of  fat and protein and if you can only eat one thing  

that's really going to satisfy you and keep those  cravings away then that should be meat and you can  

eat you can cook some chicken wings you could have  some sausage you could have some smoked salmon  

in the fridge and that's great stuff for  snacking as well and if you understand all  

of the things we talked about now you are ready  for a little bonus and the first one is apple  

cider vinegar because in apple cider vinegar  there are several things one of them though is  

short chain fatty acids and these short chain  fatty acids they feed the beneficial gut bacteria  

that actually help you with blood sugar they help  stabilize blood sugar and they can reduce cravings  

when you have that type of bacteria and the other  thing is MCT oil medium chain triglyceride so  

these are really kind of the same thing the short  chain and the medium chain it's just a short  

they're a little bit shorter even than the medium  but both of them can act as energy so if you take  

a teaspoon of MCT oil a couple of times a day then  that can give you a little bit of energy to help  

you break that sugar craving if you like this  video you're going to love that one. And if you  

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