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Your cravings are a signal from your body that something is wrong. You need to address the cause (whatever it is) and not the effect (the cravings). Unfortuna
by edw519 16y ago
Your cravings are a signal from your body that something is wrong. You need to address the cause (whatever it is) and not the effect (the cravings).
Unfortunately, the cause may be difficult to determine.
Fortunately, there is a great hack that probably addresses the cause: fruit. Lots of fruit. Always raw. Preferably on an empty stomach. Not too much variety.
Fruit is loaded with just about every nutrient your body wants, many of them difficult to get any other way. Chances are that if you're not eating enough fruit, your body needs nutrition and these needs manifest themselves in your cravings.
It works for me. I've been eating lots of fruit for years, and the only time I crave junk food is when I haven't eaten enough fruit earlier in the day. For long coding sessions, I always keep plenty of the hacker's perfect snack, bananas, on hand: the almost perfect food, self-contained, needs no refrigeration or preparation.
[Written while munching on some delicious fresh sweet watermelon. No junk food could compare to this.]
- detst 16y ago> Not too much variety Any reason why a smoothie with various fruit and maybe some yogurt wouldn't serve the same purpose? I really enjoy these but haven't been making them for some time. Posts like this give me a little motivation but what's the reason for the lack of variety?
- subwindow 16y agoI have no science to back this up, but my gut feeling is that smoothies are like candy, and aren't actually very good for you. The act of blending everything takes all the work out of it, and now there's just a bunch of sugars for your body to absorb. I like to make my body work for its calories, which is mostly a response to hypoglycemia. Anything I can do to make calories (specifically carbohydrates) harder to digest, the better. Brown rice, whole grains, and whole fruits are far better than their alternatives.
- hack_edu 16y agoYou know, a smoothie can have just about anything in it. Its not hard to make a tasty, ridiculously healthy smoothie. And your claim that blending takes the work out of it for your body couldn't be further from the truth. Blending with a real blender separates nutrients enough for your body to better absorb them. Even your typical smoothie (bananas, yogurt, and strawberries) contains numerous nutritional benefits; add some of your favorite brown rice, some kale, celery, and honey (you won't taste the difference). You have a healthful and delicious smoothie full of antioxidants, fiber, vitamins, vegetable AND dairy protein, and complex carbs.
- subwindow 16y agoIt is true that the amount of nutrients in a smoothie is unchanged relative to the whole counterparts. However, I'm willing to bet that the blood glucose response curve of a smoothie is significantly sharper than the whole fruit alternatives due to the ease of digestion. The peaks in blood glucose are what's really bad for you, and especially bad for me. Therefore, I look out for them and stay the hell away.
- niels_olson 16y agoSmoothies were one of our model foods in medical school for what's wrong with the American diet.
- haliax 16y agoWhy is that?
- ascuttlefish 16y agoBlast, I just picked 30 cups of blueberries to freeze for smoothies. Is it really so bad?
- illumin8 16y agoEven if you put brown rice in a smoothie, if you blend it enough to break the husk of the rice, it changes from a low GI carb to a high GI carb because your body can absorb the sugar much quicker. Breaking fruits down into juice definitely changes the GI index of the carb. Check out the difference between eating a whole apple and drinking apple juice. Apple juice is almost like pure sugar, where the fiber in the whole apple causes your body to digest it much slower.
- evo_9 16y agoThe problem with this advice is it doesn't take onto count the Glycemic index of the fruit. Case in point - Watermelon and Pineapple. While it seems reasonable to say eat as much fruit as you want, both these items very high glycemic values - above 85 out of a 100 point scale. Why does this matter? High glycemic foods cause a spike in your blood sugar - this causes hunger, among other things. The best 'hack' to controlling your hunger is to manage your blood sugar level. By avoiding high glycemic value foods you will curb your hungry. By eating low GI foods you will eliminate your hungry whenever you want. low glycemic value foods have the opposite effect - this is the way to completely control your hunger as I do. For example, I eat a handful (about 8-12) Almonds when I'm hungry (esp. at night). Almonds have a very low glycemic index, and just eating a small amount will stop your hungry/craving. But it's not just almonds - any low GI value food will have this effect. Some other suggestions on great low GI snacks: Apples, Cherries, Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries, Grapes, Peaches Non-Fruit low GI: Almonds (but not all nuts), Yogurt, Lean Chicken/Turkey, Tuna, Black Beans, Brown Rice (much better than White Rice), High Glycemic Foods: Refined sugars (aka anything baked), Watermelon, Pineapple, Jams, Bananas Keep in mind you shouldn't try to eliminate these foods, but if you are cutting weight then it's good to avoid eating too much of a high GI item to manage your hungry. Personally I try to avoid them still (after losing/getting back into shape), because I never have a desire to binge out anymore. Incidentally, I recently lost over 24 pounds in 6.5 weeks using these food hacks. I also started playing hockey again (one of the hardest, most thorough workouts out there it turns out), and that caused me to want to be in better shape, so now I'm working out a lot more too. I'd suggest adding in activities you love, hiking, mountain biking - whatever it is just be more active. Anyway, I discovered this GI 'hack' from my biz partner who is a gym owner and a nationally ranked crossfit athlete, hope that helps! Good luck!
- illumin8 16y agoBest comment I've read the entire thread - people don't realize that the GI of carbs is the most important factor to weight loss. Managing blood sugar and keeping a steady, non-spiking blood sugar level will result in pretty much automatic weight loss, without even having to diet. My snacks are usually a small handful of almonds and a piece of fruit. Also, you can combine a somewhat high GI fruit like an apple with a handful of nuts, and the fat content will end up lowering the speed at which your body will absorb the sugar from the fruit, which evens out your blood sugar level. There are other fibrous foods that will do this as well.
- floodfx 16y agowe get a weekly box from the fruitguys [fruitguys.com] at work. it is like $25 and keeps our office of about 10 covered.
- physdida 16y agoI think the old idea that gluttony is a carnal desire is false. The cravings are a mental phenomenon. The mind seeks to be distracted and regards the mouth and tastebuds as an entertainment system. (A sort of lower level alternative to reading aggregator sites.) Being too full is actually uncomfortable to the body, although one may not notice it initially due to the eating high.
- mike_h 16y agoFruit is a big part of the solution, but if you only stick to that you're going to be left craving fats and protein (and if your stomach is sensitive, feeling sick from all that acidic and sugary fruit). Identify healthy fats and sources of protein. My list includes olive oil, whole-grain bread, low-fat cheese, hummus, avocados. This list may not be the pinnacle of health (I don't know), but it goes a long way towards nutrition and heading off cravings for junk.
- haliax 16y agoIs this true of all cravings? I mean, there are loads of times (now) when I crave Sour Patch Kids or something like that, and I feel like I am just after the taste.
- Tichy 16y agoFruit isn't good for everybody (some have problems to digest the sugar of fruits). Also it seems to contain a lot of sugar overall.