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Food Cravings: Taking Control of Your Eating

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Food cravings come in many guises: chocolate, carbs, salty snacks. Whatever your craving, understanding why certain foods have such a seductive power is the first step to controlling your appetite’s urges. We discussed cravings and the negative impact of many foods on our health when Neal Barnard, MD, was our guest.

Food cravings come in many guises: chocolate, carbs, salty snacks. Whatever your craving, understanding why certain foods have such a seductive power is the first step to controlling your appetite’s urges. We discussed cravings and the negative impact of many foods on our health when Neal Barnard, MD, was our guest.The opinions expressed herein are the guest’s alone and have not been reviewed by a WebMD physician. If you have questions about your health, you should consult your personal physician. This event is meant for informational purposes only.Moderator: Which foods do you think are seductive?Barnard: We have known for a long time that chocolate can be addictive, at least for some people. Medical journals have described chocolate addiction for many years. Sugar addiction appears to be a separate phenomenon. A true chocolate lover would never be satisfied with a box of sugar. While women more often tend to be attracted towards sweets and chocolate, men show a slightly different pattern. While some have a sweet tooth, many more report that the very last food they would want to give up would be meat, or perhaps a meat-cheese combination like a cheeseburger.So the addictive or potentially addictive foods would be:Sugar Chocolate Cheese MeatAll of these are unnecessary, and all raise significant health concerns. Moderator: Why those foods? What is it about them that make them potentially addictive?Barnard: Apparently, each of these foods triggers the release within the brain of opiate chemicals that are cousins of heroin and morphine, although not so strong. We know this, in part from experiments using opiate-blocking drugs. One such drug is called naloxone. This drug is used in emergency rooms to treat heroin overdose. It blocks the effects of opiates on the brain, and in the case of heroin overdose, can save a life. If we were to give naloxone to a person who binges heavily on chocolate, a surprising result occurs. These individuals lose a great deal of their interest in chocolate, almost as if someone has given them dry bread; they’ll eat it if they’re hungry, but they’ll no longer binge.This sort of experiment suggests that the appeal of chocolate comes not simply from its taste, or mouth feel, but from its effect on the brain. Similar experiments have shown that a significant portion of the desire for sugar (especially sugar/fat mixtures), cheese, and meat also relates to opiate effects. Cheese is a special case. It actually contains opiates, which are coded as part of the casein protein molecule, which is the principal protein in dairy. As casein is digested it releases opiates referred to as casomorphins. Of these, the most potent varieties have approximately one-tenth the opiate power of morphine. We hypothesize that they may play a role in the well known cheese craving that some individuals have.Member question: I don’t agree that cheese and meat are necessarily harmful as you stated. If eaten to excess, yes, but eaten in moderation with plenty of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, meat and cheese are part of a good diet.Barnard: Many individuals argue for retaining a certain amount of these foods in their routine. However, it’s useful to look at the evidence.Heart disease reversal programs have shown that when one consumes even moderate amounts of meat — chicken without skin, turkey, fish, etc. — for most individuals heart disease continues to progress. When individuals eliminate meat entirely, something very different happens. And that is that heart disease begins to reverse itself.Studies of vegetarians show that they have approximately 40% less cancer than meat eaters, and that is true in comparison with even moderate meat eaters. Our studies have shown that individuals with diabetes do substantially better by eliminating animal products completely, than by retaining moderate amounts in their diet.There are many other examples of similar phenomenon. However, there is also a behavioral advantage to setting unhealthful foods aside. That is, just like teasing oneself with the occasional cigarette, for many people it leads back to a full blown tobacco habit, teasing oneself with meat and cheese, can lead to consuming cholesterol and saturated fat in significant amounts. For most people, it’s easier to set aside a bad habit completely.A word about cheese: Some people imagine we are using it as a topping. The fact is Americans, in recent years, are taking this product, which is 70% fat as a percentage of calories and contains as much or more cholesterol ounce for ounce as a steak, and consuming it in nearly heroic quantities. Government figures show that the average American now devours 30 pounds of cheese every single year. And since I’m not eating any, someone else must be eating mine. To pretend that this makes no contribution to the obesity we are seeing, particularly among children, who are now served cheese pizza, cheeseburgers, etc., at schools, homes, restaurants, is to deny the causes of the epidemics we are seeing.Member question: It sounds like you endorse total abstinence when it comes to cheese and meat — what about alcohol and pasta?Barnard: With regard to alcohol, data are mixed. Its effect on the heart may be in some ways beneficial. But one should not go too far in interpreting those data as an endorsement for regular alcohol use. Daily alcohol consumption — of even one drink per day — increases breast cancer risk significantly. Alcohol may also increase the risk of colon cancer. Intermittent alcohol use may not have the same effect. Interestingly, the mechanism by which alcohol is linked to breast cancer may be its tendency to disrupt folic acid. Some have suggested the answer is to mix a martini with two olives and a folic acid pill. That tongue-in-cheek solution suggests that by adding folic acid to the diet, one might counteract risks from alcohol. Future research may tell whether that’s true. In the meantime, alcohol use should be intermittent, not daily.Regarding pasta, those who imagined that pasta would spike blood sugar are not able to give it a not guilty verdict. Although pasta is made from white flour, it doesn’t have the same effect on blood sugar as white bread does. Presumably due to the denseness of pasta noodles, the digestive process of pasta is much slower than that of white bread; you can imagine the digestive enzymes trying to course their way into a densely stacked cord of wood, as opposed to enzymes being able to get into a stack of twigs. The densely packed pasta molecules break apart more slowly. The problem with pasta is not so much the pasta itself, but rather for what it is being used as: A vehicle for cheese sauce, alfredo sauce, meat sauce, and buckets of olive oil, all of which are more fattening than the pasta itself.Atkins adherents who are phobic of pasta would do well to remember that the thinnest people on this planet — Asians and vegetarians — consume rice, noodles, and other starchy foods as their dietary staples. What makes their diet different is that it is:Low in meat (or contains no meat at all) Low in dairy products Low in oil overall Not slathered with sugarMember question: When I get a craving, it is for something savory and salty; my friend has to have something sweet. I’d rather have chips and dip while she goes for the cake. What determines our preferences?Barnard: Certain genes influence taste preferences. Some individuals have an accentuated perception for bitter flavors. They find black coffee unpalatable; grapefruit juice is undrinkable. Others find these foods to be acceptable because their taste buds are genetically set for reduced perception of bitter flavors.However, experience alters taste preferences. Let me use the common experience of transitioning from whole milk to skim as an example. Initially, skim milk tastes watery and unpalatable. But after having it for two to three weeks, what happens? You adapt to it, and it becomes quite acceptable. At that point if you try to drink a glass of whole milk you’ll find it is too thick, almost like cream, and something you never want to taste for the rest of your life.What this illustrates is that our taste buds have what we might refer to as “taste thermostats” for fat, sugar, and salt. If you eat much less fat (as in going from whole to skim milk) your fat thermostat shifts to prefer the foods you’ve consumed over the past five to six days or thereabouts. If you reduce salt intake low-salt foods will be intolerably bland for the first week but will become more acceptable in the second week, and will be entirely welcome on your plate in the third week. All that has happened is that your “taste thermostat” has shifted.It is easy to shift these “taste thermostats” in the wrong direction. As Western dietary habits invade Asia, and rice consumption plummets while meats and cheese become more popular, the taste for Western food has replaced the taste for traditional Asian fare. As William Castelli always says, “When you see the Golden Arches, you are on the road to the Pearly Gates.”Moderator: So eating a hamburger will make you want another?Barnard: Yes. This experiment is tragically demonstrated in children who begin life with a clean slate, but are given by their naive and well meaning parents, sodas, candy, chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers, and other Western fare that guarantees continuing epidemics of obesity and illness in this country.Member question: So what is the “bridge” between the normal American diet of meat and dairy to what you propose? It’s fine to say that’s your goal, but how could anyone ever drop something they love to eat cold turkey? Potential for death is not a motivator for most people. We have to like what we eat or we won’t do it. What’s your suggestion?Barnard: Step one: Understand why you may wish to change. If you are tired of being on a roller coaster with your scale; if you have diabetes or hypertension and would like to improve your condition or even get off of your medication; if you have heard the new evidence that dairy is linked to prostate cancer and wish to reduce your risk, all of these can motivate you to change.Step two: Look at your options and give them a try. If your only dessert is chocolate, fill your shelves with fresh fruit or other healthful tastes. Or you may wish to try my chocolate coating, used as a “Trojan horse” for healthful foods. You take cocoa powder, which is chocolate with all that fattening cocoa butter extracted, and mix it with soy milk, a thickener (such as corn starch), and a touch of sweetener heated in a sauce pan, and you’ve just made the most delicious guilt-free chocolately dip for strawberries, bananas, cantaloupe slices, or anything else. Your family will think you’re a gourmet, and you will get the taste of chocolate, but what you’re consuming is healthful.I learned a lesson on all of this from my own mother, who had a very high cholesterol level. She ignored my advice for years until her own cardiologist insisted she begin cholesterol-lowering drugs. That seemed a daunting prospect. So she opened a book that I’d written called Food For Life, and began making the recipes that I’d been suggesting to her for some time. She became a vegan for six weeks. She went back to her physician to find that her cholesterol dropped 80 points. (Her doctor thought he had a lab error, but this is not uncommon. We published in the year 2000 the greatest cholesterol lowering ever reported in any diet trial in women under 50. We did so using a vegan diet for just five weeks). In any case, my mother raced home from the doctor’s office, picked up the phone and said, “Neal, why didn’t you tell me about this before!”Now my mother has become, at age 79, a vegan zealot and has decided that my father ought to become a vegan, too. Well, he grew up on a cattle ranch. So my mother went to the health-food store and picked up meat substitutes. (By the way, if you haven’t been in a health-food store lately it’s safe to go there now. They’ve stopped playing folk music, the person behind the register is not named Sunshine, and he/she is not wearing a tie-dyed shirt.) They sell hundreds of wonderful replacements for the cholesterol-laden staples of the American diet. My mother brought home Not Dogs, Phony Bologna, veggie burgers, bacon, and sausage all made of soy or wheat derivatives. She now makes my father a sandwich with high quality whole grain bread, some soy bologna, slices of tomato, lettuce, and Dijon mustard and my father thinks it’s delicious. He notices a lighter taste, but assumes she’s just doing that whole milk to skim milk thing on him again. And he has been eating these foods happily now for several years. I now believe I have two vegetarian parents. And only one of them knows it.Member question: Chocolate-covered cantaloupe? YUCK. This is what I’m talking about. Your average overweight Midwesterner would never eat that. They are too set in their ways. They crave Oreos, not choco-loupe.Barnard: You have perhaps unknowingly supported my conclusion, which is that most, if not all, of us really are addicts. But never fear. Who would have guessed 20 years ago that virtually every office building, every school, every hospital, and every airport would become nonsmoking, and that we could resoundingly break that addiction? At some point, when our economy is being broken by the medical expenditures by which we’re burdened, and when we become weary of the personal tragedy that we have to cope with in our families in the form of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other conditions, many people do want to take off their party hats, sober up, and eat the foods that put you in a body that makes you feel much better than junk food ever could.Member question: What do you think about those “meatless” vegetarian substitute foods you mentioned? Do you recommend those products?Barnard: They’re great as transition foods, and especially great for kids. At birthdays don’t make your kid lentil loaf, but a kid can have hot dogs at his party and you will be aware it’s vegetarian. In her lunch box the bologna sandwich looks like the artery clogging type, but it’s something you can feel proud of. However, you will definitely want to go on and explore the many other healthful ways of consuming a healthful diet. My new book, Breaking the Food Seduction, has 110 recipes specifically for people who though they could never break free from chocolate, burgers, or cheese and crackers. Let me show you how to do it.Moderator: You mentioned substitutes for meat and chocolate. What do you suggest for sugar and cheese?Barnard: Some people use other sweeteners, such as brown sugar or maple syrup. Gram for gram they are essentially the same in their calorie content except that they are so flavorful people tend to use less. The artificial sweeteners are indeed as low in calories as their labels say, but none of these foods helps your taste buds to shift their sweet thermostat to a lower level. Only avoiding sugar for a week or two will accomplish that. Cheese substitutes run a range. Some people use avocado or peanut butter as a means of getting the “mouth feel” of cheese without its cholesterol or animal proteins (Many people with arthritis, migraines, or digestive problems find that the dairy protein is its worst attribute). However, avocado and peanut butter are rather high in fat. Another option is nutritional yeast. Every health-food store stocks it in several varieties, but many people have never heard of it. It’s not brewer’s yeast. Nutritional yeast has the flavor and aroma of cheese. Add it to a spaghetti sauce or casserole and you’ll find that you’ve added a cheesy taste with zero cholesterol, and essentially not fat. It comes as flakes or powder; the flakes are more versatile.Member question: Are our cravings related to what is happening with our hormones?Member question: How can one avoid cravings during PMS when your body is screaming for chocolate and chips?Barnard: We conducted a research study three years ago that led to some fascinating findings. Our participants were women with severe cramps and PMS. We asked them to begin a low-fat vegan diet, because when one dramatically reduces fat intake and increases fiber intake estrogen levels tend to fall. Estrogen is the group of female sex hormones responsible for many aspects of reproduction. And the amount of estrogen in the blood is much higher when a woman is on a fatty diet. We believe that that high level of estrogen leads to an excessive thickening of the uterine lining (endometrium) and that as a woman’s period approaches the amount of estrogen in her blood falls precipitously, triggering cravings and symptoms of PMS. As the endometrium is disrupted with the beginning of menses the cramps are exaggerated and many women take heroic amounts of Ibuprofen to try to cope.With a very low-fat vegan diet, there is no animal fat at all, and very little oil on the menu. So while there is sufficient estrogen in the blood for fertility, the excesses are apparently avoided. We found that on this diet women reported that cramping was greatly reduced in both duration and intensity, PMS diminished, and for some women cravings were gone. The full details, as well as the scientific references, are listed in Breaking the Food Seduction.Member question: What about these “chemical” spray butter substitutes — their labels say no calories, no fat, no sugars, and no cholesterol — are those dangerous?Barnard: The new butter substitutes are miles ahead of the older ones that were based on trans fats (partially hydrogenated oils), and their primary ingredient, in many cases, is water. They are indeed a better choice.Member question: I am a 34-year-old female who does quite well in controlling my craving during the day. However, after 7 p.m. I lose all control and must eat the chocolate, potato chips, and any other junk food that is in the kitchen. How can I regain control after this hour?Barnard: Don’t be home. I’m kidding a bit, but this is a very real phenomenon, and I devoted an entire chapter of Breaking the Food Seduction to breaking out of craving cycles, which occur daily, but also in some cases monthly or yearly. The answer to it is to focus not on food, but on time. If there is a way to get you past that time period of vulnerability, you typically find that the craving is much less intense an hour or two later, and if you do not gratify it for a couple of weeks, you get into a new groove.There are many ways to do this, but the key is to focus on your schedule. Be with somebody else, be somewhere else; do whatever it takes so that it is impossible for you to tear open the refrigerator door at that time.Moderator: Dr. Barnard, before we wrap up for today, do you have any final comments for us?Barnard: My hope is not just that we can become healthier, but also that we can do the same for our families, especially our children. If a person presents with a variety of symptoms, gradually increasing weight, high blood pressure, increasing cholesterol, it makes sense to view them all as signs of an “addiction” to foods that are less healthful than the body really needs. The key to regaining health for our families and ourselves is to break that food seduction. Everything else follows from that. For further identification, I am president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which sponsors the following site: pcrm.org.(Souce: WebMD Health)


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Posted On: 5 September, 2003
Modified On: 3 December, 2013

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