Sugar addiction or how to get rid of your sweet tooth. How to give up sweets and starchy foods: the psychology of food addiction

Everyone loves sweets! This taste is especially held in high esteem by the fair sex. Why do people so often become dependent not on sour, salty or bitter, but on sweets and how to get rid of sweet addiction?

Sweets addiction– this is the same addiction as any other (for example, alcohol, drugs, gaming, and so on). The basis of any addiction is the same mechanism: a person’s desire to escape the difficulties of life by changing the state of his consciousness to such an extent that life seems more beautiful.

The desire to “escape” an unhappy life into a happy one pushes an individual to commit and periodically repeat certain actions. In the case of sweet addiction, this action is eating goodies, which stimulates the production of so-called hormones of happiness.

In the struggle between the voice of reason and the irresistible desire to eat something tasty, the latter always wins and this happens quite often. Can't resist harmful sweets once a month is not an addiction, but if sweets are consumed in intentional quantities every day, we can talk about the existence of a problem.

Sadness, melancholy, resentment, guilt, grief, stress, anxiety - all negative emotions under the influence of a certain sweet “drug” are transformed positive: joy, delight, inspiration, lightness, optimism, euphoria.

The problem is that all these emotions and feelings illusory, since they are caused artificially and are very short-lived by time. While the candy melts on the tongue, life is wonderful, but what after? Another candy, and another, and another?

The problem, drowned out by sweets, does not go away, but the extra calories remain. Isn’t it better to establish the reason why you want sweets, eliminate it, or look for it? useful replacement“drug” (in the case when the cause cannot be eliminated immediately)?

Sugar addiction can be due to two types of reasons:

physiological(there is something wrong with the body, there is any functional impairment or disease);
psychological(something doesn’t suit you, others, life, there are unresolved psychological problems).

The situation described above (when a person uses sweets to numb mental pain or relieve stress) characterizes addiction caused by psychological reasons. This sweet addiction is psychological (it is also called non-chemical).

Sweets addiction physiological if it is accompanied withdrawal syndrome when you stop taking sweets. In other words, if a person feels physically ill when he cannot eat his favorite sweet (he begins to get sick and dizzy, his blood pressure increases or decreases, weakness, drowsiness appears, and so on), his addiction is due to problems with physiology.

In this case you need health care . Only one psychological assistance will not be enough, you need to contact a therapist, gastroenterologist, nutritionist or other physician.

Physiological dependence on sweets is provoked by problems with the stomach, pancreas, liver and other organs of the gastrointestinal tract. Hormonal disorders, osteochondrosis, hypotension, and so on can also be observed.

Most often, addiction to sweets mixed type , that is, it is both physiological and psychological at the same time.

So, sweet addiction is an obsessive need that causes a person to overeat sweets, most often due to physiological and/or psychological problems.

Is it easy to get rid of sugar addiction?

There is a stereotype that a person’s weight (and in particular the presence excess weight) depends only on the personality itself, or more precisely, on such a component as will. If a person eats a lot of sweets (which provokes weight gain), he is called weak-willed and weak-willed, and people who are not culturally different even allow themselves to call such a person names.

But scientists, and simply observant individuals, have long noticed that some people eat sweets and starchy foods as much as they want and don’t gain weight, while others gain weight after allowing themselves one piece of cake once a month, and then just to smell it!

Will, undoubtedly, is the regulator of a person’s eating behavior, but what and in what quantities a person eats depends not only on will. Many other things influence: health status, innate characteristics of the body and psyche, lifestyle, attitude towards oneself and the world, and so on.

The fact is that everyone is different! Both the body and psyche of every person unique. You need to accept yourself as you are. Not worth it envy people who eat as much as they want and don’t gain weight shouldn’t get angry on yourself because of your addiction to sweets, just as you shouldn’t regret while getting rid of it.

When starting to work on yourself, you should always remember that this work is not a fight against(in the case under consideration – against dependence), and work for your own good, which should start with positive attitude and bring positive emotions.

Out of hatred, pity, contempt, indifference or other negative feelings towards yourself, you should not even begin to work on getting rid of addiction to sweets! Only out of self-love this needs to be done! Only in this case will there be a result!

How to get rid of sweet addiction: algorithm of actions

To get rid of sugar addiction you need:

Determine what kind of addiction to sweets is glad: physiological, psychological, mixed type. This can be done by discovering the reason(s) for the incredible craving for sweets.
If the reasons lie in problems with physiology, you need to take care of your health:

eat right,
exercise,
rest and sleep for the prescribed number of hours,
install correct mode day,
recover from ailments that provoke excessive passion for sweets.

Sweet foods that most often become objects of addiction (chocolate, cake, cookies, candy, etc.) contain carbohydrates. Without carbohydrates, the human body cannot function, but the fact is that there are two types of carbohydrates: fast (harmful) and slow (beneficial).

People with sweet addiction need fast carbohydrates replace to slow ones! This should be done gradually so that withdrawal syndrome does not occur (so as not to feel bad physically and mentally). So you can quietly “exchange” three sweets for tea with sugar for 100 grams of cottage cheese for tea without sugar.

In fact, nutritionists do not even prohibit fast carbohydrates! They can be consumed, but in extremely small quantities. For example: one spoon of honey or one piece (“square”) of dark chocolate per day.

If the problems that caused the addiction are psychological, need to work on yourself:

establish what emotions, feelings and situations usually “eat up” on sweets,
learn to regulate and control negative emotions and feelings (it is impossible to prevent them if the situation provoking them has already arisen),
think about what needs to be changed in life or in yourself to prevent negative situations from occurring,
if the situation cannot be eliminated or avoided, you need to teach how to relieve stress after it in a different way, without “eating”!

Positive emotions are generated not only by delicious food! There are many others ways to relieve stress and improve your mood, For example:

All these activities stimulate the production exactly the same hormones of happiness that are produced when eating sweets!

More often people “eat up” such emotions and feelings with sweets:

self-dislike
anxiety,
guilt,
loneliness,
fear.

All these negative experiences are not a death sentence, they are eliminated! You can and should work with them, and not temporarily drown them out with sweets!

If independent work with sweet addiction does not produce results, you need to contact specialists.

If the reason lies in problems with physiology, you need a doctor, if with psychology - a psychologist, psychotherapist or psychiatrist (depending on the complexity of the case of addiction).

Specialists will conduct a diagnosis, identify the causes, and then determine a course of therapy.

What type of sweet addiction are you?

They helped us:

Evgeny Arzamastsev
Nutritionist at the Margarita Koroleva Center for Aesthetic Medicine

The World Health Organization estimates that a typical Russian eats about 100 grams of sugar per day. Despite the fact that the human body can process no more than 50 g of sweet additive more or less painlessly. And modern Scientific research Excess sugar in the menu is persistently associated with such serious diseases as diabetes, hypertension, strokes and heart attacks, and colon cancer. This list alone is enough to make you forget about soda and buns forever. But there is a nuance.

Stories about the dangers of sugar, alas, cannot force those with a sweet tooth to give up candy. American biologists have long proposed equating sweet poison to alcohol and tobacco and start honestly calling it a drug. Not for the sake of shocking: the mechanism of our brain’s reaction to sugar is not much different from the addictions that develop, say, with each new glass of champagne.

One of many experiments on this topic is indicative. Scientists from Princeton University fed experimental rats sugar daily, gradually increasing the dose. Everyone was happy. But one day, terrible for rodents, people completely excluded sweets from the menu. What do you think? The animals became restless, irritable and aggressive and, if they could, would probably complain about headache and the desire to bite. In general, the poor rats experienced a typical withdrawal in the absence of the coveted dose.

But let's get back to the people. Most of us swallowed our first dose of the sweet drug before we could speak clearly, and for decades maintained the bad attachment by buying “something for tea.” We can't just stop eating sugar, no matter how strong-willed people we are., ask any narcologist. But we can gradually (this is a key condition for success) reduce the amount of sweets in our diet to a minimum or even to zero.

WH experts have formulated several rules for those who intend to one day give up desserts. Get a plan of action.

Get enough sleep. Yes, it's that simple. Human body interprets lack of sleep as a stressful situation - and sends hormones that regulate appetite into overdrive. One sleepless night it’s enough for you to eat more than 200 extra kilocalories the next day, with priority given to fast carbohydrates, that is, sugar. A well-rested person is less drawn to cakes - proven at Harvard.
Analyze your diet. An irresistible craving for sweets often manifests itself as a symptom of a lack of chromium, zinc or magnesium (or maybe all at once). Only a blood test can definitely determine this, but just in case, check how regularly the products from the list at the end of the article appear on your plate.
Eat protein. This is a way to maintain stable levels of glucose and insulin in the blood and, as a result, crave sweets less. Ideally, protein should be ingested at every meal, but definitely at breakfast. By proteins we mean not only meat and fish, but also nuts, seeds, eggs, and legumes.
Eat small and frequent meals. The thought of snacking on cookies doesn’t even occur to people whose sugar levels don’t jump sharply throughout the day. Try to eat food every 2–2.5 hours (of course, distributing its volume so that by the end of the month it does not resemble a ball) – and you will notice that when you don’t have to worry acute attacks hunger, it is easier to pass past the pastry shops.
Don't keep sweets in sight. If there is a piece of cake waiting in the refrigerator, and gingerbread cookies in the table drawer, the temptation to eat them will defeat any vows. So it's simple: don't buy anything that isn't good for you. And for occasions when you are accustomed to eating sweets (coffee breaks with colleagues, meetings with girlfriends, morning tea), keep healthier alternatives to chocolate and croissants on hand. These can be seasonal fruits and berries, honey, dried fruits.
Move. Regular physical activity – good way cope with daily stress, which is often to blame for our emotional attachment for chocolate and jam.
Add healthy fats. They are extremely important for the body's hormonal stability and help you feel full longer. Healthy unsaturated fats found in avocados, nuts and seeds, olive oil.
Cook at home. To reduce the amount of sugar entering the body, you will have to limit industrially processed foods as much as possible. Sweeteners are now even added to dumplings and pickles, and the only way Avoid excess – personally regulate the amount of sugar in your food. Here's a simple example: cutlets bought at the grocery store will almost certainly contain syrup or something like that; in a piece of meat that you personally turn into cutlets at home - no.
Stop drinking calories. Any form of liquid sugar is worse than solid food with him. Sugary drinks deliver the drug straight to your liver without even trying to create the illusion of satiety. Therefore, by drinking lemonade in between, you provoke yourself to eat more and more fast carbohydrates.
Add spices Cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom naturally sweeten foods, help regulate blood sugar and control your addiction.

A person is designed in such a way that he follows his desires, tries to give himself as much pleasure as possible, improving his emotional condition. Often this ends in addiction and causes harm to the body, and sometimes even destroys it. Sweet addiction is one of its forms, which causes so much harm to health that it is incommensurate with fleeting pleasure.

Excessive consumption of sweets leads to diabetes, obesity, harms teeth, pancreas, liver, thyroid gland, provokes cardiovascular diseases. Nowadays, culinary experts cannot even imagine preparing food without added sugar, but just over 200 years ago it did not exist at all. Production on an industrial scale has significantly increased the dose of consumption. Scientists and doctors are sounding the alarm.

ICD-10 code

F10-F19 Mental disorders and behavioral disorders associated with psychoactive substance use

Epidemiology

Statistics give an alarming signal - almost 80% of the inhabitants of our country are addicted to sweets. They claim that it occurs 8 times faster than from cocaine. Considering the steady growth in sugar consumption from two kilograms per year in the 19th century to forty currently, this is a very alarming trend. Since business is interested in the growth of sugar production, we will continue to be hooked on the sweet “igloo,” especially since it is so easy to do. If there is more sugar in half a liter of carbonated drink daily requirement human, and sugar is also found in other food products, then all that remains is to “turn on” your own brains and resist this expansion with all your might.

Causes of sweet addiction

The reasons for addiction to sweets often lie on a psychological plane, but ultimately have a physiological basis. Whenever various problems, people's need for sweets increases. Eating their troubles with sweets lifts their mood; stress and various failures seem less significant. Why does the need for sweets arise in these circumstances? This is where the laws of physiology come into force.

Negative emotions reduce the level of serotonin and endorphin in the body - hormones of happiness, joy, pleasure, and sweets promote their synthesis. Another reason for cravings may be a lack of microelements in the body: chromium, magnesium, calcium. Considered to be the cause of pathology digestive organs: Fungi and yeast that grow in the intestines also cause sugar cravings. The need for sweets may be due to a decrease in blood glucose levels, which is typical for diabetes mellitus. Its contents constantly fluctuate between 2.8–7.8 mmol/l depending on the time of food intake, physical and emotional stress. Eating causes an increase in sugar levels in the body, while simultaneously releasing insulin - vehicle through the cells of the body for glucose. At insufficient production insulin, glucose does not reach its “destination”, and its lack of supply to the central nervous system causes hypoglycemia, which gives a feeling of hunger.

Risk factors

Risk factors include individual addiction to sweets. Not everyone has a craving for it, but those who are partial to cakes, pastries, sweet water, and sweets need to be especially careful not to become addicted. The effect of sugar on the formation of cholesterol has been established, so hypertensive patients and people with cardiovascular diseases are also at risk. But the most important risk factor is diabetes.

Pathogenesis

Pathogenesis this phenomenon lies in the chain of reactions that accompany sweets from the moment they enter the mouth. At the tip of the tongue are taste buds, which sense a pleasant sweet taste and transmit a signal to the brain through glossopharyngeal nerve. He, reacting to the “message”, produces serotonin.

Sucrose is a carbohydrate that, when ingested, is broken down into glucose and fructose. Glucose is the main source of energy, food for the brain. Thanks to gluconeogenesis, it is produced from proteins and lipids. This happens slowly, without disrupting natural metabolic processes. Taking pure sugar instantly speeds up its breakdown and leads to the release of insulin, whose role is to carry glucose to the brain and other organs. The brain completely converts it into energy, and other cells can partially use it for their restoration, or they can, having turned it into glycogen, accumulate and turn into fat. In addition, a powerful release of insulin gives a feeling of lack of carbohydrates, although in fact this is a deceptive feeling. The circle is closed, dependence is formed.

Symptoms of sweet addiction

If addiction to sweets has a psychological basis, then its first signs are a bad mood, constant thoughts about sweets in stressful situations, their implementation. This is reminiscent of the behavior of a smoker who, nervously, smokes one cigarette after another. If the reason is physiological, associated with poor production or complete cessation of insulin synthesis by the pancreas, then the body signals dizziness, drowsiness, and weakness. Symptoms that indicate that hypoglycemia is approaching include excessive sweating, fatigue, tension, cardiopalmus, constant feeling hunger. May also appear neurological symptoms: irritability, aggressiveness.

Addiction to sweets and starchy foods

They have the same background, because all flour confectionery contain sugar in various forms: in dough, creams, fillers, syrups. Most often, women show a weakness for desserts and fall into a sweet flour addiction. This is explained by the hormonal surges that women experience monthly, during pregnancy, and after childbirth. There may be a psychological condition of addiction and other reasons related to health.

Psychological addiction to sweets

Psychological addiction to sweets, like any other, is fraught with real threat influence lifestyle, self-esteem, mood. People susceptible to it are unable to control the amount they eat and feel unwell without another dose of sweets. Moreover, this may lead to serious problems with health, obesity, because not only affects our will, but also disrupts metabolism. Sometimes addiction to sweets reaches such a degree that not only desserts are eaten during the day, but night meals also become traditional. A person expects psychological relaxation, but is faced with overweight, worsening health problems. Resorting to various diets, breaks down again without defeating his “sweet enemy.”

Complications and consequences

Except psychological consequences resulting in self-doubt, decreased performance, sometimes depression, complications associated with the liver, pancreas, digestive tract, heart diseases. Great chance the occurrence of diabetes mellitus.

Diagnosis of sweet addiction

Diagnosis of addiction to sweets begins with finding out your medical history. The main task is to exclude diabetes mellitus and its inherent hypoglycemia syndrome. To do this, determine the concentration of glucose in the blood. Since hunger is characteristic of hypoglycemia caused by a number of other diseases ( hormonal disorders, lack of enzymes, tumors, alcohol and drug addiction, etc.), then it is necessary to differentiate psychological dependence from them.

Sweets addiction test

To determine the degree of a person’s addiction to sweets, a special test for sweet addiction was developed. When answering questions, he forces you to see the problem more meaningfully. The test may contain various questions, here are some of them:

How often do you feel the need for sweets?
1. daily;
2. few times a week;
3. several times a month.
Do you resort to sweets in stressful situations?
Do you feel like dinner is unfinished if you don't have dessert?
Can you even go a day without sugar?
Can sweets be stored in a vase on a shelf for some time?

If sweets are eaten every day, and all other questions receive a “yes” answer, then addiction is obvious.

Treating sweets addiction

If addiction to sweets is caused by some kind of illness, the doctor will make a diagnosis and prescribe treatment. If the reason is psychological factor, then you can try to handle it yourself. Refuse immediately bad habit It’s unlikely to work, but it won’t be difficult to reduce the portion by replacing it with sports or another physical activity. The fact is that exercise stress produces the hormone endorphin, the same as when eating sweets. In addition, it is burned a large number of calories, which will also benefit the body. If sugar is in pure form replace with fruits and vegetables, you can simultaneously have fun and replenish your supply of vitamins and minerals. There are also sweeteners; at first, they will help ease your addiction to sweets.

Your diet should include slowly digestible foods that have low glycemic index And high content proteins. It’s good to have a friend’s reliable shoulder nearby in the fight against any addiction. If you can find a partner in getting rid of sweets, this will be a good incentive to compete in strengthening your willpower.

Drugs for sweet addiction

Chromium preparations help overcome addiction to sweets. Thanks to his ability to participate in carbohydrate metabolism, increase the permeability of cell walls for glucose and increase sensitivity to insulin, maintaining blood sugar levels. A large amount of sweets removes chromium from their body. To break this vicious circle, you need to include foods containing chromium in your diet, or take pharmaceutical drugs. Fish are rich in this microelement, the best are tuna, liver, chicken, duck, broccoli, and beets. Taking brewer's yeast - good method replenishing the body with chromium.

On the advice of a doctor, you can buy vitamin-mineral complexes containing chromium, special biologically active additives. In their reviews, many women note the dietary supplements chromium picolinate, garcinia forte, fat-x as means that significantly reduce cravings for sweets. Another drug, glutamine, has also proven itself well in the fight against addiction. It is an amino acid found in animal proteins and plant origin. The drug was synthesized for the treatment of gastritis, known for its ability to heal inflammation well gastrointestinal tract. Along the way, the ability to have a calming effect on the brain and nervous system and cope with harmful desires was discovered.

Prevention

The best prevention addiction to sweets is physical activity, doing what you love, distracting from bad addictions, motivation to have a beautiful figure and healthy children. IN healthy family, where adults are not involved in unhealthy habits, a self-sufficient new generation will grow up that will not need to “eat up” their complexes.

Forecast

The prognosis for getting rid of sugar addiction is favorable for people with a strong will and the desire to overcome it. Others, following their desires, may develop obesity and pathologies of various organs.

All kinds of sweets: candies, chocolates, cakes and marshmallows are loved by many people. They not only taste good, but also allow you to experience feelings of joy and euphoria for a while. This happens due to the release of a special hormone by the brain - endorphin. Addiction to sweets is also a serious illness that not everyone can overcome.

It can form at any age, and in order to get rid of it, you will need to understand the causes of the problem. You shouldn’t consider yourself addicted if sometimes you want to eat a piece of cake or a couple of candies. For real dependent person cannot control and limit his desires. The fight against them invariably ends in defeat and another portion of cake.

Reasons for loving sweets

Any person can become addicted to sweets; the reasons for this are psychological and physiological health conditions.

One of the reasons is psycho-emotional state. A person eats up problems with sweets. Various anxieties, worries, conflicts and quarrels make him reach for more chocolates and cookies.

People cope with boredom, irritation, bad mood. When eating something delicious, the hormone endorphin is released, and fleeting happiness sets in, which does not solve the problem, but only aggravates it.

Some people have a hereditary predisposition to sweets. In the absence of the latter, something like drug withdrawal occurs and the person experiences stress, becomes irritable and nervous.

However, cravings for sweets can be caused not only by psychological factors, but also physiological reasons. Thus, a lack of certain vitamins and microelements in the body leads to excessive consumption of sweets.

Getting rid of addiction to sweets

Constantly listen to yourself, whether there is a desire to eat sweets after another conflict or to experience the joy of candy. Do not allow a lack of vitamins in your body, take them in tablets and do not forget about vegetables and fruits. Dairy products will help both overcome and prevent addiction to sweets: kefir, fermented baked milk, yoghurts, cottage cheese.

Include in your daily diet complex carbohydrates: brown rice, buckwheat, oatmeal. The body can easily do without sweets by assimilating healthy sugars from necessary products. When switching to proper nutrition energy will be taken from fat reserves.

Active people can avoid gaining excess weight and overcome cravings for sweets. physical exercise. Especially on fresh air they promote the production of serotonin.

How to get rid of cravings for sweets? Learn to negotiate with your body. 30 minutes before meals, you can put a piece of dark chocolate under your tongue. This will allow the hormone to be produced in the brain and will not only stop the dependence on tasty food, but will also reduce the number of servings at lunch.

You can even trick your brain - chew the candy and spit it out, this trick will allow you to experience the same pleasure as if you had eaten it.

Drink teas without sugar, give preference to fruit varieties or add fruits and berries to them. Remember that coffee increases sugar addiction, so limit it to one cup per day.

Eat less fatty foods, as they increase cravings for sweets. Replace goodies with more healthy foods: dried fruits, biscuits, crispbread, carrots.

Excessive consumption of sweets not only contributes to excess weight gain, but also disrupts the functioning of all organs. Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, pancreas, and liver develop. Immunity also decreases.

However, this does not mean that you need to completely eliminate all sweets; sometimes you can pamper your body, but there should be moderation in everything.

Video gallery

Greetings, friends! I have great news for you, I have started actively working on my YOUTUBE channel and today I offer you to watch the video.

I will talk about addiction to sweets, the reasons for cravings for sweets, how to overcome it and how to get rid of it. For those who have slow Internet speeds, I am posting a transcript of the recording and you can read about what we're talking about in the video.

Enjoy watching! subscribe to my channel http://www.youtube.com/c/SakharvNormeTV

These days there is a real pandemic of excess weight and carbohydrate disorders. Health care in many countries is seriously concerned about the increasing incidence of diabetes and obesity, especially among children. Russia is by no means the last place in this problem. In our country, the number of adults and children who are overweight is increasing every year.

Behind last decades Russia has moved from 19th to 4th place in terms of the number of obesity in women and by 2030 it is predicted to approach the indicators of the USA and Great Britain. By the way, about 50% of their residents already have overweight and obesity.

There are quite a few reasons for weight gain, but one of the most common is excessive consumption of sweets and desserts, namely a very strong, pathological craving for these products.

And today we will talk about some of the reasons for craving for sweets and how to overcome this bad habit.

Good dream

Healthy sleep is the main condition for maintaining normal weight or weight loss issues. You can work out in the gym as much as you want, but if you sleep little, go to bed late or the quality of your sleep suffers, then you can forget about a beautiful figure.

Surely, you have noticed that after a sleepless night or a late bedtime, the entire next day is accompanied by a low level of energy and you always want something tasty. In fact, this has long been a proven fact.

A study was conducted that with various sleep disorders, a person begins to eat more and at the same time unconsciously choose foods with a high glycemic index.

This is easy to explain. Sleep is a time for complete relaxation and restoration of strength, especially for our nervous system. During sleep, the brain accumulates energy for the next day. Not only the number of hours is very important, but also the time of going to bed and the quality of the sleep itself, i.e. absence extraneous sounds and light. Pituitary hormones (ACTH, STH and others) and melatonin (pineal hormone) are involved in restoring strength. They have their own hours of greatest activity associated with sleep and its phases.

Naturally, when you went to bed very late, the brain did not have time to recover, and therefore the whole body, since it is the brain that sets the tone for the entire body. When energy levels are low, a person is simply forced to replenish it throughout the day. What is a fast source of energy? That's right, carbohydrates! And the sweeter the better!

Therefore, the ideal time to go to bed is no later than 22:00, sleep duration is at least 7 hours and you need to sleep in complete silence, with tightly curtained windows, removing the slightest light sources in the room. The use of earplugs and blindfolds is encouraged.

How to reduce and overcome sugar cravings after poor sleep

What to do if there was bad night, and no one canceled daily activities? In this case, I can give some advice. Usually bad feeling begins serving after lunch from 2 to 4 p.m. It is the adrenal glands that have used up their entire reserve in a day.

Hearty breakfast. Food should contain a lot of protein, fat and a minimum of carbohydrates. It is better to use fruits, dried fruits or nuts as carbohydrates. Avoid coffee in the morning because coffee will give you a morning boost of energy that will quickly be used up and become worse. It’s better to save this drink for an after-dinner snack when you start to feel sleepy.
Alternate sedentary work with warm-ups. After sitting for a long time or when you feel that your eyelids are sticking together, you need to get up and stretch. You can simply walk along the corridor, go up and down the stairs several times, do squats or push-ups. Short-term physical activity will disperse lethargy and drowsiness.
Don't skip lunch. Be sure to have lunch to replenish your energy, but avoid desserts and sweets, which will further deplete your tired adrenal glands. Carbohydrates include vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts.
Daytime sleep. Find 20-30 minutes for nap. Believe me, in this case you especially need a midday nap. During lunch, you will be able to get some sleep and regain some strength.
After sleep, you can drink a cup of natural coffee with a spoon of coconut oil. Caffeine will tone you up nervous system. Coconut oil contains medium chain fatty acid, which are instantly absorbed and converted into pure energy. This should be enough for you for the rest of the working day.
Don't skip dinner, even if you're really sleepy. The lightest dinner is better than no dinner at all. For example, grilled vegetables with a piece of fish. You can also indulge in a piece of dark chocolate with herbal tea, fruit or nuts.
Go to bed earlier than usual. As a rule, on such days, by the evening the body is mobilized, it gets a second wind, and drowsiness disappears without a trace. Don't be fooled by the illusion. It’s just that the adrenal glands are starting to work overtime, and if you don’t put yourself to bed now, then tomorrow you will be as bad as today. If this is repeated often and regularly, then you can develop adrenal fatigue, which is very difficult and takes a long time to treat.

Candidiasis

Our bodies are home to billions of different bacteria, viruses and fungi. The yeast fungus Candida is an opportunistic flora. In other words, it does not cause unpleasant manifestations until it happens suitable conditions for excessive reproduction.

Uncontrolled use of antibiotics, decreased immunity and excessive love of sweets create fertile soil for the development of fungal pathology. At the same time, it is not limited to damage to the genital area, as is commonly believed. Candida begins to spread throughout the body and affects many organs and tissues, especially the intestinal tract.

As you know, yeast grows by consuming glucose. Candida also requires glucose for development and the fungus will secrete special substances that magically will act on eating behavior and cause cravings for sweets. As a result, a person, without realizing it, feeds the insolent candida, thinking that this is his decision.

What to do in this case? To reduce cravings for flour and sweets, you must first prove the presence of a high concentration of this fungus. A stool analysis according to Osipov is recommended, which will show you not only the fungus, but also other pathogenic and opportunistic microorganisms.

When the diagnosis is clear and there is candidiasis, then another question arises. How to treat? In this case, the first step would be to switch to an anti-candida diet. You may need to prescribe antimycotics and dietary supplements. I’ll tell you about this some other time, subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss it.

Stress and fatigued adrenal glands

There are two types of stress: physiological stress and distress, i.e. pathological. Physiological stress hardens the body and makes it stronger. In this case, a short-term release of adrenal hormones occurs, which are used to solve a specific problem. For example, running away from a bear is a healthy stress that saves a person’s life or resisting viral infection– this is also healthy stress, which also contributes to a person’s recovery.

Distress is a long-term and moderate exposure to irritants that do not threaten a person’s life, but significantly spoil a happy life. For example, a nasty boss who bullies an employee every day. As a result, a person’s dissatisfaction accumulates, since he cannot talk it out, because he will lose his job. Or eternal time pressure, when you need to complete many tasks in a day, and there are only 24 hours in a day. Or a young mother who is trying to manage to look after her child, go to work, cook food and do a lot of things around the house, while not having personal time to relax.

Together with poor nutrition, physical inactivity, pollution environment, low level spirituality, drinking alcohol and smoking, distress gradually and surely destroys the body due to stimulation of the adrenal glands, namely the hormone cortisol. At first, a lot of cortisol is produced, and this is worth noting as a “hormone of destruction.” In such quantities it pathologically affects all types of metabolism.

But the adrenal glands are not able to work every day at such a frantic pace without recharging. Over time, the function begins to fade and the opposite situation develops when there is not enough cortisol. When there is not enough cortisol, it’s not like running away from a bear; it’s even very difficult to get out of bed. General tone and performance begin to suffer.

In both cases, a craving for sweets appears and in order to remove it, you need to deal with the adrenal glands. In the first case, carbohydrates intoxicate the brain, causing illusory well-being and relaxation. It's comparable to alcohol, it's just that carbohydrates are a legal drug.

In the second case, carbohydrates become vitally necessary, since they at least somehow provide energy, because the internal reserve, alas, has been exhausted. Moreover, the more sweets you eat, the worse your adrenal glands work.

How to support your adrenal glands?

First of all, work with distress. And there are no universal solutions here, because everyone life situations different. Very often the problem sits in our head and sometimes it helps to change our attitude towards the problem, even if the problem remains unresolved.

For example, you have a nasty boss who constantly shouts and expresses dissatisfaction. You cannot leave for another job, but you can change your attitude towards this situation. Develop healthy indifference, learn not to react to comments, not to take everything to heart. This is quite difficult to do when you are already deeply stressed. I see a way out in working together with a psychologist or psychotherapist. And of course, personal development, reading books on psychology, distraction in the form of sports or walks in the forest, and engaging in your favorite hobby.

The main thing is to be able to remove accumulated negativity and not accumulate it in yourself. Eat different techniques and techniques that you can search on the Internet. Try to relax more, but not in front of the TV with a can of beer, but watching active rest or meeting with your favorite friends, but without alcohol.

In addition, sometimes it is necessary special food, additional additives and even medications. But this is a topic for another video.

Chromium shortage

There is a lot of information on the Internet on the topic of “sweet cravings” and this microelement is constantly mentioned. I will break this tradition and will not talk about it at all, since girls and women often shift responsibility to this mineral, and to all sorts of appetite-reducing drugs, while the above reasons have not been eliminated.

Yes, chromium is involved in glucose absorption, insulin production and improving tissue sensitivity to glucose. But true chromium deficiency is so rare that we still need to look for patients with such deficiency. So little of this microelement is needed that when adequate nutrition his need is safely covered by food.

If you are still in doubt, you can get your blood tested to confirm or refute chromium deficiency. If confirmed, you can take pills to reduce your craving for sweets. In case of deficiency, it is easily replenished with the help of tablets and dietary supplements.

Distortion in nutrition

And the last reason for today. No matter how trivial it may sound, addiction to sweets is caused by the consumption of these same sweets. In other words, the more you eat, the more you want. If you reduce your consumption of sweet foods, the addiction may go away on its own.

Imagine that you have eaten a very tasty dessert - cheesecake or esterhazy. These desserts contain an unrealistically large amount fast sugars, which are very quickly absorbed into the blood and raise blood glucose levels. The pancreas immediately reacts to this and produces disproportionately large quantity insulin to transport incoming glucose into cells

As a result, insulin lowers glucose levels very quickly and reaches normal values does not stop, but continues to decline. The person begins to experience terrible hunger, and some of the very real signs of hypoglycemia. After waiting next appointment food, a person unconsciously chooses carbohydrate-rich dishes and something tasty for dessert... again... or again...

Some people don’t wait and eat candy straight on an empty stomach, repeating the situation with insulin. Such swings can occur many times during the day. The real one is developing physiological need in sweets and it’s quite difficult to overcome it, but it’s possible.

Another extreme is irregular and poor nutrition. When a person has not eaten anything during the day, he creates an energy deficit, which he will fill generous intake food with obligatory tasty treats late in the evening.

What to do in such a situation? Firstly, eat regularly and fully throughout the day so as not to feel hungry at the end of the day. Secondly, you need to eliminate the carbohydrate swing by completely giving up sweets. Over the course of several days, you may experience real withdrawal, which passes quite quickly, and along with it an irresistible urge to indulge in some pie.

There are also psychological problems, which can cause addiction to sweets, but I’ll tell you about that next time.

And that's all for me. I hope the video was useful to you. Then you can watch other videos of our channel, links to them will appear on the screen. Subscribe to the channel, click thumb up and see you again!

With warmth and care, endocrinologist Lebedeva Dilyara Ilgizovna