Healthy Snacks Against Cravings

Cravings arise when your blood sugar level is too low and your body signals that you urgently need to eat something.

Cravings are a distress signal from your body that you should pursue. But the right diet helps against cravings. Find out today what to do if you have a food cravings and how to prevent it.

How does cravings arise?

Cravings are a clear signal from your body that blood sugar levels are falling to a threateningly low level and that you should eat something urgently.

A blood sugar level that is too low can result in hypoglycaemia. And hypoglycemia can lead to a coma, but it usually begins with clear signs such as

• Dizziness,
• Tremble,
• Impaired consciousness,
• “Black before eyes”
• tinnitus
• low blood pressure
• and an irrepressible feeling of hunger.

In particular, our brain cells are dependent on a constant supply of blood sugar, so that hypoglycaemia is a life-threatening condition for the body that should be averted by the signal of cravings.

Cravings arise either when you haven’t eaten for a long time or when your blood sugar level suddenly drops. This can happen if you have eaten a piece of candy or if your body reacts to certain substances (e.g. caffeine) by releasing insulin.

What can be done against cravings?

If you experience cravings, you should take this warning signal from your body seriously and react accordingly. The blood sugar level must be raised by providing your body with quickly usable fructose.

Ideally, this is grape sugar, which you can buy in small portions. If you don’t have it on hand, you can also drink grape juice or other fruit juices.

If that is not available either, a lemonade or cola will do the trick. You will see the symptoms improve quickly and the cravings go away.

prevention

Cravings are not permanent and mean that something has gone wrong, meaning that you have not provided your body with what it needs. If you eat properly and balanced, such phases of low blood sugar levels are absolutely rare experiences.

To prevent cravings, you should make sure that your blood sugar level remains stable, only slowly rising and only slowly falling again. Ideally, the blood sugar level remains stable until the next meal.

To achieve slow increases and decreases in blood sugar levels, avoid simple carbohydrates and prefer complex carbohydrates with fiber.

Simple carbohydrates are all types of sugar (including honey, fructose, and syrup), but white flour products are also metabolized in a similar way. Complex carbohydrates with fiber are whole grains or high-fiber meals made from grains with vegetables.

Do snacks help against cravings?

In principle, snacks between meals are counterproductive. As soon as you eat something high in calories, the blood sugar level rises, insulin is released and the blood sugar level falls again. This is also called “insulin fattening” because fat burning comes to a standstill during this process.

Every tiny, no matter how healthy snack (or coffee with milk, for example) leads to the release of insulin and thus to fluctuations in the blood sugar level. Make it your goal to eat 3 balanced meals spread over the day according to your own daily rhythm, in which you give your body everything it needs.

For the four to six hours in between, keep your fingers (and mouth) off anything that has calories. If you can’t stay hungry for at least four hours between meals, something was wrong with your last meal. Maybe not enough fiber?

Diet against cravings

It’s actually very simple: give your body a balanced meal three times a day that is high in fiber to help blood sugar levels rise and fall slowly.

You only have calorie-free drinks between the three meals. If the meal is correct, there will be no cravings until you have the next meal after 4-6 hours.

In emergencies, if you are really hungry, but it is not yet hypoglycemic, you can take the following protein-rich snacks to carefully raise your blood sugar level again:

• Natural yoghurt
• lowfat quark
• A handful of nuts
• A slice of whole wheat bread
• A glass of milk (animal or vegetable, unsweetened)

However, get in the habit of not eating snacks, but rather making your three meals of the day high in fiber. Tip: Sugar, sweets and other sweet delicacies are only allowed in exceptional cases (e.g. with grandma’s Sunday coffee gossip)!