Over the past few weeks I have often referred to the ‘blood sugar rollercoaster’ as we discussed the importance of maintaining healthy blood sugar levels.Cravings for sugar are a big part of the vicious cycle.Though it might not seem like much to give in a little to the cravings, it can lead to the neverending cycle of ups and downs! Dealing with all the emotional and physical issues from ADD/ADHD is not something to be ignored by staying on the rollercoaster. Management and even avoidance of the sugar monster needs to be one of your
highest nutritional priorities.
There are many ways to handle those sugar cravings with these being a few of them:
Make sure that you are ‘powered up’ throughout the day: It is vitally important that you do not get to the stage where you are so famished that you will eat whatever crosses your path! Rule of Thumb: Eat less, eat more often! Make sure that you eat three meals and supplement it with small nutritious and non-sugary snacks. Doing will help maintain a steady flow of energy and prevent your body from going to ‘panic stations’ in order to get more glucose into the bloodstream.
Carefully monitor portion sizes: Study after study have shown that most of us will always attempt to clear out plates, no matter how ridiculously big that plate may be! To state it bluntly: the more food you put on your plate, the more you will eat! Eating big portions regularly is an almost ‘fool proof’ recipe for sugar rushes (and lethargy to boot). The body will typically expend a lot of energy in digesting the excess food and will dump massive amounts of glucose into the blood stream afterwards. This spike will typically last for only a short time, leaving you deflated and, amazingly enough, hungry! Attempt to decrease the size of your meal portions. It can be done by ordering half orders or kid size portions when eating out, fill your own dish instead of someone else, and using smaller plates to limit quantity.
Eliminate sugary drinks: Most medical experts regard our culture’s near addiction to sugary soft drinks with alarm. Drinking a soda or other similar drink with 10 teaspoons of sugar is never looked at as a bowl of sugar in the same quantity! Flooding your system with huge amounts of sugar is almost guaranteed to result in a massive energy spike. The best possible advice that I can give you is that you should stay as far away from sugary soft drinks as possible. Even artificially sweetened drinks should be approached with care, as people react in different ways to the chemical used to artificially sweeten beverages. In some cases drinking ‘diet’ varieties can even be directly responsible for cravings. Not exactly the kind of thing that you would expect from a product that you use as a means of limiting sugar intake!
Try to include some protein on your breakfast menu: In the Egg Marketing Board once had a marketing campaign that centered around the slogan ‘Go to work on an egg’! This is sound advice for dealing with sugar cravings. Just by adding protein to your breakfast those intense sugar cravings could be avoided.
Eat chromium rich foods: Studies have shown that chromium can limit the effects of sugar rushes. Many go through times when the sugar cravings are at their worst. This could be relieved by modifying your diet to be more chromium rich during. Mushrooms, whole grains, and peanuts are a few examples of foods containing chromium.
Add some spices to your food: There are some spices (notably cinnamon, cloves and bay leaves) that have proven to be quite helpful in reducing sugar cravings, which can lead to help for adhd symptoms. Think of a few dishes that will be well complemented by these spices and be sure to add them next time!
Be careful with fruit juices: It is generally better to drink fruit juices than sugary soft drinks. This does not mean however that you can drink unlimited quantities. Fruit juices contain (natural) sugars and can certainly cause a sugar spike if you drink too much. The big problem in this regard is that a regular glass of fruit juice will often contain the equivalent of several of the fruit in question. Drink fruit juice from smaller glasses to decrease serving size. It would be even better if you eat the fruit and drink water instead!
Sugar cravings can be dealt with and do not have to control your life! Next week we will continue our look at some of the best ways to do exactly this, and it can go a long way to help coping with adult add adhd.
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