238- Sugar Cravings and Intuitive Eating

In today's episode, we'll explore sugar cravings and intuitive eating “Is it bad to have sugar cravings?” “Why does our body crave sweets?” “Is sugar addictive?” “Why eating sugar leads to binging?” “What is my body trying to tell me when I crave sugar?” “Why do I crave sugar at night?” These are all normal and almost expected questions given the current perspective of our society (read here diet culture) on sugar these days. As a result, many of my community members have been asking these questions. You likely do as well. Fat is bad ... no, no, now it’s sugar! 30 years ago, it was fat. Everyone was absolutely convinced that fat is a food of great danger. We avoided it at all costs. Created food and diets that were “low fat”. Fast forward to today... we giggle at this moment of history. Now, we have shifted to sugar being the villain. What will we say 30 years from now? Human loves dichotomy. It makes us feel safe. It makes our food choice simple. Facts are: fat is good. Sugar is bad. Nutrition is not that simple. This reductionist approach to food is called nutritionism. Looking at food at the nutrient level only is inaccurate and dangerous. People don’t eat nutrition, they eat food. – Margaret Mead Our brain wants sugar The human brain is what drives food choice. Not intellectual knowledge around nutrition and health. The human brain loves sweet flavor for one good reason: sweet food is typically food that is dense in calories. Calories to the human brain mean fuel and survival. We dig deep into this notion in the podcast. Sugar addiction The concept of sugar being addictive is not supported by science. Science is clear that the addictive behavior in rats around sugar is only present when sugar is restricted. We will unpack this complex topic in the podcast. Sugar and inflammation The last segment of this podcast episode is around the fact that sugar is a pro-inflammatory food and therefore should be avoided. At least this is the argument of the wellness and health industry to make us fear sugar. But is it? We will explore this on the podcast. What you’ll learn listening to this episode about sugar cravings and intuitive eating: Why human love food dichotomy Nutritionism Why the human body craves sugar The state of sugar & food addiction Sugar cravings good or bad How intuitive eating engage with sugar cravings