Some recent diets emphasize “carbohydrate addiction.” This is a little misleading. You know anyone who’s addicted to, say, broccoli? The carbs that people really crave are crackers, pastries, and fries. Yes, these foods are carbohydrates, but the true addiction is to the concentrated sugars in them. When you eat highly processed, highglycemic carbohydrates, glucose floods the bloodstream. The pancreas churns out insulin to get rid of the excess sugar. The insulin then removes so much of it that you experience a glucose plunge. That’s about the time you start craving still more sugar.
To stop this cycle:
■ Eat low-glycemic, high-fiber carbohydrates such as beans, whole grains, vegetables, and so on. One study found that doing nothing more than eating regular, slow-digesting oatmeal instead of the instant kind caused participants to snack about 35 percent less throughout the day.
■ Eat more protein. This controls your hunger and improves the ability of insulin to remove sugar from the blood, causing less precipitous spikes and falls.
■ Eat enough and eat often. As long as you’re eating healthy foods, frequent meals stabilize blood sugar (and insulin) and reduce out-of-control cravings.
