Food Cravings Are the Main Cause of Your Weight Gain (Here’s What You Can Do About It)

You may not have known that depending on what you eat you may be consuming different kinds of sugar. For the sake of this article we will be talking about glucose and its relation to fructose.

The science behind the matter

When you consume glucose insulin is released, in turn your pancreas secretes the insulin and forces it into cells so that it can be transformed into energy. A signal is also sent to the brain saying ”you’ve eaten”, this is a very important process that your body and brain manage everyday.

However, when you consume fructose there is no stimulation of insulin, which leads to your body not knowing if it is full or not. So how does this relate back to what we are talking about?

The answer to your questions

The fructose you are consuming may be linked to cravings for high calorie foods. This is because your body doesn’t understand that you have already indulged in certain foods.

Research was conducted amongst 24 healthy volunteers. They were all given a 10-ounce glass of cherry flavored liquid that contained either glucose or fructose. Blood samples were then taken from all subjects and researchers found that consuming glucose resulted in less desire to eat certain calorie heavy foods. But the volunteers that drank the cherry flavored liquid loaded with fructose experienced a larger desire for high calorie foods.

Based on the science this discovery was expected, but also much needed to prove that fructose does cause larger cravings. All of the blood samples taken measured the amount of insulin, glucose and fructose in the volunteer’s blood. All blood samples pointed towards what researchers believed in the first place.

Depending on what the volunteers consumed they experienced certain cravings. They also measured leptin and ghrelin, which are enzymes involved in controlling your hunger and feelings of fullness. This gave further credibility to the study they conducted.

Manage your fructose cravings

This doesn’t mean you should stop eating fructose. The study simply determined that your increased cravings might be a result of what you are eating. So from now on consider what you are eating prior to succumbing to your cravings.

If you have had a day full of fruit, which contain fructose, try and stay away from any foods you may be craving that are loaded with calories. You may not actually be hungry; your body may not be recognizing that you have eaten already.

You should definitely stay away from any high calorie sources of fructose. For example instead of having a 12-ounce can of pop, enjoy any delicious fruit you have readily available. The first step is to recognize this difference in your diet. If you can control your cravings you will notice a difference in the way you feel.

Don’t let cravings get the best of you, go over what you’ve eaten and be the judge of whether or not you should be over indulging. Try this out next time you feel a calorie heavy craving coming on.