Possible help for people struggling with cravings.

[slimmingmadhouse]

I have been looking at ways to raise my Serotonin levels and have been reading quite a good book on my kindle. Part of the book covered low fat diets and cravings. Apparently women are likely to have lower serotonin levels and it advises that people who are prone to depression or have low serotonin levels will quickly have low moods and cravings on a low fat diet as their serotonin levels will drop rapidly. A solution to this is to have a high carbohydrate,very low protein meal and snack for your first 2 meals of the day with a small amount of protein with the evening meal and a carbohydrate snack before bed. They do also recommend whole grains to keep sugar levels stable. This can be done on the SW Green plan. I have been trying this for about 3 days now and do not have the same cravings as I was having. Of course I would still choose chocolate and cake over a salad, but the cravings are at a level that I can resist them. It might be worth looking into if anyone else has been struggling with cravings. Also if you google serotonin and low fat diets you there is quite a bit of information on it.

 

[BubblyLady4]

Hey slimmingmadhouse!! that's really interesting thanks I'm going to have a read up on it - am really struggling with strong cravings - i mean like what is going on cravings....not just a 'oh i fancy that' but real deep........will see if this might help!

 

[slimmingmadhouse]

This was why I found it so interesting, as I've always struggled with cravings, and felt like a really weak person. After all other people can lose stones! It's early days yet, but I've noticed a difference already.

Here is a link to an interesting article : http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog...-what-it-is-and-why-its-important-weight-loss

 

[kimberleycandukan]

sorry to be a pain but could you give an example of a days food with what you have said?
Lol I do know proteins carbs etc, but I don't get how high carb in the morning will stop cravings, surely it would be the other way round?

 

[slimmingmadhouse]

I had wholemeal toast yesterday for breakfast and shredded wheat with a mixture of milk and water this morning. Wholegrain tomato pasta or soup for lunch and a dinner of meat with potatoes and veg yesterday and meat veg and wholegrain pasta today. The reason the book gave is that the uptake of serotonin can be blocked by the proteins. Serotonin helps to make you feel more full and stop cravings. According to the article a low fat diet effects the serotonin so the best way to increase the levels is to have the first 2 meals of carbohydrate to increase serotonin levels. This type of diet is quite similar to the green version of SW.

I've just reread the article and the carbs don't need to be wholegrain, so pasta can be any.

 

[kimberleycandukan]

I do think that days where I have tried "to be good" in the past. Not on SW way would start with minimal calories, maximum will power in the morning through to the early afternoon and then result in MASSIVE cravings/ binges by the evening.
Same sort of thing perhaps.

 

[slimmingmadhouse]

I was reading the book because I was looking at raising my serotonin levels and had no idea about the link with cravings until I read it.