Understanding Blood Sugar
Understand And Control Your Food Cravings 

The level of blood sugar in our body can have a great impact upon how we feel, including producing food cravings - one of the problems that can lead to binge eating!

Some people who have problems with disordered eating discover that when they learn about these connections, it makes incredible sense to them, and for sometimes the first time in their lives they can start to make sense of how they are feeling and behaving.

• Firstly, here's a bit of background information:

Our bodies are always striving to achieve a state of internal balance. This balance is essential for all the intricate chemical processes that go on within our cells to be able to function efficiently, and for us to remain healthy.

If this balance is upset or disrupted, then illness may result.

And one of the most important processes that help regulate the functioning of our bodies is our sugar balance.

- (This might feel like we've gone back to school, but bear with me!) -

Sugar (glucose) is our main source of energy, and we get it from the food that we eat. When we eat food like carbohydrates such as bread or pasta, it is digested and broken down into simple sugars called glucose.

This then enters our blood stream (blood sugar) to be transported to all our body cells to be used as a source of fuel, providing our cells with the energy needed to function properly and for us to live.

(The hormone INSULIN is needed to get the sugar into our body cells, and you can learn more about insulin in this website).

However, if we have TOO MUCH sugar in our blood then problems can arise.

Our body therefore releases MORE insulin to move the excess sugar out of our blood stream and into our liver for storage, or eventually into our fat cells, where it is converted and stored as fat. (Fat is simply our body's reserve store of energy, ready for us to be able to use during times when food is scarce).

On the other hand, too LITTLE sugar in our blood stream is dangerous as well, and when this happens, our body goes into 'alert mode'. We may get cravings for food, feel tired or irritable, a bit dizzy or shaky, easily stressed or not able to concentrate, and we may feel very hungry and want something to eat straight away.

So: LOW blood sugar can be a major contributing factor towards food cravings!

"So eating sugary food will help solve this, eh?"

No!… "But why not?"

Well; eating energy-dense foods like sugary and fatty snacks, or lots of refined carbohydrate foods will raise our blood sugar TEMPORARILY, and we might get an instant feeling of relief, but this will be short lived, and soon we may find that ourselves craving some food again!

"So how does THAT happen?"

Well, as an example:

Our sugar levels naturally go up and down throughout the day. If we eat healthy, balanced meals spaced regularly throughout the day, this will help to keep our sugar levels within the normal levels.

However, if we eat a high-energy food, our blood sugars will rise faster, and higher than normal. To deal with this, our body therefore needs to release more insulin. As a result of this flood of insulin, we may then experience a corresponding sharp DROP in blood sugars, so much so that once again, our body registers this as LOW blood sugar - so it goes into 'alert mode' - and we get cravings and feel very hungry again.

The risk is that we then turn once more to eating very energy-dense foods, and so the cycle repeats again…and if we keep eating unhealthily…again and again…and so on!

A similar pattern can occur if we skip meals - and missing breakfast is probably the most common meal we miss out on. In cases like this, our blood sugars will naturally be low, having gone through night-time and then perhaps a whole morning as well without any food. So we're treating our bodies like someone trying to run their car with an empty fuel tank!

We shouldn't be surprised if we then become tired, get headaches, feel like we're "starving" hungry by mid morning - and therefore grab the easiest, most satisfying thing we can find to eat: a take away meal, chocolate bar, crisps, fizzy drinks - whatever it may be.

So… you've guessed it - our blood sugar rises fast and steep…and we're off again…
to a corresponding drop in blood sugars…which leads to cravings…and so we turn yet again to eating sugary snacks for a 'quick fix'…and so on!

Some people seem to be more sensitive to this process than others, and this helps explain the theory of 'sugar sensitivity'.

Refined carbohydrates can have the same effect (as they are so easily broken down into glucose by the digestive system), and so can alcohol.

This can help explain why some people feel that they are addicted to carbohydrates or chocolate or other such foodstuffs. The feeling of relief when the food is eaten, helping ease those cravings or feelings of anxiety can be immense!

But only for the feelings to come back again, and so soon afterwards!

And if this pattern is combined with emotional issues that lead to us 'comfort eating', it can be seen how such imbalances in blood sugar can perpetuate the problems of binge eating!

The solution is to make sure that we keep eating regular balanced meals throughout the day - breakfast, lunch and dinner, with (if needed) a healthy snack in between. Try to avoid very sugary and fatty foods and keep refined carbohydrates to a minimum. Eating healthily will therefore help to stabilise blood sugar and reduce food cravings.