"A Problem Page For All!"

I have a tip about eating less sugar/sweets. It's a scientifically proven fact (which I didn't know until a while ago) that the more sugary things you want, the more your body craves them. I think the reason (if I'm remembering it correctly from what Rachel told me) is that your body produces insulin when you eat sweets, of course -- and to balance out that extra insulin, you need potassium. Foods high in natural sugar (like fruits, etc.) have lots of potassium. Foods made with refined sugar, though (like cookies, cake, candy, and other normal storebought sweets), have had the potassium removed. (White sugar has nothing except...well, sugar, in it.) So your body craves more sugary foods because it keeps wanting to get at the potassium its been trained to know is in sweet foods.

Bananas have a LOT of potassium. You can also take potassium supplements. I take a lot when I've been eating sugar and thus craving it more. If I'm patient and resist the urge to dive for the chocolate, after a day or so it wears off it's much easier for me to resist sweets. I still allow myself to eat fruits, completely naturally-sweetened bakery goods from the natural grocery store, etc.; but I try to be moderate with even those, and balance it out by eating more vegetables.

Anyway. I could have the scientific part a little wrong (Rachel read all about it and explained it to me a couple months ago), but I know, at least for myself, that not eating sugar really cuts down on the craving. And I feel much better when I'm eating healthier foods.