For Runners with Food Cravings and “Sugar Addictions”
Written by Jill // May 12, 2011 // The Athlete's Kitchen // 1 Comment // 1,037 views
“If I crave a candy bar, should I eat a candy bar?”
That’s the title of one of my most popular blog posts! Clearly, food cravings and sugar addictions are a source of concern and frustration for many runners who believe that eating one chocolate bar (or whatever food they crave) will lead to eating ten of them, expand their waistlines, and ruin their health. They avoid chocolate like the plague. Instead, they righteously snack on only “healthy foods” like apples and oranges.
While the natural goodness of fruit is indeed the more nutritious and health-promoting choice, some nice chocolate, enjoyed in response to a hankering, can also fit into your sports diet. By regularly enjoying chocolates, you can avoid the strong cravings that lead to eating a sickening amount—not because you are “addicted to sugar” but because you are doing “last chance eating” before you go back into your self-defined food jail (1).
Keep in mind, your brain has a memory for the food you crave. If you try to ignore your craving for, let’s say, chocolate, you’ll end up eating it sooner or later. This may happen after you’ve tried to curb your craving with an apple, crackers, pretzels, sugar-free fudgsicle—anything but the chocolate—and then, 500 calories later, you succumb to what you truly wanted. You could have more wisely enjoyed the chocolate in the first place; you would have saved yourself a bunch of calories!
Food cravings are a popular topic not only on my blog but also among LinkedIn’s Intuitive Eating Professionals group. A discussion “If you crave a food, should you eat it?” spurred a lot of responses, with the answer being YES! History says that denial and deprivation of a desired food does not work permanently but rather results in binge eating. After all, if restrictive eating “worked,” then everyone who has ever been on a diet would be thin. The majority of dieters are overweight and obese, suggesting that “dieting fall-out” maybe be contributing to obesity. (2)
To our detriment, we live in a world where enjoying bagels, ice cream, candy, and chips gets “questioned.” Runners talk about needing “will power” to curb their intake of the foods they crave. But most of us really want to be able to enjoy these foods. We just want to be able to eat them sanely, not in what feels like an out of control pig-out. We need nutrition skill power (not will power) to learn how to manage today’s food supply. That’s where a sports dietitian can help you control hunger-based binges and find peace with food. (For a referral to a local sports dietitian, see www.SCANdpg.org.)
The question arises: What’s so bad about cravings in the first place? Is there really something wrong with eating what you truly want to eat? Cravings are not addictions. That is, if you crave a bagel because it tastes good, why should you not enjoy the bagel? When you eat a food you crave, your brain experiences a biochemical change that signals happiness. Can eating an appropriate portion (as opposed to overeating “the whole thing”) be a bad thing to do?
The answer commonly depends on if you are eating the food for fuel vs. mindlessly devouring it for its drug-like effect. If you find yourself on the verge of polishing off the whole bag of bagels, stop and ask yourself, “Does my body need this fuel?” If the answer is yes, you need to learn how to prevent the extreme hunger or derprivation that triggered the overeating. If the answer is no, then ask yourself, “What am I doing with my feelings?” Over-eating a craved food can distract you from sadness, smother your emotions, and protect your from feeling alone and lonely. But you are using food for the wrong reason. No amount of bagels, chocolate, or chips will resolve the real problem: you are likely hungry for a hug.
Do certain foods over-excite the pleasure centers in the brain? If so, do those foods become “addictive”? The recent science (3) says there is no such thing as a “sugar (or food) addiction.” Yes, it may have addictive-like qualities, particularly following a restriction/binge pattern of eating (1). In my practice, most people who binge have an unbalanced relationship with food; it has become too enticing, a primary focus for pleasure. The more they try to stay away from palatable foods, the more they want them.
While there is much we do not know about food and this controversial topic of food addictions, I encourage my clients to first rule-out hunger as the cause for cravings for sugar and carbohydrates. The physiology of hunger explains why we crave sugar; it’s a survival signal for quick energy. When your blood sugar is low, your brain signals an urgent need for sugar. When your muscles are glycogen depleted, you experience niggling carb cravings until the muscles are adequately replenished.
What can you do to overcome cravings and perceived “addictions”? First and foremost, experiment with eating heftier breakfasts and lunches to abate hunger. (No, you will not “get fat” by eating more during the day. If you listen to your body, you will observe you are less hungry at night and will simply be able to consume fewer calories.) Also try changing your attitude. The mind is very influential. If you believe you are addicted to a food, you will have a hard time convincing yourself otherwise despite research that refutes the concept of food addiction and puts the focus on deprivation as a trigger to (over)eat.
The next time you have a craving for a specific food, relax, enjoy eating it slowly, taste it, savor the flavor, and linger over the treat. Do this several times throughout the week. Learn to enjoy the treat slowly, in moderation, without feeling guilty. Enjoy the foods you crave at every meal. For example, have a few Hershey’s Kisses day after day, at breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner. Eat them so often that you get sick of them. This may sound unhealthy in the short term but a week or two of excess chocolate will not ruin your health (nor your waistline) forever.
By learning your body’s responses to different foods, you can at least become educated: food is not addictive and cravings are not bad. What’s bad is trying to live hungry as well as denied and deprived of foods you enjoy. There is a possibilty you can find peace with food.
Reference:
1. Pelchat M. Food addiction in humans. J Nutr. 2009; 139(3)620-622
2. Corwin RL, and P Grigson. Symposium Overview—Food Addiction: fact or fiction? J Nutr. 2009; 139(3):617-619.
3. Benton, D. The plausibility of sugar addiction and its role in obesity and eating disorders. Clinical Nutrition 29(3):288-303, 2010.
Nancy Clark, MS, RD, CSSD (Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics) counsels both casual and competitive athletes in her practice at Healthworks, the premier fitness center in Chestnut Hill MA (617-383-6100). For more information, enjoy her Sports Nutrition Guidebook www.nancyclarkrd.com and sportsnutritionworkshop.com. and food guides for new runners, marathoners or soccer players.
© Nancy Clark MS RD CSSD May 2011
One Comment on "For Runners with Food Cravings and “Sugar Addictions”"
Great topic, Jill!
If we see running (or any exercise) as a form of work/ power output, then we need proper fuel/energy input in the form of nutrition. As humans, we’ve been eating longer than we’ve been walking. As a species, we’ve been fueling our bodies with food for the better part of almost 2 million years. Despite all this, there is still plenty of room to go wrong!
I like how you started off by addressing food quality – clearly fruits are a better choice than say chocolates or bagels (and I would argue that vegetables are an even better choice). All are choice carbohydrates, but fruit is a whole food, and much more nutrient-dense than any processed chocolate or baked good.
I noticed as the article continued, that the food examples used to relate the feeling of craving and the foods used to stifle that craving (chocolate… an apple, crackers, pretzel, sugar-free fudgicle) are all very related. To the body, and to the mind, these are all sugar. Glucose, to be specific. Whether you have a bagel, crackers, pretzel, or you’re craving that chocolate, your body is just concerned with glucose or blood sugar (for the sake of this analogy we’re going to ignore fructose – fruit sugar).
I would actually say the addiction to sugar in all forms is very real. Complete with dopamine response and the feeling of reward. The brain, for example, is a glucose hog. I think it wants somewhere in the order of 150g per day? It’s no wonder we constantly have these cravings.
Yes, we have these cravings and they are perfectly natural. And in fact, as a runner or endurance athlete, we have an increased need for these carbohydrates in the form of replenishing muscle and liver glycogen. However, this doesn’t give us a blank check to eat junk! A bagel after the race because you earned it? Pre-race pasta dinner so you can “carb-load”? No thanks. This behavior further encourages cravings and allows the cravings to control the way you approach food! With those cravings in control, we’re not effectively repairing muscle and burning fat. More than likely this will lead to fat storage, and further cravings.
I dig the article’s suggestion to eat a heartier breakfast and lunch. I would just caution to make sure you’re getting enough healthy fats and proteins in those meals, along with nutrient-dense vegetable-sourced carbohydrates. Three big square filling meals during the day will help you avoid these cravings, moreso than condoning the consumption of junk food to appease yourself. Cravings are not bad, but food quality is of the utmost importance for athletes.