Food Cravings...Uggg!

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

So what types of cravings do you experience on a regular basis? Sugar, chips, ice cream, breads, salt, chocolate, alcohol and the list goes on...

While most of us crave foods with some regularity, very few understand all of the mechanisms behind these cravings. Understanding this may assist you in curbing your cravings, so here we go.

We'll start with one of the most obvious and that is cravings based on the consumption of high glycemic foods. You know, foods sugar as sugary treats, sodas, processed carbohydrates, alcohol, fruit juices and fruit especially without the skin. When we consume these high glycemic foods, especially without added fat, these drive up glucose which in turn leads to a spike in insulin levels. When insulin levels spike so quickly, this will often send your blood sugar plummeting. As a result you have what...cravings. Often this is for more high glycemic foods also and round and round we go.

So to get off the high glycemic/craving cycle, do what? 

How about stopping the consumption of high glycemic foods? OK, so that was too easy of an answer and a bit of a smart (you know what) comment. It is a good idea though to consume high glycemic foods sparingly or only prior to times of physical exertion. What do you do when you simply want to enjoy one of these foods but you are not going to have the opportunity to burn off this sugar with exercise? The answer to this is to eat these foods at the end of your meal and always with added fat. Examples are:

• Apple with nut butter
• Wine with cheese
• Bread with olive oil

 * I am necessarily condoning all of these choices as healthy but I wanted to give you some real life examples.

A significant reason for cravings would be emotions. When we get stressed out what to so many people reach for to sooth their feelings? As mentioned earlier sugar, chips, ice cream, breads, salt, chocolate, alcohol and the list goes on...

Another factor that deals with emotions as tied into sweets is when we feel as if we are missing our own personal "sweetness" of life. So often we get caught up in a life of "doing" rather than a life of "being" and this leads to self soothing again and so often with sweets. Based on our discussion earlier, you now understand what dynamics are occurring when you are self soothing with these sweets.

There is one more craving definitely built into the challenges with emotions. When we are too ramped up, frustrated, irritated and angry we often crave processed carbohydrates such as breads. These choices actually have a sedating or depressing effect on your body to calm you down. Think about, how do you feel after a meal high in processed carbohydrates? You likely feel like hitting the couch and completely chilling. Unfortunately this is not the best way to achieve this due to the effect that this has on further cravings.


If you really want to do something to satisfy your emotions, try some deep belly breathing. Take a deep breath through your nose for a count of 7 while expanding your stomach and breath all the way down to your belly button. Hold that breath for a count of 4 and then forcefully blow this out through your mouth while contracting your stomach muscles to push every ounce of that breath out of your lungs. Actually, try this right now and see how you feel.


So why do I recommend the deep belly breathing? Because you cannot be under stress and take a deep belly breath at the same time. This are two opposing aspects of your nervous system function that will not exist at the same time. Take 3-5 of these breaths once per hour during your waking hours would be so helpful for curtailing these cravings and absolutely use this during acute stress.


One more significant factor for cravings is a lack of proper digestion. You know, you are not what you eat, rather you are what you absorb and assimilate. So what does this have to do with cravings? 


First understand that you are not hungry to fill your stomach, you are hungry so your body can produce energy. When you make quality nutritional choices and digest these foods properly, your body will produce the energy needed and your trigger for hunger will be cut off. It truly is that simple.


So what happens if you digestive system is not working properly?


This leads to a lack of proper absorption and assimilation, thus leading to a desire for more food. Once the stomach if full though, your trigger for hunger will subside even if you did not reach the desired energy production. Here's the kicker though. If your hunger went away and your stomach is full, you WILL have a craving to follow this meal. The bigger challenge is that this craving will almost definitely be for something sweet because sugar is a definite "quick fix" for energy and we have all had sugar enough for our body to recognize this.


Think about it. How often does this happen? You go out and eat a big meal, fill your belly, yet you still cannot make a move until you get some type of sweet in on top of this. This happens more often that not and most often this is due to poor digestion.


So how do your improve your digestion?


First off, the recommendation of the deep breathing above is definitely a benefit just prior to eating a meal. When you deep belly breath and get your body in a relaxed state prior to eating, this will assist your digestive system.


There are also some basic supplements to use for proper digestion to assist in aleviating cravings.

• Probiotics
• Digestive enzymes
• Stomach acid

These are the basics that Dawn and I use personally and typical recommendations for my clients. As a matter of fact, I refer to this trio as the Depke Wellness 1, 2, 3 of Digestion. If you would like to learn more about the 1, 2, 3 of Digestion visit this link provided. 

So now you know three of the biggest factors for you cravings, so when you think of cravings now, "uggg" does not have to follow.

Prime Enzyme Support

by Glen Depke

Digestive enzymes are one of the more significant keys to optimal health!

Prime Enzyme Support

To understand this, let me first discuss optimal digestion. The proper flow of digestion looks like this:

• Eating in a relaxed state
• Chewing your food thoroughly
• Predigesting your food in the upper third of your stomach based on natural enzymes in raw foods, some enzyme activity via your saliva and/or supplemental digestive enzymes
• Further in the stomach this predigested food is then further broken down with naturally produced stomach acid
• Once released from the stomach into the small intestine, your pancreas will release pancreatic juice which contains further enzyme activity and bile released from your gallbladder to aid in emulsifying fats
• Properly broken down food will then be absorbed and assimilated through the villi in the small intestine to reach the blood stream
• Anything left over will move from the small intestine into the colon
• The contents enter the colon as a liquid, while the colon will absorb much of this liquid leaving you with the bulk recognized as you release your bowel movement
• All this should occur in 18 hours or less

I could lay this out in a much more comprehensive description but I at least wanted you to understand the basics.

So what role does the Prime Enzyme Support play in optimal digestion?


Let's first recognize that most people eat cooked food. When we cook the food above a temperature of 118 degrees, the enzyme activity is completely destroyed. Supplemental enzymes such as the Depke Wellness, Prime Enzyme Support, simply puts back the enzyme activity that we destroyed by the cooking process. Without the use of digestive enzymes for those that are consuming cooked foods, the predigestion that occurs in the first third of your stomach is significantly decreased, thus creating so much hardship for the rest of the gastrointestinal tract to follow.

With this in mind, you can understand the importance of digestive enzyme use with every meal you consume. Since most that are reading this article consume cooked food, this is vital for you.

I can share that personally, I take a Prime Enzyme Support with each and every cooked food meal that I consume.

Based on my years of practice I recognize that the toughest foods to breakdown properly are flesh protein, fat, beans and some vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and Brussel sprouts.

Another factor to address is the fact that most digestive enzymes on the market are vegetarian based. This means that we are often trying to break down animal proteins and fats with vegetable based enzymes. It does not even make sense to write this.

The Prime Enzyme Support contains the necessary animal based enzymes to break down your animal proteins and fats as well as a specific enzyme to assist with those pesky beans, cauliflower, broccoli and Brussel sprouts. This is also containing all the needed enzymes found in other quality formulas and as an added bonus there is a small amount of pepsin and betaine HCL due to the fact that most in our culture are also suffering from low stomach acid.

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Why would you use the Prime Enzyme Support?

Prime Enzyme Support

• Bloating
• Slow digestion
• Flatulence
• Gassy (belching)
• Acid reflux
• Sluggish colon (less than 2 bowel movements daily)
• Poor mental clarity
• Poor memory
• Immune dysfunction
• Frequent illness
• Food cravings
• Caffeine cravings
• Sugar cravings
• Weight gain
• Unhealthy weight loss
• Poor exercise recovery
• Any digestive, immune or brain challenges
• ...and the list goes on

Supplement Facts:

Pancreatin 4X................100mg
Protease.......................10,000 USP Units
Amylase........................10,000 USP Units
Lipase...........................2,000 USP Units
Ox Bile..........................100mg
L-Glutamic Acid...............100mg
Pepsi.............................100mg
Papain...........................50mg/600,000 USP Units
Bromelain......................2,000 M.C.U.
Betaine HCL...................100mg
Alpha Galactosidase........100 A.G.S.U.

90 count bottle

Recommended dose: 1 capsule per meal

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