Food Withdrawal: It's Real
For those of us who are kicking the habit of food lacking in nutritional value, going cold turkey may not be the easiest method.
Did you make quitting bad diet habits such as sugar and flour for New Years? If you did make that your resolution, then maybe quitting cold turkey isn't the best thing for you. Quitting food containing sugar, alcohol, grains, dairy and legumes may lead you to undergo symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, acne, and irritability for the following couple of weeks or so.
Refined sugar and highly processed carbs are the biggest culprits of these withdrawal symptoms, as their entrance into the bloodstream triggers the same hormone responses found in drugs and alcohol. This evidence was further confirmed in a study conducted on twelve overweight or obese men. Six of the men were given meal replacement shakes with refined corn syrup and four hours after the shakes were consumed the areas of the brain associated with reward and cravings lit up the map. The other six men were given shakes with the same replacement meal composition, but with slower acting carbohydrates and did not have the same effect on the reward and cravings portion of the brain.
The good news about this type of addiction, however, is that it is relatively easy to beat compared to beating the addictions of drugs and alcohol. Focusing on eating healthy fatty foods such as nuts, avocados and olive oil are all ways to beat the cravings. Many people who take up this advice report feeling less sluggish due to the decline in sugar crashes. The best advice that can be given to anyone switching to a new diet is to consult their physician or other professional help such as from a licensed nutrition specialist.
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