Fighting cravings for munch food

[dadasarah]

I looove Green and Black's Maya Gold!

I ate a cooked meal (Thai) with my boyfriend the other night, and it was so weird what foods I didn't like anymore! I hated the roasted cashews, and a tiny tiny piece of chicken even tasted nasty. However, I couldn't get enough of the ONIONS! And the fish swimming in coconut curry was to die for.

Sometimes, when I'm really craving, I'll eat something cooked that doesn't even taste good. I hate how out of control I feel.

Yeah, I was doing so well until I decided to start birth control again last week. Oops.

[jmbattle]

the fish swimming in coconut curry was to die for.

Goodness, that is taking raw to the next level...

Take care,
James
x

[Oscar]

LOL!

[Corinne]

The sex hormones have great effects on neurotransmitter metabolism, especially that of serotonine, which has enormous effects on our appetite.
Its particularly the changes in hormone levels.

Thanks RRM!
I knew there was a valid reason for us women!
Not that I'll go binge on olives now...
But it helps to know that naturally women will experience more fluctuations in their appetite/cravings according to fluctuations of serotonine.
Also I find that I need more variety in my (sample) diet than...
say Oscar.
This also part of it?

[Corinne]

Yeah, I was doing so well until I decided to start birth control again last week. Oops.

If you look at the "women stuff" thread I mention that I use "persona" as a natural birth control. It's a mini computer that analyses your hormone levels by taking 8 urine samples per cycle. This determines when you are going to ovulate and therefore when you need to abstain or use other (mechanical) contraceptives. Per cycle, although it varies, there are between 6 and 9 "red days" (fertile days) the rest of the time no contraceptive is needed...
That is if you have a steady partner and STD's or AIDS are not an issue (well that's also another story!)
Here is the website:
http://www.persona.info/

Good luck!

[dadasarah]

Corinne, thanks! I'll check it out. Yeah, my fiance and I weren't really looking forward to going back to condoms.

Very funny, James.

[RRM]

Also I find that I need more variety in my (sample) diet than...
say Oscar.
This also part of it?

Yes. Its always (as far as I know) women who need more variation in food than men (with this diet, at least). This because to fine-tune the influence of food on your serotonin levels, you need to vary the different influential factors, such as protein contents, protein composition (tryptophan versus phenylalanine and leucine), glucose contents and fatty acid contents. This varying happens by influencing your food preferences.
Certainly Wai needs more variation than I do.

Women have their fluctuating hormone levels that have a destabilizing effect on their serotonin metabolism, so that they will depend more heavily on other factors to co-regulate their serotonin metabolism, such as food and daylight exposure. (daylight exposure prevents the breakdown of serotonin; hence more depressions in winter).

[Oscar]

One of the possible reasons for chocolate cravings has to do with tetrahydro-beta-carbolines. The darker the chocolate, the more it contains.

The same tetrahydro-beta-carbolines have been associated with alcohol. Apparently alcohol triggers the release of dopamine, which give us the feeling of satisfaction or even euphoria. It increases the production of endorphin, and also affects glutamate (speeds up nervous system) and GABA (slow down nervous system).
The brain tries to adapt to this, so more will be needed to achieve the same effect. Once one stops taking in an addictive substance, there will be a temporary overcompensation => withdrawal symptoms (for instance tremors and depression).

Social environment can become a kind of cue to the brain reward system, which might explain why the intake of certain foods/drinks are so closely related to social circumstances. This might be why the (non-)social aspect of this diet seems quite important in getting from a standard diet to the Wai diet.