The Biology of Your Cravings.

Cookie Monster is a perfect example of someone

with a low level of serotonin,

 and perhaps also an excess of dopamine,

making for an anxious, aggressive personality type 

of a carb-loving furry friend.

One of the most typical issues I deal with in my work as a medical nutritionist, is helping clients break addictive behaviors around foods - especially high-carb foods. Cravings and out-of-control eating is always, always linked to brain chemistry imbalances, along with a series of other potential triggers that vary depending on genetic blueprint.

If you fail to recognize the underlying biochemistry imbalances, then you will struggle with this for the rest of your life. One thing I can promise you, is that if left untreated, it will only get worse. That is why 95% of all diets fail - they are not balancing your brain- and biochemistry, rather they are worsening the existing biochemistry problem that caused you to gain weight in the first place! Whether it be an imbalance linked to low metabolic rate (your dopaminergic neurotransmitter system), or it be one associated with addictive and binge behavior patters (your serotonergic neurotransmitter system).

Brain chemistry imbalances and triggers are highly individual and can be pin-pointed according to your genotype via specific lab tests, of which I’ll take you through the most relevant to detect what is causing your cravings. Keep in mind, cravings may be due to an isolated factor or multiple imbalances/allergies, and each one needs to be addressed, before they completely vanish. But vanish they will, once you focus on the cause - which is an imbalanced biology, rather than doing the same thing over and over again. White-knuckling it on one fad diet or another, yet you continue to expect a different outcome. Maybe this time, maybe Monday - it is wishful thinking and you know it.

So let’s go over the most common triggers associated with cravings, and why that cookie jar is oh-so appealing in the late hours...(...)

Read the full shenanigans on FoodFacts here.