MAD CARB DISEASE!

(c) Kim Beardsmore

Whether you're trying to lose weight or just want to eat healthier, you may be confused by news you're hearing about carbohydrates. With so much attention focused on protein diets, there's been a consumer backlash against carbohydrates. As a result, many people misunderstand role that carbohydrates play in a healthy diet.

Carbohydrates aren't all good or all bad. Some kinds promote health while others, when eaten often and in large quantities, may increase risk for diabetes and coronary heart disease.

What are carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates come from a wide array of foods - bread, fruit, vegetables, rice, beans, milk, popcorn, potatoes, cookies, spaghetti, corn, and cherry pie. They also come in a variety of forms. The most common and abundant ones are sugars, fibers, and starches. The basic building blocks of all carbohydrates are sugar molecules.

The digestive system handles all carbohydrates in much same way - it breaks them down (or tries to break them down) into single sugar molecules, since only these are small enough to absorb into bloodstream. It also converts most digestible carbohydrates into glucose (also known as blood sugar), because cells are designed to use this as a universal energy source. This is why carbohydrates can make us feel energetic. Carbohydrates fuel our body. Your body stores glucose reserves in muscles in form of glycogen ready to be used when we exert ourselves.

Carbohydrates are highest octane - most desirable fuel source for your body's energy requirements. If you don't have an adequate source of carbohydrate your body may scavenge from dietary protein and fat to supply glucose. The problem is when you've depleted your stores of glycogen (stored glucose in muscle and lean tissue) your body turns to burning muscles or organs (lean muscle tissue) and dietary protein or fat to provide blood glucose to supply energy needs. When this happens, your basal metabolic rate drops because you have less lean muscle tissue burning calories and your body thinks its starving and cuts back on energy requirements.

So you should continue to eat carbohydrates discriminately selecting those which have greatest health benefits.

Attempt to stop eating food you crave entirely (out of sight out of mind). Modify your eating habits around a particular food, i.e. cut back on quantity or how often you indulge. Use EFT to end attachment you have to this particular food.

1. Stop Eating Food you Crave Eliminating offending food entirely is rarely successful. We can only limit ourselves for so long before we go crazy, eating everything in sight to make up for deprivation. This also introduces deprivation and control issues, which many have trouble with leftover from childhood. Would it be better to learn to enjoy your favorites without losing control around them?

2. Modify your Eating Habits Modifying your behavior can be successful, but it can also be difficult because even though we want to change, it seems that despite our best efforts, we still find ourselves craving same things, day after day. It is "how" that stops us. How can we change a behavior that is a habitual response? How can we stop doing what we don't want to do? There are literally thousands of diet and weight loss books and most offer nothing more useful than "eat less, exercise more" advice. If it were simply a matter of doing what we know we should do, there would be no obesity epidemic, but it's not that simple. We need to know HOW.

3. Use EFT to end Attachment to a Particular Food EFT is often helpful to diminish or demolish cravings. It can be your HOW. How to change habits that you want to be rid of, how to create new, better habits, that support what you want, instead of what you don't. EFT is simple to learn, and effective.

If you don't yet know how to do EFT, read this brief explanation, then download and print worksheets, instructions and reminders all in one convenient PDF packet.

4. Stop Talking Yourself Into It

You've said you are going to stop nighttime snacking, and then voices start, "I've been good all day, I deserve a treat, just one won't hurt..." You're basically talking yourself into it, and then you're off and running to kitchen. Most of us find that once we say yes to that voice, there's no holding ourselves back.

As soon as you realize you are doing "talk myself into it" routine, start using EFT immediately. Catching yourself in act is difficult at first, but if you keep an open mind, you will start to notice. No matter where you are or what you are doing, you can instantly perform an EFT procedure on yourself, and get quick results. You don't need to wait until later, until atmosphere is just right, or until you are alone or somewhere you can relax. You can do it while driving, you can do it in a crowd standing on corner.

Examples of EFT for Ending Cravings