Carbohydrate Cravings

[lwieland11]

Anyone crave carbohydrates? There's a connection between sleep apnea and this craving. Just wondering if anyone has figured out how to lessen or eliminate it. Trying to lose some weight...

[Goofproof]

Yes, Protein, and Fats, Chocolate, Sweets too, guess I have Sleep Apnea too. Jim

[Jay Aitchsee]

Anyone crave carbohydrates? There's a connection between sleep apnea and this craving. Just wondering if anyone has figured out how to lessen or eliminate it. Trying to lose some weight...

The best way I know is to just stop eating all refined carbs...anything that comes in a box bottle or can. Give them up and the cravings will diminish...and you'll lose weight - almost guaranteed.
Unfortunately, it seems that poor sleep also causes carb cravings.

[lwieland11]

That's what is so difficult for me, giving them up when that's what I crave. It's almost like I'm not truly full until I have a carb!! It's easy for me to stay away from refined sugar. Don't have a sweet tooth. It's the pasta, the bread, that sort of thing...ugh. Constant struggle to avoid.

[Madalot]

As someone who cut way back on all carbs and lost 100 pounds doing it, I can tell you that eating carbs makes you crave them. I didn't cut them out completely, but limited them, especially the ones that made my blood sugar increase, like white rice and breads. I would eat those in very limited quantities and indulge more in those that didn't make my blood sugar spike. And yes, I tested myself to death to check to see which foods/carbs did that. but in doing that, I know which foods/carbs make my sugar spike and which don't seem to bother me quite as much - and eat accordingly.

When I eat sweets, especially for breakfast (which I almost never do now), I crave carbs all day. If I stick to my new way of eating (I don't call it a diet), I don't really crave those things at all.

[Jay Aitchsee]

That's what is so difficult for me, giving them up when that's what I crave. It's almost like I'm not truly full until I have a carb!! It's easy for me to stay away from refined sugar. Don't have a sweet tooth. It's the pasta, the bread, that sort of thing...ugh. Constant struggle to avoid.

Pasta, bread, that sort of thing...basically are the same as refined sugar.
I understand your cravings, been there. I try to eat a balanced diet of whole or minimally processed foods...as I said above, nothing that comes in a box, bottle, bag, or can. That eliminates the pasta, bread, and so on and makes it easy to shop.
To start, I recommend something like the Atkins Diet initial phase. Look it up online and follow it for about a week. It pretty much eleminates all carbs cold turkey giving you a chance to get over the cravings. I'm not really promoting the Atkins Diet, just use it or a diet like it to initially get over the cravings so you can eat more sensibly. But as Madalot warns, restarting to eat refined carbs will quickly bring back the cravings.
At the same time, you must ensure you are getting quality sleep...an AHI under 2.0 for at least 7 hours. If your AHI is satisfactory, make sure you are doing all you can to promote better sleep through good sleep hygiene principles. See Granny's checklist.

[49er]

Anyone crave carbohydrates? There's a connection between sleep apnea and this craving. Just wondering if anyone has figured out how to lessen or eliminate it. Trying to lose some weight...

The best way I know is to just stop eating all refined carbs...anything that comes in a box bottle or can. Give them up and the cravings will diminish...and you'll lose weight - almost guaranteed.
Unfortunately, it seems that poor sleep also causes carb cravings.

I can attest to poor sleep causing carb cravings. But what really stinks or maybe not, depending on your point of view:) is I am finding I really don't enjoy the taste of most of them.

I went to the "junk food" machine yesterday in my apartment building and I was so upset that there was nothing I really wanted. LOL! Now, if there had been Godiva chocolate in it, that would have been another story.

49er

[ChicagoGranny]

Anyone crave carbohydrates? There's a connection between sleep apnea and this craving. Just wondering if anyone has figured out how to lessen or eliminate it. Trying to lose some weight...

Learn about glycemic index and glycemic load. Learn about how to eat low glycemic index/glycemic load meals. Search for the glycemic indices of the foods you eat.

You can eat pasta at a meal. It should be in small quantities, cooked al dente and served with some fat (Olive oil is great.), some fibrous food and protein.

https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/guide/gl ... ad-carbs#1

[nicholasjh1]

I know my apetite shot up after getting my CPAP mask (and that's saying a lot since I already had a healthy apetite). It may not be carbohydrates per say. I'd say get plenty of protein, and good fats, Flax, coconut milk, as well as possibly phosphatidylcholine, and phosphatidylserine (other fats the brain uses). As an apnea sufferer we are short on these things, especially at initial treatment as our brains have to rebuild themselves. I did those things and the cravings went away... it may only seem like carb cravings because carbs don't actually fulfill the nutritional need... so you keep getting hungry. Your brain has been dieing for X years (however long you had undiagnosed sleep apnea) and studies show there can be as much as a 30% brain mass loss in severe sufferers. So it's to be expected to have cravings.

[Janknitz]

Madalot is exactly right--the more carbs you eat the more you crave them.

Not everybody agrees why, but here's what certainly seems to be true IMHO:
When you eat carbs you are basically eating SUGAR. Your body does not know the difference between a piece of candy or a piece of whole wheat bread or a natural, organic date. They all break down into simple carbohydrates and your body has to deal with the elevated glucose in them. (Fructose is another story, it gets metabolized in the liver directly and excess fructose--all those things with high fructose corn syrup for example--cause other major problems like the epidemic of fatty liver disease in ).

So you eat carbs, and if you don't have a normal metabolism (if you have OSA, that's a safe bet that your metabolism isn't working normally) your body must excrete insulin to help the energy (sugar) get into the cells. Only most of us are insulin resistant. Our bodies don't respond to the normal amounts of insulin, so we have to produce much more insulin to deal with the excess energy from all the carbs we eat. So we start cranking out a lot of insulin until we finally manage to overwhelm the resistant cells to let the sugar in to be stored as fat. Meanwhile, there's so much insulin that the blood sugar drops quickly and we are hungry and craving carbs. When I was eating a lot of carbs, this cycle took about 2 hours, so I was constantly looking for more carbs to replenish all that blood glucose that just got sucked into my cells. It felt horrible when the blood sugar suddenly dropped--this is what some people call being "hangry" and it's miserable. I rode the blood sugar roller coaster up and down all day long. Much of my energy every day went to feeding more carbs into the system because I felt terrible if I did not.

So the solution is to strictly limit carbs. I went from a couple hundred a day to 20 - 30. And yes, it was HARD. And yes, I craved carbs. And yes, I felt miserable for a few days. All I wanted to do was eat carbs and feel better. But I realized at that point I had two choices--eat carbs and die an early, miserable death (and SOON!) or power through it and live. And so I chose the latter.

In a few days I started to feel better, the cravings and my appetite went away. I started to feel great! I had SO much energy I couldn't sit or stand still. Skeletal pain that was constant and I thought was normal aging went away. Weight fell off me--12 pounds in two weeks (all water weight, but I felt so much better not carrying that around anymore).

I will say CPAP helped. Initially I gained weight on CPAP because it helped my GERD and I could eat later into the day, so I did! But adequate sleep helps regulate the insulin-leptin-ghrelin hormones, reduces stress hormones, helps normalize blood sugars. So it was definitely a valuable adjunct.

I've kept going 6 years now. I've kept off a 75lb weight loss. I still try to keep my carbs at 20 -30 grams per day. When you have that little amount of carbs you save them for important things--mostly lots of non-starchy veggies and the occasional handful of berries. I eat fats to satiety and good sources of protein. I'm rarely hungry and NEVER "hangry" anymore, LOVE the food I eat, I can skip meals or wait a long time between meals without feeling like I'm dying, many of my health issues have simply disappeared--I went from severe asthma with a lot of daily meds to occasional mild asthma and meds only when needed. GERD is much improved, severe leg edema is gone, I can walk miles (couldn't walk across a room before), no more pain, mood is wonderful. I have normal blood sugars and A1C. I wouldn't let them test before, but I was surely diabetic. And I have normal cholesterol with excellent ratios.

So yeah, cutting carbs IS hard and makes you crave them more . . . for a few days. But the reward is the rest of your lifetime in health. Worth it, IMHO.

Choose your hard. I choose health.

[JimW159]

You don't specify if you are diabetic or not, but there are significant correlations between sleep disorders and metabolic disorders. To whit:
1) https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/35/5/591/2595922 This is a short article and the conclusion is enlightening.
2) The glycemic index is often used in developing management strategies for diabetes (particularly type II) and other metabolic issues. See: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-life ... t-20048478 & https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases ... -100-foods (please note that a baked russet potato has a higher glycemic index than straight glucose)

[ajack]

This is what I would have liked to have known from day 1. I would cut the Sugars: including fruit/juice. Cut Starches: including breads, pasta, rice, potato etc. Eat lots of low carb vegetables, salad, moderate protein and add healthy fats..

This gives a simple overview to how it works for me. The more carbs I eat, the more carbs I want. They don’t give up easy and it’s biochemical
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEayi6I ... D8&index=6

more info on low carb
http://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb

what to expect the first week, besides being hungry for the first 2 days, then it stops
https://www.verywell.com/getting-throug ... ek-2242037

you may not need to go this low, but it will help you see what a meal plan is.
http://au.atkins.com/new-atkins/the-pro ... ction.html

[lwieland11]

Great replies here. Super helpful explanations. Thank you!!!

[Woody]

If you notice an increase in carb cravings in the fall and winter it may signify you have Seasonal Affective Disorter.
Sometimes just called SAD or the winter blues.