Food Cravings or Food Issues Helped Recently

Over the years, I've noticed that people with similar issues come to my office in clusters. Sometimes a patient will come in with an issue to work on and the very next patient states the same concern. It's no surprise to me, as we're not all that different from each other. We think we're the only one that deals with food issues, but we're not, they are widespread.

Food cravings and food issues are so common in fact that I'm always surprised when someone tells me they have no cravings or issues with food. After all, we live in a stress provoking society and stress can lead to food cravings. So, as a way to let you know that you are not alone, I've listed a few of the recent themes I've helped patients transform. Maybe you can relate to one or more of them. If you can't, feel free to comment and share about your food issues and what you're working towards.

So here they are:

'My food cravings are gone after my first session, but I still feel like I want something, but I don't know what it is.'

'I crave sweets after every meal.'

'I need to eat to feel comfort.'

'I crave cold, creamy foods like ice cream.'

'I crave salty and then sweet.'

'Once I start eating a treat, I can't stop.'

'I crave warm, creamy comfort foods.'

'I crave creamy, melty cheese dishes.'

'Food is the only pleasure I have.'

And What About After the Session?

These oh so ommon struggles are replaced by something better, always! Our brains won't let go of a behavior pattern (no matter how upsetting it is to us), until it is replaced by something better. Some of the 'better' sounds like:

'I have deliciousness in so many parts of my life, I'm so blessed!'

'I can't even remember what that craving feels like.'

'I feel so satsified, what a ridiculous idea (the previous craving and behavior)'

'I finally now know what comfort feels like without the need to eat'

"I don't even want sweets, how strange.'

These are all statements made just after the session. The inner feeling of satisfaction doesn't take time to feel, it's there, because it is what's underneath or behind the craving. Once the craving is 'cleared' the satisfaction we were trying to achieve with the behavior is there for our enjoyment. How cool is that?

There's Always Hope for Healing!

Whatever your struggles, know that you can find relief. There are many methods out there, I just happen to like the one I use. Please know that peace with food is possible, and struggle doesn't have to go on forever, there is hope for change! There is always the possibility for healing.

Yours in Health,

Kara

Kara Sorensen, MS, LAc
The Food Craving Solution
15066 Los Gatos-Almaden Rd
Suite 200
Los Gatos, CA
e: kara(at)karasorensen.com
p: 408.805.5272 (KARA)
p: 800.514.1406

Study: Comfort Food Cravings and Chronic Stress

Comfort food cravings are really common. We're stressed or are feeling down and nothing sounds better than our favorite comfort food. It soothes us, it comforts us, and it numbs the pain, even if it's temporary.

Here's a study that describes a possible biochemical explanation about why we crave comfort food. It makes sense to me, as stress affects our hormones and our bodies do all they can to help protect us from long term stress. If we have no other way to comfort ourselves, our bodies send us signals to eat our favorite comfort foods.

The good news is that this stress response can be interrupted and we can change our response, physically, mentally and emotionally. I've seen it happen with patients when they work on their comfort food cravings. Afterwards, they're better able to deal with stress without going for comfort food. They can have and enjoy comfort food, but they have a choice and don't automatically go for the cupboard or the fast food restaurant, etc.

So, check out the study below or see it on the UCSF website here. It's not a new study, but it's informative and here it is:

September 10, 2003

Comfort-Food Cravings May be Body’s Attempt to Put Brake on Chronic Stress

UCSF researchers have identified a biochemical feedback system in rats that could explain why some people crave comfort foods - such as chocolate chip cookies and greasy cheeseburgers - when they are chronically stressed, and why such people are apt to gain weight in the abdomen.

The finding, to be published this week on-line in the Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focuses on a glucocorticoid steroid hormone (corticosterone in rats, cortisol in humans) that plays a key role in the stress-response system. In their study, the researchers determined that 24 hours after activation of the chronic stress system—which stimulates a flood of hormonal signaling from the hypothalamus to the adrenal glands—glucocorticoids prompt rats to engage in pleasure-seeking behaviors, which include eating high-energy foods (sucrose and lard). The animals develop abdominal obesity, and the negative aspects of the chronic stress response system, otherwise ushered in by the glucocorticoids, are blunted. The researchers suspect that the metabolic signal to inhibit the stress system comes directly from fat depots.

The finding offers an explanation into how chronic stress can be inhibited, or curbed. While the body’s acute response to stress - say to being cut off in traffic by a speeding car - diminishes through a naturally occurring inhibitory feedback mechanism of the adrenal stress system, its chronic response to stress
- in which a barrage of threats, scares or frustrations occur over days, weeks or months—becomes chronically excited. Over time, the elevated stress level can initiate a host of deleterious effects on the body - a loss or gain of weight, depression, obesity (associated with type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke), and a loss of brain tissue.

“Our studies suggest that comfort food applies the brakes on a key element of chronic stress,” says study co-author Norman Pecoraro, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of senior author Mary Dallman, PhD, UCSF professor of physiology. And it could explain, he says, why solace is often sought in such foods by people with stress, anxiety or depression. It also could help to explain bulimic and night-binging eating disorders. Dallman, who has spent years studying the regulation of the stress response system, developed the new model of chronic glucocorticoid feedback.

Evolutionarily, the drive to eat comfort foods makes sense, says Pecoraro. In the animal kingdom, it’s an eat or be eaten world, and a body under constant, or chronic, stress may preferentially eat high-energy foods to stay in the game. Under the model that the research team has proposed, glucocorticoids would both prompt vigilance to threats and send a signal to the brain of a chronically stressed animal to seek high-energy food. If it were successful in finding such food, stress and its attendant feelings would be terminated.

In regions of the world where people struggle with wars, epidemics of disease and chronic food shortage, the need to seek out high-energy foods would be great, as well. In the developed world, where stress is more often found in a commuting office worker, people seem to be seeking the same solution—and finding it at every street corner, says Pecoraro.

“If, after the near-miss on the freeway, you get into work and almost lose your job during an argument with your boss, and have a fight at home that night - and these types of events are relentless—you’re going to have chronically elevated adrenal hormones [ie., chronic stress],” he says. There has to be a brake on the system, and, for some, it’s chocolate.

Importantly, there are other ways to treat chronic stress—exercise, yoga, meditation, sex and baths all stimulate neurochemicals that activate regions of the brain that stimulate pleasure. Relaxation techniques may work by reducing the psychological drives on stress output, which can be the root causes of stress. (Drugs and alcohol do not provide sufficient metabolic feedback, and may even stimulate further stress, and its attendant compulsions for pleasure.)

As for the use of food, there are serious health consequences of a diet high in fat and sugars—abdominal obesity (which can lead to cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes and stroke), and cardiovascular disease itself.

“In the short term, if you’re chronically stressed it might be worth eating and sleeping a little more to calm down, perhaps at the expense of gaining a few pounds,” says Pecoraro. “But seeking a long-term solution in comfort foods - rather than fixing the source of the stress or your relationship to the source of the stress—is going to be bad for you.”

Stress, of course, is a strategy that evolved to enable the body to deal with threats - those ranging from the crouched lion ready to pounce, to the possibility of losing a job. It promotes quick, though somewhat inflexible, physical and mental responses, vigilance and attention. In the immediate response to a perceived danger, the body experiences the familiar “adrenaline rush,” in which the adrenal glands initiate a flood of hormonal signals that quicken the heart rate, constrict the vasculature to prevent bleeding to death, and provide energy to the muscles. Minutes later, a slightly slower response is orchestrated by hormones from another region of the adrenal glands, providing such defenses as an anti-inflammatory function. Once an acute threat has subsided, these hormones are shut off through an inhibitory feedback system.

During chronic stress, however, the system does not turn off, and glucocorticoids, which were formerly inhibitory, have an over-riding excitatory effect on brain stress networks. Glucocorticoids in the system remain elevated, maintaining high levels of corticotropin releasing factor, which in turn regulates adrenocorticotropin—both key inciting hormones in the chronic stress response system. This creates a positive feedback loop between the stress systems of the body and brain.

From their studies, the researchers concluded that rats with chronically elevated glucocorticoids developed pleasure-seeking/or compulsive behaviors, which included drinking sucrose (rather than saccharine), eating lard, running on the wheel and taking a drug. They then observed changes that took place in the stress response system in the aftermath of eating the comfort food - an increase in abdominal fat and an end to corticotropin releasing factor and adrenocorticotropin secretion. They also observed an inverse relationship between abdominal fat and the expression of genes in the motor zone of the hypothalamus, where the stress response is initiated.

“This seems to be the body’s way of telling the brain, ‘It’s ok, you can relax, you’re refueled with high-energy food,” says Pecoraro. The message is clearly being transmitted in the middle-aged man or woman with a gut. “This body type represents the classic distribution of fat from stress.”

The new model may explain why losing weight is notoriously difficult, he says. Losing weight is literally stressful, which makes a person feel anxious, and stress hormones make a person crave high energy foods, which blunt the feelings of stress and make one feel better.

Co-authors of the study were Susan F. Akana, Susanne E. la Fleur, Francisca Gomez, Hani Houshyar, M.E. Bell, Seema Bhatnagar, Kevin D. Laugero and Sotara Manalo, of the Department of Physiology and Neuroscience Program at University of California, San Francisco.

Feel free to leave a comment, let me know what you think of the study. Better yet, let me know how you deal with your comfort food cravings.

Yours in Health,

Kara

Kara Sorensen, MS, LAc
The Food Craving Solution
15066 Los Gatos-Almaden Rd
Suite 200
Los Gatos, CA
e: kara(at)karasorensen.com
p: 408.805.5272 (KARA)
p: 800.514.1406

I'm All About Facilitating Satisfaction...

One great thing about Acupressure sessions is the satisfaction that results. When you let go of a pattern of craving, it is always, always, always replaced with a more satisfying pattern. Why?

Our brains won't let go of a pattern, no matter how dysfunctional it seems to us, unless it is replaced by something better. It's how we're wired for survival.

I've seen this again and again, and know that a session is not done, until someone feels that inner feeling of satisfaction. This inner feeling may be related to an early childhood experience with that food, and usually involves pleasant memories. The interesting thing is that it's not really the food we crave; it's the experience surrounding it. 

"I loved it when my parents let me have cake, it made me feel so good. I remember licking the frosting."

"My mother used to give me candy when I got home from school and it made me feel so loved and special."

Our brain remembers that feeling and when times are tough and we're not feeling so great, we try to recreate that feeling. This is usually totally out of our awareness, but sometimes continues even if we're aware of the connection. The food is attached to that pleasant memory, and when we crave that feeling, the food is what our bodies remember. That food was the connection, and we haven't found a better way to feel that feeling.

Sometimes that feeling has only been available to you when you ate the food, but during a session, that feeling becomes more available to you, you don't need to eat the food to feel the feeling. It's like a block is released and peace is what remains.

Peace of Mind

The great thing, is that you also have the peace of mind to make decisions about your food choices. If you decide to eat your previously craved food, you'll be less likely to overdo, and regret it later. You'll likely enjoy it more because it will feel more peaceful and relaxed. If you decide to avoid the food, you also do that peacefully and aren't using excessive willpower to make that your reality, because you're satisfied from within.

It's sort of like disentangling old memories, so food is not the only way to feel a good feeling. You then find many ways to feel that good and they are more 'adult' in nature.

So, if you're been struggling with a habit that you haven't been able to change, this may help. If you'd like support in changing these habits, I'm happy to help you, feel free to contact me.

Yours in Health,

Kara

Kara Sorensen, MS, LAc
The Food Craving Solution
15066 Los Gatos-Almaden Rd
Suite 200
Los Gatos, CA
e: kara(at)karasorensen.com
p: 408.805.5272 (KARA)
p: 800.514.1406

...Or, What is This Work You Do Around Food Cravings?

Sometimes when I tell people about my work with Food Cravings, I often hear a response like:

'But I love my chocolate, why would I want to take my cravings away?'

I decided to write a post to explain a little about my intention with my food craving work. It's never about taking away the food you crave; it's all about letting go of what no longer serves you. Usually, the craving and the feeling of being out of control is not something most people want to hold onto when they come to me for help; they are ready to let go of it.

It's also about helping you be in charge, so if you have some chocolate, you can enjoy it fully without feeling compelled to eat the whole box. Can you imagine that being a possibility?

For example, I eat chocolate, I ENJOY it without guilt, I can take it or leave it. I keep a nice supply in my pantry of dark chocolate covered almonds with sea salt, along with a few other varieties. Sometimes they sit there for months. I usually eat one or two at a time, as letting them melt in my mouth is so satisfying one or two is all I want. That's my personal peace with chocolate, but it may not be yours. 

And Now Back to My Intention with Food Cravings if We Work Together:

My intention is to help you be free of the static you experience relative to food (static is all the mental, emotional or physical distress experienced in relation to food in this case). What bothers me, may not bother you, but you know what bothers you and that's what's important. I can help you let go of whatever that is. Without this static, you are free to make choices that feel good to you, that nourish you and that leave you feeling satisfied. Here's a quick list of intentions:

• To help you find your own particular experience of Peace with Food so your cravings and food reactions naturally fade

• To help you enjoy food more, which doesn't usually mean more food (unless more food is needed in cases of malnourishment)

• To help you be in charge of your eating, so your self-esteem, peace and calm remain intact around the refrigerator, the pantry or when eating at restaurants

• To help you be in a position of saying Yes or No to previously problematic foods, and if you have some, to be able to easily stop without feeling deprived or using excessive willpower to stop

By removing the static, you achieve YOUR goals, NOT mine. I hope that you will want to experience Peace with Food, but it's up to you to claim that. I couldn't force that on you if I tried. You're really in charge, not me, I'm just the guide and the assistant.

When there is static (mental, emotional or physical) it can feel like we HAVE to have something; we're not in charge. Going through a process of focused concentration while holding Acupressure points is the quickest and easiest way I know to let go of this static. What is the result?

Your own particular experience of Peace with Food

This peace is natural to you. It doesn't need to be recreated or created; we just need to let go of the static so it can be experienced. How does that sound?

And, please know, when I find a quicker or easier way to help you find Peace with Food, and to help you be free of food cravings, I will certainly let you know!

Yours in Health,

Kara

Kara Sorensen, MS, LAc
The Food Craving Solution
15066 Los Gatos-Almaden Rd
Suite 200
Los Gatos, CA
e: kara(at)karasorensen.com
p: 408.805.5272 (KARA)

p: 800.514.1406 

Please, Don't Ignore Your Food Cravings!

Have you noticed that it's hard to ignore your food cravings? If you ignore them, they often yell louder. Sometimes, distraction is a good thing, but with food cravings, this is not always the case. Have you ever tried listening to your food cravings?

Your Food Cravings are There For a Reason!

Food cravings are there for a very good reason. They are not random and they are not there to torture you or test your willpower. They are a signal from your body that something is needed. This is a good thing! If they weren't there, your body would have no way to get your attention, and no way to meet it's needs. What your food cravings are saying is different for everyone. But, rest assured there is a need there, and it can be met.

What Needs?

It could be nutritional, a need for more protein, essential fatty acids or minerals, etc. It could be a need for active stress relief. It could be a need to approach a problem differently, or to take care of yourself better. But, rest assured, if you can find the need, your food cravings will start to fade.

It's like when you leave your dog at home, and he cries and cries. When you return home, he stops crying. He gets the attention that he wanted. He could have been hungry, but he probably was just lonely and needing your specific attention. The point is, his need for your company is satisfied and he stops crying. It's the same with our bodies, when they get what they need, they stop yelling. There's no need to yell, they've gotten your attention.

Find Out What Drives Your Food Cravings

When I work with men and women around their food cravings, they find out what their food cravings are all about. The great thing is, the majority of the time, that need is satisfied in the session as the neural pathways find new means of satisfaction. When we can only get our needs met through food, it limits us. When we can open up to other ways of satisfaction, we have choice, and we can actually find greater satisfaction. 

So, what are your food cravings about? Have you ever taken the time to ask the question:

What is this about, what do I REALLY need?

Most of the time, it's not food you need, it's something else. At some level, you know this, or will know it if you look gently enough. If you want help with quieting your food cravings, by listening to them, give me a call, I can help.

Yours in Health,

Kara Sorensen, MS, LAc
The Food Craving Solution
15066 Los Gatos-Almaden Rd
Suite 200
Los Gatos, CA
e: kara(at)karasorensen.com
p: 408.805.5272 (KARA)
p: 800.514.1406

Are You Obsessed with Cake?

I worked with a patient back in Fall '08 for her Food Cravings, and specifically her obsession with cake. She came to me for Acupuncture as she had some other issues she wanted to address in addition to her cravings.

After her initial exam and Acupuncture treatment, she reported that most of her cravings were gone, but cake was still a problem. I notice this often, that Acupuncture is good for helping general cravings, but when they are very strong and specific, like an obsession with cake, Acupressure is what is needed. 



We did a session for her cravings and obsession with cake. At the start of the session, she said she couldn’t walk by cake without having some, or thinking about it even if she didn't eat any, she felt obsessed. She was surrounded by cake at work, because co-workers were always bringing in some form of cake, so this was a problem.

Food Obsessions Fade

After our session, she couldn't believe that she used to feel the way she did about cake and it felt silly to her. But that's not uncommon. Once the neural pathways have changed, the behavior we once had doesn't make sense anymore, it's easy to let go of it. I heard from her today and she said that she hasn't had any problem with cake since we worked together.

 It's not like she changed jobs, she just was not tempted anymore.

So, if you have an obsession with a certain food item, it may be a simple thing that needs to be addressed. I can tell you that it's not a character flaw. It's not about willpower; it's often more tied into past memories and behaviors from long ago. Oftentimes, food cravings are just a sign that there is an imbalance, and we need a little help shifting gears.

So, if you have a really strong and unexplainable craving or obsessions with a particular food item, I can help you. Please contact me to start your new life without food cravings or obsessions.

Yours in Health,

Kara Sorensen, MS, LAc
The Food Craving Solution
15066 Los Gatos-Almaden Rd
Suite 200
Los Gatos, CA
e: kara(at)karasorensen.com
p: 408.805.5272 (KARA)
p: 800.514.1406

I Love Coffee...

But, I'm not sleeping well and I'm anxious. There are two types of coffee drinkers that come to see me. Those that realize they're drinking too much and it's impacting their sleep and mood, and those that like to drink coffee and don't want to cut down on coffee at all.

Let's start with the second scenario. I'm always a little surprised when someone comes to me for insomnia or anxiety, and they're drinking a lot of coffee during the day, and they don't realize the connection. When I mention that cutting down on their coffee intake could help improve their sleep, and reduce their anxiety, the response I often hear is something like:

    •    Ugh, I can't live without my coffee!
    •    I can't think function without my coffee!
    •    It's how I get going in the morning!
    •    I really don't think I can cut it down!

These patients don't realize that their morning coffee intake could be causing or contributing to their insomnia or their anxiety. They're getting something from the coffee that they need, so they're not looking to reduce their intake. They like drinking it, it makes them feel good. 

In these cases, I suggest that they see if they can reduce it slightly, but that with Acupuncture, they may find their need or desire for coffee fades naturally. This is because their body is wanting the caffeine and stimulation of coffee for a reason. There's a depletion of nutrients or energy in their body and they are getting feel good chemicals released in their brains that is addictive. But, when those feel good chemicals start flowing due to treatment (Acupuncture, herbs or both), their desire fades, and they are surprised. Their other symptoms fade too, and they're less anxious and better able to sleep.

Patients That Want to Cut Down on Coffee, But Can't

The first scenario goes like this. Someone comes to me because they want to cut down on their coffee, but they can't. They're tried, but couln't do it, the urge to drink coffee was just too strong. The coffee may be affecting them in terms of sleep, anxiety or any number of things, but they can't cut it down.

For example, I worked recently with a woman that was drinking 6 shots of espresso (in the form of mocha latte) during the day and was experiencing insomnia and anxiety, which she knew was related to her caffeine intake. She came to me for Acupressure, because she was aware of the impact of the caffeine and wanted to change her habits. The Acupressure session, helped her immediately reduce her intake to a small fraction of that amount (next morning) without any withdrawals.



It's Not About Deprivation Here

So, in conclusion, you don't need to cut down on your intake of coffee and feel deprived or go through withdrawals. The better option would be to help your body/mind heal so that you don't feel such a strong need for something like caffeine. The need for caffeine is a symptom. Meet the need and the symptom fades. Wouldn't it be better to be able to make a choice about drinking coffee just on taste and enjoyment, not on need?

If you'd like help with this, please contact me, I'm happy to help you make peace with coffee.

Yours in Health,

Kara Sorensen, MS, LAc
The Food Craving Solution
15066 Los Gatos-Almaden Rd
Suite 200
Los Gatos, CA
e: kara(at)karasorensen.com
p: 408.805.5272 (KARA)
p: 800.514.1406

Have You Watched My Video on Food Cravings?

I recorded this video over a year ago, but it still explains the work I do with Food Cravings. I'm still helping people be free of their Food Cravings and my passion for this work persists.  Watch the video, I explain how I use a Self-Applied Acupressure technique to help unwind the neural patterns that drive your Food Cravings and behavior. Give it a try...

I Have No Willpower With Pastries and Chocolate, Help!

There is much debate among health experts and laypersons on the subject of food cravings. Some say it is a sign of a nutritional deficiency, excess or other imbalance. Some say it's Psychological and is a sign for a need for comfort or therapy. Others say it has physical causes and hormone balancing is the answer. Others chalk it up to weakness and lack of willpower.

Well, it could be any one or a combination of these things, but one thing I know for sure is that it's not due to a lack of willpower. It's never about willpower; there is always another reason. In fact, the patients with food cravings who I have seen have been highly successful and in all areas of their lives, and yet struggled with this specific area, that is, until they came to see me. After seeing me, they were in charge of their eating, and no longer felt bad because supposedly they lacked willpower.

In my work with patients that had food cravings and resolved them, it became clear to them during our work together that they were stuck in an old habit pattern that was no longer serving them. They had outgrown this pattern long ago, but were still operating on some level as if they could get what they wanted. Lack of willpower was not the issue, and never was.

You've heard the saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result? In the case of food cravings, this is often what happens. A triggering event occurs, and by default, we return to an old outdated coping skill as a way to deal with it. We're not always conscious of this, but it happens nonetheless. Part of us still hopes that we will find a different outcome, but we just don't.

The work that I do with patients helps them quickly identify this outdated coping skill and resolve it on the spot, and it happens without effort. New neural pathways are created and the outdated neural pathways are 'retired.' Then and only then, can we develop new, current and up to date behaviors that serve our highest good, in the present time and situation.

Cravings Can Be Driven By Old Memories

So, how does this work for a person with cravings for sweets like pastries and chocolate? As an example, I recently worked with a patient that had very strong cravings for sugary foods, chocolate and bakery items. She couldn’t pass a bakery without going in and buying something. Before booking our session, she told me that she remembered feeling the most loved when her mother took her to the bakery and encouraged her to eat because she was so skinny. She didn't even really like the pastries, but she loved the whole experience with all the smells and warm feelings of love. Now, the key here is that she knew about this old memory, but the knowledge of it had not changed her behavior.

So, in her adult life, when she felt stressed or otherwise a little out of balance, her brain recalls the memory of the bakery experience. It felt good in the past, and that's the strategy that her brain knew to work, even though it was many decades outdated. The session however, changed her behavior and did so immediately and permanently. She automatically found a new strategy, that didn't involve that old, outdated habit. She was now free to walk by the chocolates and pastries around her and not be tempted. Before, she would not only have been tempted, but also indulged and then felt bad, as she knew better! She didn't need more willpower; she just needed to let go of an old pattern.

I'm always happy when this happens for my patients, even if it means I only see them once. Things are just easier when you're in charge of your eating. So, here's a question for you:

How would your life be different if you didn't have Food Cravings?

How would if feel to be in charge of your eating?

Contact me, I'm here if you want a little help.

Yours in Health,

Kara Sorensen, MS, LAc
The Food Craving Solution
15066 Los Gatos-Almaden Rd
Suite 200
Los Gatos, CA
e: kara(at)karasorensen.com
p: 408.805.5272 (KARA
p: 800.514.1406

Breaking the Cycle of Sugar Cravings 

I am often asked about sugar cravings, and how I help with this very common craving. I help people break the cycle of craving with Acupressure, and it works even when the cravings are really strong. The result after treatment is that they don’t crave it in the same way, and if they have some, it doesn’t trigger more cravings as it did before. If you crave sugar, you may find this too good to be true, as you know how hard it is to resist, and how eating even a little bit, can turn into a binge.

After treatment, some people decide to avoid sugar altogether and others have it on occasion and enjoy it in smaller amounts than they used to eat. If they have some, they’re satisfied much more quickly and don’t want for more. I'll give an example of someone that used to be stuck in the cycle of craving, named Paul. He came to me over two years ago and is still craving free.

Struggling to Overcome Sugar Cravings

Paul tried cutting out sugar and chocolate on many occasion, and it worked for him for several weeks at a time. When he'd done this before, it helped him to lose weight. He’d be doing fine and then something would come up, he’d eat something sweet and he’d be right back where he started with the additional helping of guilt and self defeat. This was not his fault, he was not a weak person, he was just wired to crave.  His biochemistry made it difficult to resist sweets. This is not unique to Paul. Many patients tell me they were doing fine with sugar until a family member came into town or they got into an argument with someone, etc. Can you relate?

There is no peace in this cycle of craving. Sugar becomes the thing to be avoided or the thing desired, but which doesn’t truly satisfy. When we crave sugar, there simply is no peace. Peace is evasive if we avoid it or if we eat it.  I'm not advocating that people eat sugar; I'm just suggesting there could be more peace involved around sugar.  So, back to Paul’s sugar cravings.

Can Peace with Sugar Be Found? 

Paul came to me for help as he wanted to lose weight and his cravings were getting in the way of achieving his goals. We had one session and Paul was free of the cycle of craving. The great thing was that his craving for sugar, chocolate and junk food all resolved together. That happens sometimes, where multiple cravings clear in a single session. After his session, he was able to make food choices that were in alignment with his desire and he lost 20 pounds over the following months. He said it was easy now to follow a healthy food plan. He knew what to eat; he didn’t need my help with weight loss, as all he needed was to be in charge of his eating.

Yes, Peace with Sugar Can Be Found 

If you could break your cycle of craving for good, would you be interested in hearing more? I've worked with many men and women with their cravings for simple sugars. Before making any dietary, lifestyle, supplement or treatment suggestions, we focus on the 'underlying' cause of their craving with Acupressure. This addresses it at its source, the only place where true and permanent relief can be found.

After the craving is resolved, the unwanted habits fade. Some patients just need that one session and they are done, others need continued support. After the craving is cleared, I’m always happy to make recommendations for continued healing when appropriate.

I've had so many patients ask about their results, "Could it be this simple?" My response is, YES, it can be and you're living proof!  So, if you’re stuck in the cycle of craving sugar and you’d like a simple solution to break the cycle, contact me, I’m here to help.

Yours in Health,

Kara Sorensen, MS, LAc 
The Food Craving Solution
15066 Los Gatos-Almaden Rd
Suite 200
Los Gatos, CA
e: kara(at)karasorensen.com
p: 408.805.5272 (KARA
p: 800.514.1406