Food Addiction, Cravings and Your Heart

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Most people who struggle with their weight are working hard at it. They plan meals, join the gym, buy the healthy options and promise themselves that tomorrow will be different. Then a long day ends, the cravings arrive, and the biscuit tin or the bread bin wins again.

If that sounds familiar, you are in very good company, and it says nothing bad about your character. One of the most helpful ideas in The Untold Story of Heart Disease is that some foods can affect the brain in a way that makes willpower an unfair fight.

## What a neuroscientist says about bread and sugar

Dr Susan Peirce Thompson is a neuroscientist and the creator of Bright Line Eating. She is one of the more than 40 experts featured in the 9-part docuseries made by filmmaker Matt Carter. In the series she explains how two very common foods, bread and sugar, create addiction in the brain that drives overeating.

That idea changes how you look at a lot of struggles. When someone finds they cannot stop at one slice of toast or one biscuit, it is easy to call it weakness. Dr Thompson's explanation gives a different way to understand what is happening, and a far more compassionate one.

The seventh episode of the series, "The Powerful Effect of Food Addiction", is devoted to this subject.

## Why cravings matter for your heart

Carrying extra weight, particularly around the abdomen, is one of the signs of higher heart disease risk listed in Heart Disease Code. So are type 2 diabetes and high triglycerides. All of these can be affected by what we eat and how much of it we eat.

That means cravings are about more than a waistline. If certain foods keep pulling you back to overeat, they may also be nudging your blood sugar, your weight and your heart in the wrong direction over many years. Episode 6, "The Blood Sugar Tragedy: Overcoming Diabetes & Hope for Change", explores the blood sugar side of the story in depth.

## Why the gym alone often struggles to keep up

Exercise is wonderful for your heart, your mood and your sleep, and it is well worth doing. Even so, the series looks at the topic of exercise versus food addiction, because many people discover that no amount of time on a treadmill keeps up with eating patterns driven by cravings.

Matt Carter knows this first-hand. Before making the series, he exercised, ate wholegrains and took his medications daily, and he still found himself overweight and struggling with brain fog, headaches, high blood pressure, acid reflux and joint pain. Like so many people, he was putting in the effort without getting the results he expected.

## Gentle first steps you can take

Understanding food addiction does not mean you have to overhaul your life overnight. A few gentle steps can help you see your own patterns more clearly.

Start by noticing which foods are hardest for you to stop eating once you begin. For many people, bread and sugary snacks top that list. Keep a simple note for a week of when cravings strike and what you were doing or feeling at the time. Patterns often appear quickly, such as late evenings, stressful days or skipped meals.

It also helps to have satisfying alternatives ready. If you know what you will eat in place of the foods that pull at you, it is far easier to make a different choice when a craving arrives. A good cookbook with simple recipes makes a big difference here.

If you are living with diabetes or take medication that is affected by what you eat, speak to your doctor before changing your diet, so they can help you do it safely.

## Where to learn more

Heart Disease Code brings together everything Matt Carter learned over 3 years of interviewing cardiologists, doctors, nutrition experts and heart disease survivors. It includes the full 9-part docuseries with about 10 hours of interviews, featuring Dr Thompson alongside experts such as Dr Mark Hyman, J.J. Virgin and Dr Alan Christianson.

You also get the Heart Disease Code ebook with 9 steps to fight and prevent heart disease naturally, a Heart Healthy Cookbook with over 50 easy recipes, The Top 50 Foods for a Healthy Heart and 9 companion guides with recaps, notes, exercises and quick quizzes for each episode. Those exercises are especially useful if you want to turn what you learn about cravings into everyday habits. Take a look at everything inside Heart Disease Code here ({{AFFILIATE_LINK}}).

The whole package is $19.95 as a one-time payment, down from $99.95, with instant access on any device and a 60-day, no-questions-asked money-back guarantee. If cravings have been winning for years, finding out why they are so strong is the best place to begin. Watch the food addiction episode and the rest of the series today ({{AFFILIATE_LINK}}).
