Reboot and Revive
Recipes
Delicious, gut-friendly meals designed to reduce inflammation and support your health—just pick your dish and enjoy the benefits.
Recipes
Managing cravings
Factors and Common Causes
Dehydration
Do you ever have days when a major snack attack strikes? Whether it’s an afternoon crunch you’re after or an evening sweet treat, many factors play a huge role in how intense our cravings can be. The good news is that there are many things you can do to help regulate your appetite, but it’s about understanding the cause of these cravings in the first place.
Being dehydrated is a common cause of cravings, especially for sweet foods.
Health Fact:
This is because thousands of years ago, when we were primates, if water wasn’t available, the foods with the highest water content were fruits. When our bodies were dehydrated, they would send signals to our brains to search for fruit.
This mechanism still exists within us today, so you will find yourself craving fruits and foods with sugar if you aren’t well hydrated. (Yalda suffers from this herself). Sometimes, we want sweet foods, and nothing seems to curb that craving, and like Yalda, we sometimes forget about the hydration trick and cave in to those cravings!
Try and keep hydrated, and if you start craving sugar, have a couple of big glasses of water and make yourself sit with that craving for twenty minutes. During that time, try to let go of that craving in your head by repeating, “I am well-nourished and well-hydrated.” The subconscious does not understand negative affirmations, so it is best to repeat an affirmation such as “I am well-nourished and well-hydrated” rather than “I do not crave sugar.” The subconscious doesn’t get “not,” so it will translate as “I crave sugar.” Do this and hydrate well with any drinks mentioned in the Hydrate section.
Cravings Meditation
Drink water and repeat in your head, “I am well-nourished and well-hydrated.” If that doesn’t work after 20 minutes, look into the other causes for cravings and the cravings-bursting snacks we suggest.
Sleep Deprivation & Low-Quality Sleep
Sleep deprivation or low-quality sleep is the primary culprit for cravings and weight loss, cell recovery, hormonal health, and mental clarity. Learn more about quality rest in the Better Sleep section.
PMS
The Six Week Reset is designed to help with hormones, so this lifestyle should ease your premenstrual symptoms and hormonal cravings. By following the Eat Burn Sleep lifestyle, your inflammation levels will be lower, and your liver will be detoxified. This allows your liver to perform one of its many functions, called hormone homeostasis (i.e., hormone regulation). The liver is responsible for this; a healthier liver will help with healthier hormonal health.
A healthy liver that isn’t overloaded with toxins performs a crucial function in hormonal health called hormone homeostasis. The liver is responsible for removing excess hormones in the body and keeping our hormones in balance.
If you are still experiencing premenstrual symptoms, we suggest increasing your fiber intake, as fiber will help drag out excess estrogen from your gut and take a magnesium supplement. Magnesium has been shown to reduce PMS. Yalda finds that as soon as she does not take her magnesium citrate powder or have magnesium salt baths regularly, she feels much worse around that time of the month!
Health Fact:
Topical absorption is very effective. We absorb around 70% of what we put on our skin. Magnesium salt baths or magnesium spray oil are very effective.
A Note on Estrogen Levels
Estrogen dominance is often the culprit for PMS, low energy, breast pain, and weight gain around menstruation. Many foods and substances like plastic also mimic estrogen function. One of the main foods that do that is soy. Unfermented soy is far worse than fermented soy. Soy sauce is allowed on the Six Week Reset because it is fermented, and we can’t use massive amounts of it (moderation is my motto!), but soy milk or yogurt isn’t allowed because these are unfermented and consumed in large quantities. Soy milk is quite fattening too. Yalda’s friend had switched to soy milk and found that she was gaining much more fat around her waist area, which happens when we have high estrogen levels in the body.
The other reason small levels of soy sauce are allowed is because of another of Yalda’s main principles regarding health: The Eat Burn Sleep lifestyle isn’t about perfection but damage limitation. So do not obsess over small details, avoid things that have a significant negative impact on your health, keep yourself informed, and enjoy the ride!
Gut Bacteria Overgrowth & Die Off
Cravings can also be caused by bacteria overgrowth, like SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth) or Candida. We have bacteria in our guts, which is a good thing. But a bacterial overgrowth can cause bloating, gas, irregular bowel movements, and cravings. Many of you will be on this lifestyle to improve your gut bacteria. However, it would be best if you kept in mind that cravings can be due to a bacteria overgrowth and will be accentuated by a bacteria die-off.
Health Fact:
Harmful bacteria feed off carbohydrates and sugar, so when you reduce your consumption of bad carbohydrates, the bacteria “screams” for some as it might otherwise die. This is what we call a bacteria die-off.
On day three during the Six Week Reset, you will probably feel dizzy and experience terrible cravings if you do indeed have bacteria overgrowth. The Six Week Reset was tested on countless friends, and sugar cravings were their number one issue. Sugar cravings will hit you because you might have bacteria overgrowth, and those little bugs in your tummy will scream for sugar when you cut it out.
Remember, it isn’t YOU craving sugar and carbs but harmful bacteria in your gut.
Around day three of the Reset, bacteria die off, which might be your most challenging day. Keep strong in your head, and know it will soon pass.
You can check Yalda’s magic tricks to curb cravings to help you through that time.
Magic Tricks
- If you are hungry between meals, have an apple with a cup of tea. But do not cave into eating chocolate, sugar, or starchy products, as this will feed the harmful bacteria. For some reason, an apple (especially if you cut it in pieces and chew it slowly) with a cup of green, mint or black tea works to curb cravings. This trick has worked on Yalda and her girlfriends for many years!
- If you feel dizzy, you might have low blood pressure due to a loss of sodium and minerals. On the Six Week Reset, since you aren’t eating processed foods and no starchy carbohydrates, you will lose a lot of water, which can lead to a loss of sodium and minerals. You might need to replenish your stores, so do not hesitate to add good-quality salt (see food lists) to your diet. You might also need to increase your salt intake around day 3 (see Week 1 in the Six Week Reset section).
If you are craving chocolate, trick your taste buds and have the delicious anti-cravings chocolate shake. This absolutely works. So many members are addicted to them! Here’s Yalda’s friend, who replaced his daily chocolate and biscuits, with them. He looks super fit now! Check out his before and after pictures.
Video: A hack to deal with cravings
The Eat Burn Sleep
Quick reference guide
Recipes
01Food lists
The EBS Traffic Light system of food categories with more guidance on each color.
Read the guide
Food lists
02
Expert advice
03Forum
A place for asking questions that might feel too big or too small for professional help, and getting responses from both peers and moderators.
Forum access
Forum
04-
01 Recipes
Recipes
Delicious, gut-friendly meals designed to reduce inflammation and support your health—just pick your dish and enjoy the benefits.
Recipes
-
02 Food lists
Food lists
The EBS Traffic Light system of food categories with more guidance on each color.
Read the guide
-
03 Expert advice
-
04 Forum
Forum
A place for asking questions that might feel too big or too small for professional help, and getting responses from both peers and moderators.
Forum access
Get the EBS app
