I hear these all the time, “I am addicted to carbs”, “I need to eat a lot of carbs”, “I crave bread”, “I crave sugar”……
If you are consuming poor quality carbohydrates on a regular basis, yes, you will crave them. What is happening is your blood sugar is being manipulated dramatically by the simple sugar in the carbohydrates you are eating. Consume simple carbs and blood sugar rises; then with in minutes it falls;your cravings are actually drops in blood sugar, which you then think you need to fix by eating more carbs.
If you are trying a low carbohydrate approach to weight loss you need to understand these facts. The more technical term for carbohydrate withdrawal is “keto-adaptation,” because the body is adapting to the state of ketosis that results from eating fewer than sixty or so grams of carbohydrates a day. This reaction is why some who try carbohydrate restriction give it up quickly. Carbohydrate withdrawal is often interpreted as a ‘need for carbohydrate. It’s like telling smokers who are trying to quit that their withdrawal symptoms are caused by a ‘need for cigarettes’ and then suggesting they go back to smoking to solve the problem.
If you can persevere, and get through the first few days of consuming only high quality carbohydrates, your blood sugar will stabilize, and you will no longer crave them. (The number of servings you require will depend on your goals, ie weight loss, diabetic control, maintenance of weight, etc)
Some examples of healthy carbohydrates are:
brown rice products (crackers, pasta, rice cakes, puffed cereal and of course brown rice)
sprouted grain breads
sweet potatoes
squash
quinoa
amaranth
millet
buckwheat