Artichokes – Busting the Sugar Craving

by Cascade Ice on June 15, 2011

The Flavorful Life is featuring several “healthy living journey” stories from Cascade Ice fans around the country, where guest bloggers tell us their thoughts on how they face challenges and come up with new ideas to pursue better health and fitness lifestyles. The following is the latest update from Dawn Sievers of Knoxville, TN, and blogger for “The Healing Morning”

Craving sweets?  Try eating artichokes. Yes, I’m serious!  For those of you who have been following me here at The Flavorful Life, you know that I’ve been revamping a lot of bad habits in the past year.  One thing that I will admit I don’t have a problem with is sweets; they’ve just never been a trigger food for me.  I do, however, have many friends who fight that battle, so I started doing some research and stumbled across the suggestion that eating artichokes can curb the craving for sugary foods.  It turns out that artichokes are rich in insulin, a substance that increases immune defense mechanisms, helps stabilize blood sugar levels and helps to support the liver and pancreas.

What do the liver and pancreas have to do with sugar cravings?  When both organs are overloaded with sugar, they become “sluggish” and are not as efficient with their proper function, which is to process and flush toxins from the body.  Thus begins that vicious cycle we’re all familiar with – junk food-itis!

Artichokes are also chock full of health benefits, containing fiber, potassium, calcium, iron, phosphorus and other trace elements important for a balanced system.  It can also slightly lower the blood sugar, improve the appetite and digestion, is diuretic (meaning it helps to flush excess fluid retention) and may help some migraine conditions (most especially those caused by toxins in the blood).  All that in a humble little vegetable!  Give this one a try next time the old Sugar Devil strikes and see how it works for you.