This can be as easy or tough, as you would like it to be. It can be easy because all you have to remember is no "white" food. And if you would like to make this tough on yourself you can completely ignore any healthful advice and eat foods that are guaranteed to make your body feel lethargic and fat. Unless you are a high-performance athlete, mounds of pasta will not serve you.

Foods to think about -

Mainly, the white foods that I am referring to include white flour, salt, sugar, white rice and potatoes. The purpose of eliminating these white foods will help get you started in adopting a healthier way of eating. They are starter foods to help move you in the direction of a lifestyle change. Invariably when I name these foods, someone will always ask, "What about wheat flour?" "Is brown rice okay?" All I can say is "Is it white?"

Try it for two to four weeks -

This does not mean that you can never have these foods again, BUT when you decide to eliminate them altogether out of your diet for at least two to four weeks, you may have just kicked your craving for carbohydrates. These types of carbohydrates are laced with sugar or they are complex carbohydrates. This is merely a starter plan to help eliminate many foods that may not agree with your body chemistry and elimination systems.

Whenever we have this commanding and powerful craving or hunger for carbohydrate rich foods, they may contain the ingredients of white flour, salt, sugar, milk, rice and potatoes. A regular and daily intake of these types of foods will only stimulate and escalate our insatiable need for junk food, sweets, starches, and prepared snacks.

Carbohydrate (sugar) rich foods -

These carbohydrate rich foods include, but are not necessarily limited to: bagels, breads, cakes, cereal, chocolate, cookies, crackers, danish, fruits and fruit juices, ice cream, potato chips, pasta, potatoes, pretzels, rice, pie, and sugar-sweetened beverages. Ask yourself what the ingredients are of the above mentioned foods. They are white flour, salt, sugar, milk, rice and potatoes.

Eliminating fruits and fruit juices while you are kicking the craving of sugar is vital. This is simply because of the amount of natural sugar they contain or that may be added to fruit juices. It does not mean that you have to go without fruits for the rest of your life. Fruits have natural sugar and while you are giving up sugar, fruits may stimulate the urge to splurge on more heavily sugar laced foods. Most people who are addicted to sugar haven't eaten an apple or orange in ages, so another two to four weeks shouldn't have serious consequences.

Carbohydrate mimickers -

There are many carbohydrate mimickers, which are alcoholic beverages, sugar substitutes, and monosodium glutamate that may trigger intense carbohydrate cravings or weight gain.

Try your best to cease all carbohydrate mimickers for the two to four week period until you have kicked your craving.

So what causes this craving -

Carbohydrate cravings are actually caused by an imbalance in our body chemistry. The chemical imbalance is probably something that we have caused on our own. There is an over release of the hormone, insulin, when we ingest carbohydrate rich foods.

Among insulin's many functions, it will signal the body to take in food. This is precisely why insulin has been called the "hunger hormone." When we eat, insulin will signal the body to store the food energy in the form of fat. So what happens when we have too much insulin? Too much insulin will result in a strong impulse to eat more often, and if the body is already used to impulsive eating, then the body will store more fat.

Just a small bite, please -

No! Now remember, insulin signals the body to take in food. So let's just say that during the two to four week period that you've decided to take yourself off these carbohydrate rich foods and you want to have just a tiny little taste of your favorite carbo-snack. Your body has been use to dumping a ton of insulin in response to the type and amount of food that you were consuming. So if you take one tiny bite of carbo-rich food, your body will remember and release the amount of insulin it was use to dumping and you will have a insatiable need to satisfy the requirements of insulin, which means more, more, more food. Your body may react to this as if it were legitimately hungry.

Post-prandial reactive hyperinsulinemia -

The reaction of insulin dumping is actually called post-prandial reactive hyperinsulinemia. Let's break that word down. Post = after. Prandial = related to a meal. Reactive = reacting to. Emia = relating to the blood. Hyperinsulinemia = A high amount of insulin in the blood (emia = blood). This means that too much insulin is being released after eating and food is required to level out the body chemistry.

What can happen over time?

Over time, people who are hyperinsulinemic may become insulin resistant. The cells in their muscles, nervous systems, and organs will start to shut down because of the high levels of insulin in their blood. The insulin is no longer able to open the doors to these cells and allow food energy, glucose and blood sugar to enter.

Symptoms to watch for -

Symptoms of low-blood sugar levels are called hypoglycemia. Many may use this reason as to continue their addictive diet because they cannot endure the irritability, shakiness, tiredness, intense cravings, confusion, and headaches. Think about this for a second. If you go without the foods that make you feel this way without them . . . think again of how you felt while eating them and didn't even realize it. This realization alone is what got me to stop consuming these types of foods.

How do you get adult-onset diabetes?

As the problem escalates, blood sugar cannot enter the muscles, nervous system, or organs as easily as it should and much of the food energy gets channeled into the fat cells and weight gain comes very easy. Over time, as high insulin levels continue, even the fat cells can shut down and the blood glucose gets trapped in the blood stream. This condition is known as adult-onset diabetes.

Only food God made -

When I changed my mind on what foods I was willing to put into my body, that extra 10 or 15 lbs. that I had been fighting with completely fell off. My diet now consists of only food that God made. I'm talking about fruits, vegetables, and all types of seafood, chicken, and meat only three times a week. The fruit, of course, reappeared back in my diet after I took myself off sugar.

Most people are surprised that a vegetarian diet is not part of my lifestyle. I tried it once and gained 35 lbs. Needless to say, I gave it a strict go of it for one complete year and I was not a good example of a vegetarian or someone who can handle life without seafood, chicken or meat. If you can handle it and keep your body healthy at the same time, then by all means, go for it.

If I consciously decide to eat pasta, I make it clear to myself that I will definitely feel lethargic, fat and tired for the rest of the day. This conscious realization will change my mind in a heartbeat. Eliminating bread was probably the most difficult, and now bread has absolutely no appeal. Now I do not deliberately make myself feel fat, much less carry that extra 10 to 15 pounds. It makes me tired just thinking about it.

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