Each year, more and more Americans become diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), or some other form inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).  As well as suffering from extremely poor gut heath, these same individuals often find themselves dealing with immense sugar cravings.  As a result, their health often nose dives as there digestive system becomes severely compromised and their body becomes subjected to other diseases and disorders due to the high sugar intake.

For those suffering from such conditions, you should know that both IBS and sugar cravings are not random.  In fact, they both stem from the same problem in the body.  Unfortunately, those with IBS often fail to recognize that their digestive disorder is the reason for the their uncontrollable need for sugar and carbohydrates.

Luckily, in this post, we will cover why individuals with IBS often suffer from sugar cravings.  Also, we will give possible solutions to both IBS and sugar cravings so that you can take back your life.  Lastly, if you haven’t done so already, we highly recommend you go to our Homepage for a full explanation as to why you’re suffering from a digestive disorder such as IBS or IBD.

Understanding IBS

For those unaware, irritable bowel syndrome is when the intestines have become overly inflamed and permeable.  When this occurs, almost all food that is ingested will trigger an inflammatory reaction in the intestines.  Overtime, this can cause those suffering to be severely limited in what he/she can eat.

In fact, it’s not uncommon for those with IBS to only be able to tolerate a handful of foods.  Obviously this can make having a social life extremely difficult and can cause a significant drop in overall quality of life.  However, it’s important to understand that this intestinal inflammation is often caused by poor diet.

In particular, high amounts of plant foods can severely irritate the gut lining and can even strip away at the mucosal barrier that helps protect the intestines.  This is mainly because all plant foods, especially raw plant foods, contain high amounts of anti-nutrients.  These anti-nutrients come in the form of lectins, oxalates, tannins, phytates, gluten, and saponins; all of which can cause inflammation in the intestines if eaten in excess.

It seems counter-intuitive, but eating high amounts of vegetables and whole grains isn’t all that healthy for the intestines.  In fact, you may have noticed that raw vegetables triggers IBS symptoms almost immediately.  Also, many grain products can be extremely problematic due to the high amounts of the gut irritating anti-nutrient gluten.

How IBS Causes Sugar Cravings

It’s important to understand that if you suffer from IBS, chances are you also suffer from a fungal overgrowth such as candida.  In fact, research has shown that those with IBS almost always suffer from a fungal overgrowth in the gut such as candida (1).  To clarify, candida is a pathogenic fungus which has the ability to overtake the gut microbiome and disrupt normal intestinal function.

When the conditions allow, this fungus will actually burrow itself into the digestive lining resulting in intense intestinal inflammation.  Also, candida will release toxic byproducts into the body which can compromise the overall health of  body.  It should be mentioned that candida operates on a sugar/alcohol metabolism; it takes sugars from the diet, ferments them, and then produces small amounts of alcohol as well as toxic byproducts.

As a result, those suffering from IBS often times crave sugar due to this pathogenic fungus.  This is because candida requires sugar to survive, without it, its growth will be stunted and it will eventually return to its non-pathogenic yeast form.  Knowing this, candida will trigger sugar cravings in its host in order to survive.

Unfortunately, these cravings can be intense an almost impossible to resist unless following a correct gut healing and IBS friendly diet.

How to Stop Sugar Cravings

In order to stop these sugar cravings being caused by possible fungal overgrowth’s, IBS needs to be properly addressed through diet.  It’s important to understand that once the correct gut and IBS friendly diet is put into place, the growth of candida will naturally be inhibited.  This is primarily because such diets are low in sugar and starchy carbohydrates and will not feed this pathogenic fungus.

For more details on what type of diet you should be following if you suffer from IBS and sugar cravings, be sure to go to our Diet Protocol Page.  Here you will find everything that you need to know in regards to diet and the best foods to be eating for IBS.

Also, below is a small list of foods that can help heal the gut lining, inhibit the growth of candida, and produce overall better health in the body.

• Quality Animal Organs
• Extra Virgin Cod liver Oil
• Grass-Fed Beef
• Bone Broth
• Fermented Vegetables (start with a tsp a day when first starting out)
• Wild Caught Fish
• Gelatin
• Quality Gelatinous Cuts of Meat
• Seasonal Fruits (preferable berries and non-hybridized)
• Organic Pastured Animals

These Foods can have a dramatic impact on the health of the intestines and can dramatically reduce inflammation which is often associated with IBS.  Also, all these foods are low in sugar and will not trigger the growth of pathogenic bacteria, yeast, and fungus in the gut.

Again, plant foods should only be consumed in small amounts when the gut is severely inflamed due to their inflammatory anti-nutrient content.  However, once the gut is repaired and re-balanced, plant foods can typically be added back into the diet without issue.

Avoid Hybridized Fruit

Those suffering from sugar cravings due to IBS often fall into the trap of consuming fruit instead.  The thought is that fruit is healthy, it’s natural, and it doesn’t have the same damaging effects as white sugar.  However, this isn’t entirely true.

In fact, almost all store bough fruit has undergone a hybridization process which significantly alters the fruit.  This selective breeding process that occurs at the hand of man typically results in fruits containing high amounts of sugar (fructose), no seeds, and much bigger than it originally was.  This causes all sorts of problems when we ingest such fruits because the human body was never designed to consume such large amounts of fructose.  Furthermore, research has shown that diets high in fructose can contribute to fatty liver disease (2).

It should be mentioned that all wild fruits contain seeds, are extremely low in sugar (fructose), contain little to no edible flesh, are typically not sweet, and only occur seasonally.  Believe it or not, this is how all fruit should be like and is what are body was designed to consume.  Most store bought fruit is nothing more than science experiment and contains little to none of the same properties as the original fruit.

That all being said, it’s important that you do not over-consume such fruits when suffering from IBS and sugar cravings.  Like sugar, the fructose present in all modern fruits can also feed pathogenic bacteria, yeast, and fungus in the gut.  Instead, if your craving sugar, try using a raw local honey.  Research has shown that raw honey, despite containing sugar, can inhibit the growth of several different species of candida (3).

Strategies for Stopping Sugar Cravings

As well as following a correct gut healing and IBS friendly diet, you can also incorporate the following strategies into your diet to help further reduce sugar cravings.

1. Apple Cider Vinegar

Raw ACV is great for naturally reducing sugar cravings in the body.  This is because raw ACV is a natural anti-fungal and can help inhibit the growth of pathogenic fungus such as candida.  It also can naturally help boost stomach acid levels which helps in the elimination of bacteria, yeast, and fungus which can all cause sugar cravings in the body.

2. Intestinal Heath Cookbook

Our Intestinal Health Cookbook can be great for anyone dealing with IBS and sugar cravings.  Our cookbook contains over 20 different mouthwatering recipes that can be good for those with intestinal inflammation.  Also, all of the meals included in our cook book are low in sugar and naturally can inhibit the growth of candida in the gut.

3. Bitter Herbs and Foods

Consuming a bitter herbs after a meal is a great way to facilitate in digestion and to stop sugar cravings.  This is because bitter herbs stimulate the vagus nerve on the back of the tongue which signals to the brain and stomach to produce more stomach acid.  This increased production in stomach acid not only helps in the breakdown of food, but it also naturally inhibits the growth of pathogens in the gut which can trigger sugar cravings.