Nutritionist Pierre Dukan is categorical: these sudden cravings for sugars and fats are not just a question of gluttony. They reflect a disorder in your diet, directly impacting your weight and the quality of your daily meals. Here is his surprising anti-cravings solution.
Sudden cravings for sugar, which often destabilize eating behavior, are part of daily life for many people. They arrive without warning, often during periods of stress or fatigue, and leave behind an impression of nutritional failure. Pierre Dukan explains why this pattern of food consumption is poorly understood and why, according to him, the problem is not where we usually look for it.
In his video, the nutritionist begins by recalling an essential point. “Most people who gain weight are accused of gluttony and lack of willpower. This is an unfair accusation. And above all it is false.” For him, these urgent needs for carbohydrates do not arise by chance. They appear in response to tension, annoyance, diffuse anxiety. Pierre Dukan then speaks of a very old reflex, anchored from childhood. “Faced with stress, annoyances, the wounds of life, some people have retained the thumb-in-mouth reflex from childhood. A calming reflex against anxiety.“This gesture disappears with age, but not the need it fills. He explains: “In adulthood, this reflex transforms into a search for gratifying foods, most often sweet..” The sweet taste then becomes a quick way to calm inner tension.
Once this mechanism has been explained, the nutritionist indicates that the best response to a craving for sugar remains dietary anticipation. “The smartest solution is of course to anticipate, prepare sugar-free and flour-free desserts in advance and eat them when the urge arises..” But he recognizes that this organization of meals does not correspond to everyone’s reality. He is then interested in these precise moments when the desire suddenly arrives: “When you feel like you’re going to break down or, worse, you’ve already started, started a packet of biscuits or put your spoon in a can of spread, drink two sips of Coke, slowly.“.
He makes it clear from the outset that this solution does not claim to solve the food problem in the long term. It simply aims to weaken the impulse at the moment when it becomes invasive and is generally enough to regain control over what we ingest.
He also knows that this idea will attract criticism, in particular because of the nutritional debates around sweeteners. He answers it bluntly: “Some will tell me that Coke Zero is not recommended because of its sweeteners and I simply answer them this: a sweet compulsion is infinitely more dangerous than two sips of Coke Zero.“That’s clear.
