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Adding more of it in your diet could also help improve sleep, digestion, and immune health.
Trying to cut down on sugar can be an exercise in white-knuckle willpower, but it's helpful to shift your focus away from what you're not eating to, instead, what you should start incorporating into your diet: magnesium-rich foods.
This is especially true if you're craving chocolate, according to Susan Yanovski, MD, co-director in the Office of Obesity Research at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. (Related: The 7 Healthiest Foods to Eat Right Now.)
"Because chocolate is high in magnesium, it's been suggested that a deficiency may play a role in these cravings," she says. "This is a research area that needs more investigation, but it does present an intriguing possibility in terms of what might be the underlying cause of these cravings."
She says that up to 80% of people in the U.S. may be deficient in the essential mineral, and research indicates we're simply not getting enough of it through diet alone. A research review published in the journal Open Heart called the situation "a public health crisis," particularly because adequate magnesium doesn't just keep your hands out of the candy jar—it also plays a critical role in bone health, heart function, digestion, sleep, cellular health, and even mood and energy levels.
Chronically low levels could increase your chances of having high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and osteoporosis, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Continued below.
80% of Americans Are Deficient in This Mineral That Controls Sugar Cravings | Eat This Not That
Trying to cut down on sugar can be an exercise in white-knuckle willpower, but it's helpful to shift your focus away from what you're not eating to, instead, what you should start incorporating into your diet: magnesium-rich foods.
This is especially true if you're craving chocolate, according to Susan Yanovski, MD, co-director in the Office of Obesity Research at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. (Related: The 7 Healthiest Foods to Eat Right Now.)
"Because chocolate is high in magnesium, it's been suggested that a deficiency may play a role in these cravings," she says. "This is a research area that needs more investigation, but it does present an intriguing possibility in terms of what might be the underlying cause of these cravings."
She says that up to 80% of people in the U.S. may be deficient in the essential mineral, and research indicates we're simply not getting enough of it through diet alone. A research review published in the journal Open Heart called the situation "a public health crisis," particularly because adequate magnesium doesn't just keep your hands out of the candy jar—it also plays a critical role in bone health, heart function, digestion, sleep, cellular health, and even mood and energy levels.
Chronically low levels could increase your chances of having high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and osteoporosis, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Continued below.
80% of Americans Are Deficient in This Mineral That Controls Sugar Cravings | Eat This Not That