Friday, January 29, 2010

Boot Straps and Chromium

All right, all right. I'll concede that the prednisone/sugar hysteria has got to come to a screeching halt.

The time has come to pull myself up by the bootstraps and just GET OVER IT. I need to put on my big-girl panties and just get a grip, woman.

So I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to do this. I know that it would be unrealistic to expect that these carb cravings are just going to magically disappear simply because I want them to. I'm certainly not going to quit taking my prednisone if it means long term control of my autoimmune disease. But I am on an active campaign to reel in some of this out of control carbohydrate bingeing.

Aside from slogging ahead with modifying my home environment - translate: keep chucking the goodies into the garbage, and choosing more complex carbohydrates when I do indulge, I'm considering taking a chromium picolinate supplement, after I check it out with Dr. S.

Although there's a plethora of questionable claims about chromium's ability to facilitate the body's ability to use insulin, my interested is piqued about this trace mineral for other reasons: A 2005 study linked decreased carbohydrate cravings in people with atypical depression after taking 600 mcg of chromium picolinate. The study was on a relatively small population, 113 people, and the study group was diagnosed with an atypical depression, which I do not believe to be a problem for me. Which may mean that the use of CP may be completely inappropriate in my case. 

There is quite a bit of literature out there that supports a decreased serum chromium level may result from eating a diet high in refined carbohydrates such as sugar, white flour, and high fructose corn syrups, however.

Hm. Sounds like the food items most frequently consumed by me lately. In that case, it could be that my chromium levels may be low and that I may benefit from taking moderate amounts of the supplement.  There is no RDA for chromium picolinate supplements at this point, although from what I can read, recent studies indicate that it is a well tolerated.

Then again, it may be just safer and simpler to eat those foods naturally high in chromium: carrots, broccoli, whole grains, and molasses. Duh.

I'll keep you all posted on what Dr. S. decides.  

4 comments:

Denise @ Sunflowers, Chocolate and Little Boys said...

Keep us posted on how all this works out. Good luck!!

Anonymous said...

Well, if it could help you, you can give a try !! I don't know for you, but with the Sjogren I can't eat too much vegetable, it upset my stomach. So better try your way.

Chelle Sandell said...

I'm interested to know if Dr. approves. Might be worth trying.

annie said...

Some years ago, when I was seeing a naturopath for my 101 ailments, she had given me some vitamin supplements containing chromium as an ingredient. She explained that people who are pre-disposed to diabetes, or where diabetes runs in the family benefit from chromium for the reason you stated above regarding stabilizing insulin levels. Again, I'm fairly new to the diagnosis of sjogren's, but know more about fibro and chronic fatigue syndrome, and I can state that there is an increase in carb cravings, and people often put on lots of weight, even without food bingeing.Weight gain and these diseases seem to go hand in hand, and carb and sugar cravings are also part of the puzzle. Goes to show that our systems are seriously out of whack!!!

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