The Craving Cure By Julia Ross

The Craving Cure
By Julia Ross
Flatiron Books

The subtitle of this book is Identify Your Craving Type to Activate Your Natural Appetite Control and the author, Julia Ross, has many years of experience using amino acids to help her clients get over addictions to sweets, starches, alcohol and drugs. We know her as the author of The Mood Cure and The Diet Cure.

The Craving Cure focuses on carbohydrates, what Ross calls “Techno-Karbz,” modern sugar- and starch-laden food-like substances that are more addictive than cocaine. “Whether crunchy or creamy, solid or liquid, highly processed sweet and starchy Techno-Karbz are the central ingredients in today’s diet.” They are intoxicating to the brain, especially as they come with a cargo of “alluring add-ons” like chocolate, caffeine, processed milk products, industrial fats, industrial salt and artificial flavorings. Each of these components lights up a different pleasure center in the brain, giving the imbiber a brief “blast of bliss.”

Ross identifies five types of cravers—which the reader can determine by a simple questionnaire—and then five protocols to address the neurological needs of each craver type. The idea is to use specific amino acids to reduce the cravings—sometimes this happens immediately—while you transition to a healthy diet. Eventually you will no longer need the amino acid supplements and can enjoy a life without addictions.

Ross pulls no punches when it comes to two of today’s favorite “health” foods: chocolate and cannabis. She notes that chocolate contains high levels of caffeine (especially dark chocolate) and at least three other stimulants, including one called PEA, known as “the chocolate amphetamine.” When combined with processed milk, sugar, starch and fat, you have an addictive weight gain bomb.

As for cannabis, Ross notes that in states where it has been legalized, “its addictive, psychoactive properties have been added to everything from candy to ketchup,” making it a super effective addition to the food industry’s arsenal of addiction technologies. Cannabinoids linger a long time in the brain and can amplify a range of neurotransmitters. A common long-term effect is psychotic symptoms.

The Craving Cure is not without flaws. The book gives mixed messages about butter—including butter and full-fat dairy in some of the recipes but also indicting dairy fats in lists of addictive foods. We’d love to see more emphasis on animal fats including butter as sources of arachidonic acid, which the body uses to make natural cannabinoids. There’s no mention of really nutrient-dense foods like liver, cod liver oil or raw milk, nor healing foods like ferments and bone broth. Many WAPF-ers have reported an end to cravings simply by incorporating these items in their diet.

For those really addicted to things like Cheetos and chocolate cafe-latte, the principles outlined in The Craving Cure plus the full Wise Traditions diet can provide a powerful healing combination.

This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Winter 2017.

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