Hello,

I struggle with overeating and binge eating when things get stressful. A friend of mine recommended spirulina (some kind of algae). It's supposed to provide essentiell amino acids, she says and help with cravings. She gave me some and I've been taking them for a week now. I really am overeating less now and I don't have any desire to binge. I used to binge after coming home in the evening. I would eat something and then feel a real bad urge to eat more and more. I just couldn't help it. I was stuffing myself then, not even really tasting the food until I was uncomfortably full.
Now, the last few days that didn't happen AT ALL, even though I had the most stressful week. I would eat and then feel full and satisfied. But, I wonder if that's really because of those spirulina pills or if it's some placebo kind of effect. I'm also more busy now. I have to study a lot in the evenings, so after dinner I just sit in bed with my books and charts and study. So maybe that's distracting me; maybe I've been overeating because I was bored before?
I don't mind swallowing those pills and they're all organic and they don't seem to do any harm. But they're kind of pricey over here and if it's just placebo, then I don't really feel like spending money on them.
So does anyone have taken spirulina and did it help you with food cravings and binging??

Never taken it, but I remember a couple years ago talking to a trainer friend of mine about it. He told me that spirulina is great when dieting because your body absorbs way more of the protein in spirulina than in any other protein source. So for example, your body will absorb more protein from some spirulina pills than it will from, say, a piece of chicken (a higher percentage of protein). And it contains some very rare amino acids.

I understand about it being pricey, but I don't think it's just a placebo thing. If you google it, there are lotd of links that pop up explaining it's health benefits, and based on my knowledge it makes sense. I think I may give them a try, actually! Thanks for reminding me ;-)

Yes, I'm not too sure about how it would affect weight loss, but I can see that it would be great for your overall health and I do think that sometimes we get cravings because we have some deficiencies. I've seen this at health food stores and never really paid attention but thanks to your post, I'm thinking of taking it now!

I just read this warning on Wikepedia:

Considerations and Potential Dangers

Spirulina contains phenylalanine, which should be avoided by people who have the metabolic disorder phenylketonuria, where the body cannot metabolize this amino acid, and it builds up in the brain, causing damage.[13] Because spirulina is a dietary supplement, the United States Food and Drug Administration does not regulate the production and quality of the product. Although rare, cyanobacteria like Spirulina may contain toxins called microcystins, which accumulate in the liver and can potentially cause cancer or other liver diseases. Currently, no standard exists to regulate the safety of spirulina.[14]
[edit]Evidence of health and healing effects

Really? People eat this? I've only ever bought it for my salt-water aquarium fish to eat! (Sorry, it just struck me as funny.)

So they actually sell this in a pill form? I've never heard of it.

What else is in the pill besides spirulina? I looked at a bottle of spirulina pills online and it said 3 pills provide 1 gram of protein which I have to tell you isn't a lot. It could be placebo, it could be the pills contain something else that fills you up, etc.

I worked in a health food/ vegan market and we sold this. It's thought of as a cleanser for the body and an energy booster. Just be sure not to overdose on it. I once took 2x the recomended amount and a shot of fresh wheat grass and 4 hours later I started sweating and getting nauseous. I ended up having to leave work and spent 2 days in the bathroom, dealing with both ends.

I've been taking spirulina for about 5 years. I prefer spirulina & chlorella over a regular multi vitamin. I used to have a bunch of warts on my hand. Within a week of taking spirulina, the warts sloughed off. I had tried all kinds of things to get rid of them. Unfortunately, it didn't work on my children's plantar warts.

But, I don't think it helps with weight loss much. I use NOW brand. You can get it pretty inexpensively on online supplement websites. Feel free to pm me, if you want to know specific websites. I also found a good pdf file that talks about the benefits of spirulina and chlorella.

I've just started reading The Gabriel Method. One of the theories he advances is that weight gain occurs because your body tells you to eat more (cravings),because it is lacking essential nutrients. When you consume whatever is lacking, the cravings stop.

I tend to do the same things in the afternoon. I will do good all day at work and its like my hunger catches up with me at night. I need to try this too!

Hi,
I just read all your responses. I do not have phenylketonuria, I am from Germany and every newborn is tested for this here- but thanks for the warning.
I had been taking those pills for about three weeks and then just forgot about them as things got stressful. I am not sure if they did help me or not. I might try it again, but I'm certain that I'd remember if they'd really have made a big difference.

I don't know about weightloss.. but i do know that its great for over all health.. a definite super food! loads of greens and vitamins and all that good stuff for your body!
I used the powder in a smoothie. I dont know if you will see a huge weightloss difference.. but i know I feel like a million bucks after chugging a smoothie with sea greens in it!

Exactly my thoughts! I feed discs of this to my pleco's. Wonder if I should crunch a few of them down

I will look into it.. but I'm not likely to take them.