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STEP TWO: Food & Energy Balance
Are you a slave to your cravings?
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It happens to the strongest of us.
No matter how often you resolve to stick to a diet and banish bad habits, it's easy for your natural food cravings to sneak in, take over and get the better of you, leaving you feeling guilty, weak-willed and totally frustrated.
Who needs the excuse of Easter or Christmas? Especially when chips, crisps and sweeties are available by the ton from supermarkets and convenience stores at any hour.
And let's not forget about the most beloved weight loss killer: chocolate. Whether it's the smooth as silk "mouth feel", the comfort it brings, or its distinctive flavour, chocolate gives addictive pleasure to an increasing number of people all over the world.
How much chocolate do we eat?
Think about this: In the UK alone, one year's output of Cadbury's Crème Eggs weighs more than 1,500 African elephants, with one adult bull elephant weighing in at about 6000 kg. In the Middle East people eat so much chocolate that if you laid out a year's worth of KIT KAT® fingers, it would stretch from Dubai to Beirut, and back.
With such an alarming number of people snacking on chocolate and crisps instead of proper meals, it's no wonder most of us find it impossible to shed our excess pounds.
So why are we ingesting more junk food than ever before? Is it simply the allure of advertising or is there more to the story than meets the eye?
We've reached the point where we spend more on chocolate and sweets than on tea, coffee and biscuits combined. If you took the advice of the advertising slogan "A Mars a Day Helps You Work Rest And Play", which was launched in 1959, you would have eaten nearly six tons of Mars bars by now.
That's like eating the equivalent of one bull elephant, give or take a few kilograms.
Do you crave chocolate more than sex?
It is time to time to book yourself into rehab for your obsession?
Craving food, particularly chocolate, is a chronic compulsion, affecting a staggering 75 percent of women in the UK to some degree, with almost two thirds admitting that chocolate is a problem.
Females aren't alone in their obsessive love affair. Research shows that men crave chocolate just as much.
The difference? Women seem embarrassed about their consumption and will hide the wrappers in an attempt to keep the habit a secret. Men, on the other hand, tend to talk openly about how much chocolate they've wolfed down.
It's when these cravings get the better of us that we begin to pile on the pounds. The very sight of the excess flab is so depressing that it often sends us scurrying off for another chocolate fix as a comfort.
No wonder it's so difficult to stick to a sensible weight loss regime. And when we don't feel good about our bodies, it's hard to feel sexy and very often our sex drive takes a nosedive as a result.
While the craving syndrome is often overlooked and not well understood, it's far more common than most will admit. In our years of research conducted at Natural Health Advisory Service, we regularly encounter individuals who are self-confessed chocoholics.
In fact, some admit to stealing their children's Easter eggs. Others will strip the Christmas tree of chocolate ornaments late on Christmas Eve when nobody is looking.
And the reason is not simply a lack of willpower. Certain cravings have a deeper physiological control over us.
A food craving can be as powerful as an addiction to alcohol, drugs or smoking. And just as difficult to break the habit. In trying to overcome a particular food addiction, you can suffer withdrawal pangs that affect all aspects of your life.
Are food cravings a modern compulsion?
Is this battle with our weight and fight with food cravings a modern compulsion?
Some might argue yes.
In the mid-1930s, for example, our relatives ate on average four proper meals per day with one in-between-meal snack. How times have changed. The average family of today now eats one or two proper meals per day, if that, with four or five in-between-meal snacks.
Yes, most of us live less active, more sedentary lives than our grandparents. What hasn't changed is the fact that our brain and nervous system still require a constant feeding of good nutrients to function normally.
Because of greater stress in our modern lives, we don't always eat as healthy as we should. We skip meals or eat on the run. As a result, our blood-sugar levels drop and we crave a glucose fix to give us energy.
So what do we do? We grab the nearest chocolate bar or sweet biscuit, which may give us a quick surge of glucose-fuelled energy, but it's hardly nutritious.
What's more, this fast energy buzz is usually temporary, and before too long we crave something sweet again. And so the cycle continues, playing havoc with our waistlines and our minds.
When your brain sends a red alert
When you haven't eaten for a spell, or you consume less-than-nutritious food, your blood sugar levels drop. Your brain, which requires glucose to function normally, sends out a red alert asking for more glucose, ideally in the form of nutrient-rich food.
Without proper feeding, your brain becomes confused, which is why high sugar levels have been linked to memory loss.
While most of us know we should supply our body with nutritious food, we often don't. Instead we'll grab whatever is quick, fast and convenient. Often it's refined sugar in the form of a sweet processed snack, or chocolate, which is mostly composed of refined sugar and doesn't contain any vitamins or minerals whatsoever.
Result? The refined sugar snack rapidly boosts your blood sugar levels, flooding the blood with sugar. You brain, sensing too much sugar in the blood, triggers the release the hormone insulin, whose function it is to drive the sugar back into the cells.
The brain, remarkable organ that it is, does all this efficiently, returning your blood sugar levels to low again, and the cycle begins again.
So if you want to control your cravings, learn to break this high-low cycle and regulate your blood sugar levels.
Bottom line: you'll feel and perform better when your blood glucose levels are stable.
3 must-have nutrients your body can't live without
The way to control your cravings is easier than you think. Providing, of course, you eat foods loaded with the right nutrients.
Studies have shown that your body requires three specific (and essential) nutrients to help stabilize blood sugar levels, which in turn, affect your craving fix.
- B vitamins: necessary for healthy functioning of the brain and nervous system, and increasing your rate of metabolism, but often in short supply when we're stressed or guzzling too much alcohol
- Magnesium: a trace mineral required for hundreds of body functions, and the most common nutrient deficient in women of child-bearing age
- Chromium: A trace mineral (we're born with 1/16 oz and lose it as we age) needed to stabilize blood glucose and insulin production. Studies suggest older people are more vulnerable to chromium deficiency than younger people.
Foods loaded with these nutrients
No excuses, you needn't look too hard to find tasty foods rich in B vitamins, magnesium and chromium, the nutrients needed to regulate your blood sugar levels.
The B vitamins are a big family of 8 vitamins and related nutrients, often referred to as the Vitamin b complex. (Previously, Vitamin B was considered one nutrient, but later studies proved that eight different nutrients made up this single vitamin.)
To get your different B vitamins, add fortified cereals, lamb, lentils, chick peas, chilli peppers, bananas, liver, turkey, unsalted nuts, fish, broccoli and spinach to your diet.
The chromium mineral turns up naturally in foods such as whole-grain breads, rye, eggs, molasses, beef, hard cheese, chilli, liver, fruit juice, bell peppers. Broccoli and grape juice are the richest sources of chromium, while seasonings such as dried garlic, black pepper and basil are also good sources.
An easy way to get magnesium into your body is to add broccoli, preferably raw, to your diet. Other foods abundant in magnesium include unrefined whole grains such as 100% wheat bread and cereals, seeds (pumpkin especially) nuts (walnuts, almonds, peanuts) and legumes (kidney beans, lentils, chick peas etc.) and leafy green vegetables like spinach and kale.
Bonus. A Finnish study published in 2008 found diets rich in magnesium could help ward off strokes in smokers. Double bonus: People who get a lot of magnesium in their diet also tend to have lower blood pressure.
If you can't eat the real thing, try a supplement
You can't beat getting your required B vitamins, magnesium and chromium by adding real, raw whole foods to your diet.
That said, you also have the option of increasing your nutrient intake through a variety of dietary supplements available at most supermarkets, health centres or natural food stores, or online.
To control cravings, consider what you eat and when you eat
By taking a few steps to tweak your diet, (or overhaul, if necessary) you can help to keep your blood glucose levels on an even keel. It means you won't long for your next chocolate or sweet fix, and as a result, you'll find it so much easier to lose weight.
Simple tips to put into practice:
- Consume nutritious food in small amounts (but often) to keep blood-sugar levels constant. Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner each day, with a wholesome mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack.
- Eat fresh, home-cooked foods wherever possible.
- Eat foods intrinsically sweet like dried fruit, fresh fruit, nuts and seeds.
- Relax while eating and enjoy your food.
- Plan your meals and snacks in advance particularly if you are female and of childbearing age, for our calorie requirements increase by up to 500 calories per day during the premenstrual week.
- Shop for food after you've eaten, not when you're hungry.
- Reduce your alcohol intake. High in calories, alcohol excess can cause liver damage, which can lead to significant hypoglycaemia or low blood sugar.
- Add protein (meat, fish, dairy or vegetarian protein like nuts, seeds, beans or lentils) to each meal, as this helps your body feel full for much longer and helps with blood sugar highs and lows.
Give it 6 weeks to see results
Don't expect an overnight success story. Realistically though, by following these recommendations for six weeks or so, you should gradually find it easier to control your cravings.
Sure, you'll have some days when past bad habits tempt you. Resist. Check the mirror. Stick with the plan.
Once you integrate your new habits into your diet and lifestyle, you'll notice positive changes. You'll feel better about yourself and your body, which will make your efforts worthwhile.
1. Brain Chemistry & Hormone Balance
2. Food & Energy Balance
3. Fitness & Muscle Tone
4. Mind Over Matter
5. Rest, Relax, Sleep & Fun
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Do you have a 'sugar craving' syndrome?
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