HOW TO HANDLE CRAVINGS

Cravings can take control of your thoughts and when you succumbto cravings that aren’t beneficial to your goals, they make losing weightnearly impossible

How do you curb those intense cravings? By eating foods that willstabilise your blood sugar, delivering a steady flow of energy to your brainand muscles such as:•Protein rich foods like eggs, lean cuts of free-range chicken or grass-fed meat, fatty wild-caught fish such as salmon or prawns.•Fibre rich foods such as oatmeal, sprouted-grain breads and pastas,bran, barley, and quinoa.•Vegetables and fruit such as broccoli, broccoli sprouts, pumpkin andpumpkin seeds, okra, kale, avocados, berries.•Dairy such as kefir, yoghurt and cheeses.•Herbs and spices that stabilise sugar cravings: black pepper,cardamon, cayenne pepper, cumin, fenugreek, ginger, ginseng,oregano, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg etc.•Nuts, nut butters and flax seeds.Avoid food high in sugar and processed foods. Combine high glycaemicfoods with fat or protein to slow the rate of digestion and to better balanceyour blood sugar.Interested to know more? Email me  with thesubject line ‘reference guide’.

CHEAT MEALS

I think a cheat meal is fine and serves a purpose, however try not to turnit into a cheat day! That is harder to recover from and can demotivate you.Why am I okay with cheat meals? Research has shown that a cheatmeal can be important to your diet as a way to regulate hormones.Leptin regulates your appetite and controls satiety, and ghrelin tells youwhen you’re hungry. When you follow a lower calorie diet to lose weightyour ghrelin levels can increase.Over time your body will grow used to a low-calorie diet, it willadjust accordingly and can plateau. A cheat meal high in calories andcarbohydrates can assist in jumpstarting your metabolism, regulatingthese hormones by encouraging the body to keep burning thesecalories, instead of adjusting to this lower intake.

A cheat meal can be the reward at the end of the weekly tunnel and canhelp you stay more motivated to remain healthy 80% of the time.If you choose the best quality ingredients, a cheat meal can looksomething like this:•Love a burger? Choose all natural, grass-fed, hormone-free red meat.•Prefer pizza? Make the dough from scratch so you know whatingredients you’re consuming.•Craving a cookie? Use almond meal or coconut flour instead of wheatflour and coconut sugar or monk fruit sweetener instead of sugar.Remember there are always healthier substitutions. Try and resist thegarlic bread and soda. Not a fan of cooking? Go for fresh ready-mademeals with as few ingredients as possible.Try and plan ahead, don’t go overboard and if you have to have acheat meal, be smart about it. Remember food is fuel for the body.Consuming large amounts of calories in one sitting will leave you withlow energy levels making you feel sluggish and tired. It’s important youremain vigilant to avoid getting carried away and losing control.