WELLNESS
I could kill for a piece of chocolate!
By Vickie Bunzey If you have never had a craving for chocolate,
potato chips or something that you know is not the best thing for you, you are a very unusual
woman. We crave for many reasons and the key to breaking those cravings is understanding where the craving is coming from.
The body is an amazing source of intelligence. It is always there for you, pumping blood, never skipping a heartbeat, digesting whatever food you put in it and maintaining homeostasis. Is this reliable, intelligent bio-computer making a mistake by craving ice cream or a hamburger or chocolate? Are cravings due to lack of will-power or discipline? I’d like to suggest that cravings are not a problem. They are critical pieces of information that tell you what your body needs. The important thing is to understand why you crave what you crave. Perhaps your diet is too restrictive or devoid of essential nutrients. Perhaps you are living a lifestyle that is too boring or stressful. Your body tries to correct the imbalance by sending you a message: a craving.
Here is the low down on the 8 primary causes of crav- ings.
Dehydration Before you start to eat, ask yourself if you are really hungry. Most of the time you will find there you are bored and not really hungry at all. The first step to fighting cravings is to find out if they are actually warranted. If your stomach is actually growl- ing, this is a physiological change and should go away
after eating. It should stay away for several hours. If you have no hunger pains, it most likely means your body is not ready for a meal. The moment you think you are hungry, trying drinking water or seltzer. The reason for this is that you may simply be thirsty and think you are hungry. This happens a lot. When you drink water, seltzer or even tea, this will fill you up some and will most likely buy you the time until your next full meal. Most of us are dehydrated and need more water. 8 to 10 glasses per day minimum are needed a day.
Lifestyle Emotional eating is usually triggered by dissatisfaction in some area of your life. Before you eat, try to pinpoint the reason. If it is indeed stem- ming from boredom, stress over something, being uninspired by your job or routine, you need to distract yourself with an alternate plan other than eating.
Sleep deprivation All of us “super women” run on little sleep. Lack of sleep can lead to appetite is- sues. Studies show this to be true when hormonal imbalances occur when a body is not well rested. Logically we tend to eat thinking that we can eat for energy to overcompensate for our lack of sleep. This is why choosing the right foods is so important and why we need to eat healthy foods that feed our body for energy rather than processed foods that give us a temporary energy boost. Ideally our body needs 8 hours of sleep per day. Yes, it is true.
Move your Body. It is as important as getting a good night’s sleep. We often confuse boredom and hunger so it is a good thing to stay busy and keep water and nutrients in the body throughout the day.
12 Connect and Grow With Women In Our Community
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