HOW TO CURB YOUR CRAVINGS AND AVOID THAT SNACK TRAP
MOST of us barely go an hour without putting something in our mouths. Breakfast is followed by a latte on the way to work, we’ll grab an apple mid-morning with more coffee and maybe a biscuit or handful of nuts.
Lunch is followed by another latte mid-afternoon and more fruit, or perhaps a chocolate bar or piece of cake. There might be crisps with a drink before dinner and then maybe something sweet to end the meal.
I see plenty of clients who eat healthily, but still can’t lose weight. If you snack all day, there’s a strong chance you are eating more than you need — ‘snack blindness’ means we could be unwittingly doubling our food intake each day.
Nutritionists used to encourage eating little and often, to keep blood sugar levels stable. But we now know the human body is not designed to consume a constant supply of food — our system is happier if we endure regular fasting instead.
The problem is that grazing all day stimulates the production of insulin, which puts our bodies into fat storage mode. Constant eating — even of nutritious food — is hard work for our bodies. It means our digestive
system has to continually break down food, our liver to eliminate it, our kidneys to filter it, our blood to carry it, our cells to make energy.
The worst offenders are refined carbohydrates, but even healthy snacks make our bodies work constantly. Before each urge to snack, ask yourself: ‘Am I really hungry?’ A little hunger isn’t such a bad thing, but you won’t be able to stop snacking without addressing the quality of your meals.
If you just have sugar or carbs for breakfast, you’ll struggle to make it to lunchtime. A sustaining breakfast needs to combine fat and protein as well as vegetables and a portion of fruit.
Cutting out snacking is liberating — as long as you nourish yourself at mealtimes you’ll never feel hungry or deprived.
A simple step in battling snacking is to make a pact with yourself to stop eating after dinner and not to eat again until breakfast. To be truly healthy, your body needs a 12-hour food break overnight, every night.
EXTRACTED by Louise Atkinson from Eat. Nourish. Glow. 10 Easy Steps For Losing Weight, Looking Younger And Feeling Healthier by Amelia Freer (Harper Thorsons, £16.99). © 2015 Amelia Freer. To order a copy for £12.74, visit mailbookshop.co.uk or call 0808 272 0808. Offer until May 9; free P&P for a limited time only.