Stop Sugar and Carbohydrate Cravings During Lockdown

byTheCatherine

13.9K followers

4 years ago

For sure, the majority of us are living to the most challenging times of our lives, whatever our age. Those of you who are used to working from home will not be is challenged as others. For many of you who are used to going out to work and having active, busy days working from home will require changes in your daily routine.

Most people globally are now working from home and having to practice social distancing. This may well lead you to wonder in the kitchen and opened the fridge door mindlessly, whether you're hungry or not. It's a very easy temptation to snack on foods because you're stressed or bored or overwhelmed with different emotions.

For those of you that want to get some control over mindless snacking here are some practical ideas

Consider your Thoughts before wandering into the kitchen.

Your thought may well have been, "I need a doughnut now!". It's very easy to change your thoughts around food by thinking of something else. It is also important to ask yourself, where did that thought come from? Are you bored, anxious, or are you actually hungry? It's not that difficult to do this. It doesn't necessarily mean that you won't wander into the kitchen and get something to eat, but at least you won't do it mindlessly.

If you want to deflect yourself from food, arrange a family get together. Book a Zoom call or FaceTime. Get together with friends or family and have a chat. We are all feeling the loss of our loved ones at this time. Separation in itself causes anxiety.

My brother and his wife have a virtual cocktail party with friends every night at six. They spend the afternoon in the garden playing gin Rummy and then they have a drink with friends.

Classical music has been scientifically proven to lift your mood. Especially Mozart. It doesn't seem to matter what Mozart music you listen to just search for some on Spotify. Moving around will also help relieve your tension, so dancing is good, perhaps not to Mozart but your favorite song.

Just because you're stuck indoors doesn't mean that you can't exercise. In my case, I live in a four-story house, and running up and down the stairs is enough to finish me off. Dance, jump up and down, get the Hulu hoop out, do whatever makes you happy and bring you joy.

Celebrate the time you got with whatever family you have around. This is precious time, and you may never get this time with your family back again. All Play games (card or board games) with kids at home or friends over the internet.

Have a bath with Epsom salts ( the magnesium is a muscle relaxant ) and go to bed early - this is the perfect time to establish a bedtime routine.

Substitute different types of foods to sugar

If you want to eat sugar and have some fresh fruit, even if it's dried fruit is more healthy than process sugar or chocolate. If you're going to have crisps, open a tin of chickpeas, put them on a baking tray on one level and sprinkle with Chile and salt and baking a hot oven 200°F for about 20 minutes until they are crunchy.

It's complicated for the human body to know whether it is and thirsty or hungry. This isn't your fault; it is actually a design fault in human beings. If you feel hungry, have a glass of water and wait half an hour. If after a half an hour, you're still feeling hungry, then you are hungry, often you are thirsty for water. During this time of lockdown, it would be a great time to cut down on sodas and drink more fresh water.

Substitute your desserts.

Instead of having a sweet sugary dessert of Greek yogurt with fruit and berries, and walnuts or any other nuts or seeds.

Cook your meals. This is the perfect time to start making some tasty and simple home-cooked meals. Experiment with what you have in the cupboard!

Aim to eat three meals per day.

If you eat regular meals, you are less likely to snack. If you want to snack between meals, grab a handful of nuts or seeds or piece of fruit. If you're trying to curb your sugar intake it's also good to have protein with every meal. As well as meet other sources of protein are, fish, cheese, yogurts, lentils legumes and chickpeas, eggs, tofu beans, and mushrooms.

Years ago, the standard dinner plate American plate was either nine or 10 inches. How do I know that when I live across the pond. While I know that because when I first started Internet marketing my first reviews were about a 9 inch plate, a 10 inch plate, and 11 inch plate etc. Nowadays, people use much bigger plates. If you're trying to eat less try using a slightly smaller plate

Essentially to be super healthy and not to have an impact on your immune system you should be eating until you are 80% full and no more. It puts a strain on your digestive system and, ultimately, your immune system by overrating.

Eat meals with your family - this is a time to bond over meals.

The more you eat regularly and eat plenty of water and also move your body, the easier it will be to recognize what it is your body wants.

You know that when you eat sugar, you are just driving up your insulin levels and having a sugar spike. The inevitable result of this is a sugar crash in any way around it is more sugar creating a cycle of craziness.

Weirdly the day before lockdown I had planned to do a three week detox eating only vegan, organic food and no sugar or nightshades. The nightshades are tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and aubergines, amongst others. This hasn't entirely been possible as my organic food is delivered in a box and at this present time we cannot choose. Normally I can say no potatoes but now in these challenging times I am super grateful for what I'm given, so I eat what I get.

I am on my fifth week of it now, and the only thing that I have stuck to religiously is the no sugar. I have struggled with trying to be vegan for years, and cheese is always my downfall. A cheese omelette is my go-to comfort food.

I still have two big pieces of cheese in the fridge and they remain untouched. One of the side effects of cutting sugar out of your diet completely for a minimum of three weeks is that it breaks addictions.

I thought but that was only toward sugar. Clearly not, I don't have a a sugar addiction. If I have the choice to have either olives or chocolate, I will have olives every time

Take it one step at a time if you're thinking of changing your eating habits - we're all navigating this situation in our own way. Be kind to yourself; these are tough times.

P.S One Side effect of no sugar for weeks is the fact my brain is sharper. I dont get the three oclock in the afternoon brain slump. My productivity has incresed by aboout thirty percent which is fabulous