12/07/20

#68 Surviving the Festive Season and all the Sweet Treats

If you have a sweet tooth like me sweet stuff can be dynamite.

There is no surer way for my eating to get out of control than when I get on the roller coaster of sweet treats.

The trouble with simple sugars is that they always give you a high blood sugar response.

Unfortunately, this causes hormonal changes that make you hungry, make you want more, and make you store fat, especially around your waist! There is plenty of research around this, for instance (for women), before your period your core temperature increases, your blood sugars are less stable so your desire to eat something sweet is heightened as is the peak and trough after you eat it. 

Sugar is very addictive and lights up the pleasure center of your brain like a Xmas tree.

I avoid sweet stuff most of the time. I find that I don’t want or need it anymore. If I have a sweet treat it is usually a portion-controlled one off! Like a dairy-free Magnum or Trumpet or a bar of dark chocolate.

The immediate pleasure is in the mouthfeel and taste of these foods.

My advice is to always serve yourself on a plate or in a bowl – never eat from the container.

Portion control what you serve yourself.

Take plenty of time to savor every mouthful especially the first one. Really move the food around your mouth giving your taste buds full access to it all!! Experience the full sensory pleasure. Take your time before you swallow. Take a second bite and do the same, then ask yourself if you have had enough yet. Do you really need more? Have you savored those two bites and got all the pleasure from them? Because once you swallow the pleasure is gone.

Once you know that you have had enough, remove yourself from the situation (also known as “step away from the cake, Ginny, step away from the cake")!

Sometimes to succeed and get the results you want, you need to stop, when you want to keep going!

It is just discipline and wanting your health more than you want another serve!