3 tips for curbing late day sugar cravings
Do you ever find that around 3pm every day you hit a wall? And the sugar cravings kick in…off to the pantry you go to raid it for ANYTHING sweet that you can get your hands on…
What you might not realize is that how you feed your body earlier in the day can impact your cravings later on.
If this resonates, here are my top 3 tips for better managing these cravings:
Start your day with a glass of water and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. I know, I know…you can’t fathom having anything but coffee first thing in the morning. And that’s ok - you can still drink it. Just promise me you will have water FIRST!! After a full night of sleep, your body needs to be re-hydrated. And the lemon juice helps to cleanse your body of toxins, stimulates weight loss, and can also aid with digestion throughout the day.
Balance your plate in the morning. A carb full breakfast is often the easiest, quickest thing to grab when you are trying to rush out the door. I mean who doesn’t love a bagel or muffin? But when you start your day with only carbs, your blood sugar levels will crash shortly after eating. AND you will crave MORE carbs as the day progresses.
I always encourage my clients to allow ALL foods and food groups. So you can still have your favourite carb in the morning. But focus on ADDING protein and fat to your meal as well. Think eggs, avocado, and toast, or a Greek yogurt parfait with granola, berries, and hemp hearts. And then notice if you have fewer cravings later in the day.
Eating slowly and mindfully. This is the most simple tip, yet NOT EASY to do!!! We are all guilty of scrolling social media while we eat or starting to respond to work emails. And we are often short on time and likely to scarf our food down quickly.
When you eat quickly, you are putting your body into a state of stress, which slows down digestion. The ideal is be as relaxed as possible while eating - if you have ever heard the term “rest and digest” you can understand what I mean.
And when you are eating in a distracted state, you are skipping a phase of digestion called the Cephalic Phase - this is when you use all of your senses to take in the meal. When you miss this phase because you are more focused on your best friend’s FB status update, your brain might not be registering that you just ate a meal. The result - you might be starving shortly after and quite likely it will be carbs you are craving.
I would love if you give these tips a try and let me know how it goes!! If you aren’t already, follow me on Instagram where I share a lot of other similar tips and tricks.