Hands up who has binged on every sweet treat, calorific pud and tin chocolate going?
Roughly over half of Brits would have piled on around half a stone due to our festive scoffing. But despite the main event being over, you might find that your body is still craving its sugar kicks and highs that it’s become accustomed to over the festive period.
Take a look at the author of Constant Cravings, Doreen Virtue's tips on how to beat the sugar cravings:
1. Stave Off Chocolate Pangs With...
"Ginger ale and soy milk are high in tyramine, which can help relieve chocolate cravings. Pekoe tea is high in chocolate's other stimulating ingredient. theobromine."
2. Eat A Satifying Sugar-Alternative
"One reason we shun fruit during our sweet cravings is that fruit seems like a deprivation alternative. We've got to dress fruit up! Put a little flavoured, fat-free yoghurt on top. Puree the fruit with an ice cube and some ginger ale. Microwave sliced apple for two minutes at high temperature with a little bit of cinnamon and you've got a quick, low calorie apple-pie type treat."
3. Understand The Reasons Behind Your Cravings
"If, after analysing your cravings, you discover any anger, frustration or stress, ask yourself how you might take even one step toward alleviating the source of these emotions. Is there someone you can talk to, or some changes that you can make in your life? If you reduce the source of your uncomfortable emotions, you won't need to crave sweet things anymore."
4. Beware Of 'All Or Nothing' Thinking
If we tell our bodies that this chocolate bar or hamburger will be our last treat ever, we're more likely to binge.
"It's like we're seeing a beloved person for the last time, so of course we want to spend as much time as possible with that object of affection." The key is eat all treats in moderation and if the craving gets too much seek healthier alternatives.
5. Fight Off Salty Cravings
"Crunch on crisp vegetables dipped in low calorie, fat-free salad dressing. Instead of potato chips and french fries, go for carrot and celery sticks. Broccoli and cauliflower florets are also tasty replacements. They may not seem as appealing as the fatty versions, but the crunch and flavour will soothe your craving."
6. Treat Yourself With Non-Food Rewards
"Sweet treats usually equal reward. We all need pats on the back and kudos for hard work. But instead of stopping at the cookie shop or take-out, why not treat yourself to a new book, item of clothing or shoes? This will feel just as satisfying and is much healthier than a fat-laden treat."
The 5:2 diet is the darling of the diet world, but as we know, there's always a better diet waiting round the corner.
A new book called Burn Fat Fast: The Alternate Day Low-GL Diet Plan by Patrick Holford and Kate Staples (she used to be the gladiator Zodiac before she broke her neck), looks at the priniciples of fasting and food combining, as well as what exercise to do to complement the diet. In short, a full body plan.
What is striking about the diet is that even though it incorporates fasting, it's a good plan for people who like to eat, or more simply, don't like the hunger aspect that we associate with dieting. Better still the exercise plan involves - on certain days - only 8 minutes of working out.
Salmon and potatoes - mixing carbs with protein
So, first off, what is a 'low-GL diet plan?' GL stands for glycemic load, which measures the amount of sugar and starch in food and their impact on your body. Patrick says that a measure of glycemic load shows how much carbohydrate there is in each food and how fast the carbohydrate will break down into glucose (and therefore how quickly your blood sugar levels will rise).
The crux of the diet is about managing your insulin, or blood sugar levels. Insulin, says Patrick, is an ageing hormone, and also plays a key role in burning fat. So if you can control the levels of insulin, you can slow the ageing process and keep the weight off.
The idea of the diet is that you combine three fast days where you can eat a maximum of 800 calories, in low-GL foods. You can feast the other four days (on low-GL foods) and should implement the exercise plan during the week.
How does it work and what should I eat?
Since 2005 we've been studying and testing the GL diet – not by eliminating carbs but actually introducing the right kind of carbs alongside protein. Eaten together, protein takes longer to digest when you combine the two – for instance putting seeds on your cereal or almonds with apples. By doing so, you slow down release of sugars.
It's also about choosing the right kind of carbs, so oats are slow, cornflakes are fast. Berries are slow, bananas are fast.
How does regulating my insulin make me lose weight though?
With animal studies, it has been proved that if you eat low calories, you lose weight, but low calorie diets also seem to extend your life span and improve your health. It was then discovered that the reason for this is that a low calorie diet can switch on 'skinny genes'.
What are skinny genes?
When you eat a low-GL diet you don’t get blood sugar spikes, so your insulin goes down. It's clear that low levels of insulin switches on your skinny genes - it's called SIRT1. When you combine this with exercise, you burn fat much faster and more effectively. Conversely, we also know high insulin raises cholesterol, blood pressure, makes cancer cells grow faster and it makes you store fat faster. The secret to weight loss for me, is everything that keeps your insulin down.
The Three Golden Rules
1. Eat no more than 40 GLs a day
2. Eat protein with carbohydrate
3. Graze don't gorge
You recommend three fast days rather than two - why?
The 5:2 diet recommends you fast two days a week but the diets which are most effective are three days a week – I’ve gone with what the science supports. The 5:2 did have a clinical trial, but the scale of weight loss doesn’t excite me so much. They were seeing 3.7 kilograms of weight loss at its highest, over three months. We were seeing weight loss of 7.5kgs.
One stone, 14lbs is 6.4kgs so one stone is either over 6kgs of 6.5kgs if you want to round to nearest half.
But is fasting actually healthy?
Intermittent fasting can be healthy provided you are not sick. A lot of people find it changes their relationship to food. A common report is that on the feast days you have an allowance of food, a lot of people find they aren’t feeling as hungry.
It also makes you think about why you eat. We don’t eat just for hunger but for other reasons, and it helps you understand the reason between eating for hunger and being upset or tired.
How much weight can people lose on your diet?
We have lots of cases of people losing, on average, one stone a month which is roughly 6.5kgs. Our record to date is one person who lost 9 stone in 10 months. We did a trial on 22 people and the trial was just on diet, and the average weight loss was 14.5 pounds in 12 weeks.
How much exercise do you have to do on the diet?
There are two types - one is aerobic exercise and the other is resistance or muscle building. The combination of the two causes the bigger weight loss and best insulin control. You have to do three days where you do an eight-minute strength routine. Then spend three days of 30 minutes aerobic exercise that gets your heart rate up. It was devised by Kate who is a brilliant personal trainer and found that her clients were getting amazing results while following my diet.
We are blessed to live in a world rich with a variety of delicious fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds. Each plant-based food has its own unique flavor, scent and nutritional profile — made of health giving vitamins and phytochemicals (many of which act as antioxidants).
A well-known super food, and one of my favorite fruits, is the antioxidant powerhouse: the Blueberry. This fruit is a classic option for topping off your fruit bowl, sweetening muffins and filling perfect pies. (Check out this raw pie recipe!)
While they might be a bit pricy to find fresh at the market or grocer, blueberries are truly a worthwhile treat, especially when they are in season.
Blueberries are extremely high in health giving phytochemicals. And why is that so important? Because they’re good, good, good for you!
Many of the phytochemicals listed below provide anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits:
Anthocyanins (malvidins, delphinidins, pelargonidins, cyanidins, peonidins)
Flavonols (kaempferol, quercetin, myricetin)
Resveratrol
Pterostilbene
Hydroxycinnamic acids (caffeic acids, ferulic acids, coumaric acids)
Hydroxybenzoic acids (coumaric acids)
Hydroxybenzoic acids (gallic acids, procatchuic acids)
And these are only some of the phytochemicals we’ve studied so far!
Along with all of these beautiful nutrients, blueberries are also a good source of vitamins including:
Manganese
Vitamin K
Vitamin C
All of these vitamins and phytonutrients gives blueberries their wonderful smell, color, flavor AND health benefits!
Health benefits of blueberries:
- Eye health: Anthocyanin (one of the phytochemicals in blueberries) has been shown to protect the retina from damage.
- Cardiovascular health: Blueberries have been shown to improve blood fat balance (including reducing total overall cholesterol while raising HDL cholesterol (the good kind), and lowering triglycerides. In addition, they protect the blood vessels and certain blood components from oxygen damage.
- Blood Sugar Balance: Blueberries (along with many other berries) have been shown to have a favorable impact on blood sugar regulation.
- Cognitive Benefits: Studies have demonstrated (especially in elderly patients) that regular consumption of blueberries can improve cognitive function including memory, as well as potentially postponing other cognitive problems often associated with aging.
- Anti-Cancer Properties: Studies are beginning to suggest that blueberries may have many anti-cancer benefits, particularly breast cancer, colon cancer, esophageal cancer and cancer of the small intestine.
- Full body antioxidant protection and support: Blueberries not only benefit your eyes, cardiovascular system and cognitive abilities, they’re pretty much good for every system in the body! Every system that they have studied thus far in relation to blueberry consumption has benefited. This includes reducing damage to muscles after exercise, protection of the entire nervous system from oxygen damage, reducing the risk of neurodegenerative diseases and protecting the digestive tract from oxygen damage.
And that’s just some of what we’ve learned so far.
So along with all the other wonderful and delicious plant nutrients you enjoy on a daily basis, pick up some blueberries too!
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/health-benefits-of-blueberries.html?page=1
