How 'The Voice' Inspired Us To Ditch Sweets After Dinner!
We’re a little obsessed with The Voice here in the Bottoms Up! office and this week we’ve been doing just a little bit of star-stalking.
Contestants, judges, heck even the mentors - nobody’s off limits to our cyber-hunting ways. We want to know what they’re eating, how they like to exercise, what they do in their down time and what their favourite indulgences are.
So what did we find? Well, it seems the judging panel are a pretty healthy bunch, with most of them professing a love for cross-training, running and team sports and sticking to wholefood diets with limited alcohol and sugars BUT there is one thing they all seem to have in common… a post-meal sweet tooth!
Keith and Joel apparently love home cooked desserts (cheesecake and brownies… those boys have good taste!) and Delta, like any good woman, is into chocolate. Seal seems to love licking sweet young girls’ cheeks post-performance. Erm, Seal, you might wanna try a cookie instead!
All this talk of post-meal munching had us thinking about our own tendencies to go hunting for sweets after eating. We decided that as part of the Autumn Detox we’re doing at the moment, our unhealthy snacks should also be shelved for awhile.
So it’s 28 days sans-sugar for the team here and Alexa was so inspired that she wrote an article investigating just why it is that we often reach for sweets straight after a meal which, quite frankly, should have been satisfying enough! She also explores why sometimes, it’s better to keep a few of your favourite treats ON the menu. Check out her insights below.
“I feel like something sweet...”
By Alexa Connors Ever eaten a really healthy, well proportioned meal, which left you feeling super satisfied… and then 10 minutes later said to yourself, “I feel like something sweet...”
One thing we are constantly asked as personal trainers is, “how can I deal with the sugar cravings? What can I do and why do I keep lusting after sweets after every meal!?”
If you’re currently shuffling in your seat thinking, “that’s me! I always feel like that!” well let me be the first to tell you, you’re definitely not alone!
Let’s take a look at the source of these cravings. And I’m going to use an old favourite of mine as an example; cookies (insert ice cream, chocolate, pastries if these are more up your alley).
Now a lone cookie seems pretty harmless, right? It’s no bigger than the size of your palm and is only a small sugar hit. Just one of those little suckers and you’ll feel content and ready to move on with your day/night. So you partake…
Once you’ve downed that choc-chip, sugar-coated little disc of delight, how do you feel? Guilty? A little depressed? Anxious? Disappointed that it’s all over and you’re still not content? Perhaps a little bit from each of these categories?
Well guess what? This feeling isn’t a particularly new one… in most cases it’s not even guilt you’re feeling, it’s nostalgia!
Nostalgia, you say? Please explain…
Here’s the thing; most of the time we gorge on sweets to make us feel better, fuller, rewarded. But most of the time we just end up feeling disappointment, or defeat.
Once we associate that food with disappointment, we start to put it in a separate category to regular foods and suddenly it’s either ‘off limits’, or ‘bad food that tastes good’ (which is still a negative association in your head that says, ‘it’s not good for me’). The problem with putting certain foods into these categories is that it works in the opposite way to what you originally intended.
Have you ever said to yourself, “I’m not going to touch a single sugary treat this whole week!”
You play little mind games with yourself for a few days, maybe you even last the distance but what’s the one thing you end up craving when your ‘time out’ comes to an end? Yep, you guessed it - Sugary Treats.
For the most part, when we observe the food diaries of people who are obsessed with a specific kind of food, the moment they over indulge in that particular treat is the same week they’ve decided to put it off limits.
Think about it: what if we approached every day with the concept that we could eat any food we liked and it would all have the same nutritional impact (unheard of!). What if we actively built in all the (real) foods we enjoy occasionally into our regular meal rotation? Would we still binge or over consume? Would they still be as disappointing? Try thinking along these lines and see if it curbs your cravings.
The best piece of advice I can give if you’re still really struggling with ‘needing’ sweets after a meal is to always have a back-up snack available. Whether it’s lunch or dinner, set yourself up with something to have straight after your meal is finished, in case the post-meal munchies set in.
A couple of options might be: a cup of green tea, a piece of fruit, some fresh dates, a handful of raw cacao beans, a small serve of nuts drizzled with honey, or a scoop of yogurt with berries. Something we love is frozen grapes, or frozen and quartered oranges. Sometimes just having the option there is enough and you may find you don’t even need the foodie follow-up.
Another tip is to indulge SLOWLY to give your brain and stomach time to register that there’s no need for more. By doing this and also making sure both your main meal and dessert options have a low glycaemic index and contain plenty of fibre, you’re more likely to fill up quickly and less likely to keep craving more, more and more!
In Summary...
Try not to put all sugary treats in the ‘off limits’ category. Aim for healthy swaps instead (packaged milk chocolate ditched for a warm mug of raw cacao and almond milk, ice-blocks switched for frozen grapes, milkshakes swapped for superfood smoothies and store-bought cookies dumped in favour of home-baked treats made with healthful flours and brushed with coconut oil). This way, you’re not refusing the things in your life that give you joy!
And at the end of the day, if you’re still feeling like you absolutely NEED something sweet and naughty after your meal, JUST DO IT!
…every now and then ;)
And if you do indulge, make extra sure you set your alarm for training in the morning, so you can get out and burn it all off as quickly as possible!
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