So you changed your diet, you felt amazing, those aches and pains vanished, you shed some kilos, never slept better, felt amazing and swore you'd never touch those squishy white buns in IGA ever again. But then something happened, a birthday, PMT, a bad day and before you know it you are back to crapsville. Why? How do I get out of this?
Desensitised
When you ask someone who eats a conventional diet how they feel, they inevitably answer "great!" but ask them to list any health ailments and they may write a list of 17 things down that they don't necessarily connect to being a result of their diet choices. What happens is the brain down regulates the feelings of discomfort that it is continually receiving. When you cut those things out of your diet you feel great, but add them back in and BOOM you know about it. I think this is a good thing as it reminds you of why you need to stick to your version of Paleo. Be grateful for the mank feelings your body is talking to you. Pay attention to yourself.
You are hard wired to want sugar
Way back when, before all the crap food, sugar was rarely found in nature so when we stumbled across this fast energy source it was beneficial to our survival to be able to eat as much as possible. For example ripe fruit in the autumn would be eaten and stored as fat (it's the sugar that makes us fat not the fat) for the cold winter ahead where food would be scarce. That no longer serves us in a world where winter never comes. But I find that it is a relief to understand that we are hard wired to scoff sugar and it is much more than a matter of willpower. Be gentle on yourself.
Eating well is a daily practice
Just as much as one good night sleep won't cover you for the whole week, or one yoga class won't make you zen forever, it's the same that one healthy meal won't change your life. You need to work on this daily, making the right food choices is a form of self mastery that you will keep getting better and better at, with practice, kindess and planning! What do you do if you have a crap nights sleep? Go to bed early that day? Ok so you haven't been making the best food choices today, no worries change that at the next meal.
Before I launch into some tips for staying on the wagon, let's consider some basics that might be causing you to crave the bad stuff.
Are you getting enough sleep? One bad nights sleep is enough to make you have a low blood sugar level the next and thus make you more hungry and crave sugar. Make sleep a priority and lights off by 10:30pm, reduce blue light exposure after 8pm.
Are you eating enough fat? One of the basic premises of any ancestral diet is reverting to using slow burning, full for hours, happy all day fat for fuel as opposed to the roller coaster crashes and hangry flashes of sugar burning. Most women I see are happy to ditch the sugar but really struggle to add in the good fats, well after all we have been told all our lives that it's fat that makes us fat. Ensure you have good fats at every meal some examples are avocados, eggs, meat, dairy, butter, coconut oil, lard, tallow, ghee, olive oil, nuts.
Are you eating enough? You will know if you are eating enough at one meal if the meal keeps you full for more than three hours comfortably (this is approximate as we are all different) if you are hungry make sure to add more veggies, especially the leafy green type at each meal.
Are you too stressed? Over exercising, over working, overdoing anything even over doing being excited causes the fight or flight response which affects blood sugar, making us crave sugar. Balance is the key to everything, even eating this way.
Understanding that craving sugar is an inbuilt survival mechanism (although useless to us now) and understanding that it is human nature to get away with as much as possible can go a long way to resolving any guilt you may be feeling about 'falling off the wagon'. Also understand that once you have eaten something sugary, the insulin response creates a drop in blood sugar and another sugar craving. I am using sugar generically here because ultimately everything we binge on ends up as blood glucose - refined carbs (bread, pasta etc.) alcohol, sweets, even too much protein.
So now what to do about it?
1 - Have Healthy Alternatives as binge/snack standbys.
As great as I feel on veggies, good fats and protein I know and accept that I want the following things in my life: coffee, wine, chocolate, bread, cookies, sweet treats. I just make them as healthy as possible: organic coffee, organic wine with preservative drops, 90% cocoa chocolate, Primal Soapbox Breads and Cookies and I always have a raw caramel slice or similar in the freezer in tiny portions to have when I want it. I also always have a chocolate chia pudding in the fridge which is a great substitute for when I fancy yoghurt or ice cream or chocolate pudding. So shop around for what will work for you and be mindful that they are still treats.
2 - View your food choices as part of your daily practice of self mastery.
Every meal is a new opportunity to make good choices, and you know the rewards will be amazing. Don't give up or right the week/day/month off. Be gentle on yourself.
3 - Ensure each meal is made up of veggies, good fats and quality protein.
4 - Remember the other 20% of the equation.
It all starts with food but pay attention to your sleep, movement, stress management, hydration, spending time outdoors.
I hope that helps and helps to inspire you. It's a daily practice for me too. I won't ever eat anything gluten (my kryptonite) but still sometimes overindulge on the sugar and alcohol but I try not to beat myself up and I just keep on trying. Stick to it!!!!
I am available for personal consults and workshops to help tweak ancestral living to suit your life, after all we are all different.
I hope you enjoyed this post and have a great end to your week. Helen xx
Thanks for this article. Very helpful :)
ReplyDelete