Wondering why all your weight loss efforts don’t work? You could be having the most perfect diet in front of you, the diet your body would need but why aren’t those kilos dropping? You are losing all your hope, motivation and perseverance but not weight.
Even a successful weight loss program might fail if the key factors are not understood and applied. Most diet plans begin with a thought that the body has too much fat and with time, it turns into a belief, leading to an obsession about weight loss. This is interpreted by the subconscious mind as an attack of the self and the body begins to defend itself by storing more fat to prepare for the impending famine or starvation.
Cortisol, the ‘fight or flight’ hormone, controls the release of energy during emergency and stressful conditions. It is found to be elevated during starvation, restrictive dieting, over-exercising and chronic stress tuning the body into an energy (fat) storage mode where the metabolism drops.
The body can never be tricked into weight loss but the mind can be. The body needs to be reassured that it is not in danger, starvation or severe deprivation. This is where most of us are lost during our journey to a healthy lifestyle.
Among the traffic jam of thoughts, are we following the right signals? Are you eating brain-friendly or stomach-friendly food? It is one of the biggest challenges that weight watchers face today. It is impossible to have a low-calorie meal and still satisfy the body and mind.
Before I reveal the top secrets about these signals, we first have to understand the cause.
1 Experiment and Analyze your body by maintaining a DIET DIARY: It not only helps in keeping track of the quantity and frequency of what you eat but also helps identify these signals. Every time you feel the urge to eat, you have to identify and note down your signal whether green, orange or red. Make sure to pen down your feelings post meals.
2 Identify if you are getting your right signals at the right time. At the end of the day, analyse which signal had dominated your diet and eating pattern.
3 Responsive eating prevents the urge for a second meal. Eating 5- 10 minutes makes a perfect match with the belly hunger and maintaining regular pleasurable exercise reduces much of the damage to your muscle cells and metabolism.
4 Is hunger driving you crazy? Frequent episodes of hunger can occur in conditions like Diabetes Type I, Insulin Resistance, PCOD, Hyperthyroidism (increased thyroid hormone production), Bulimia Nervosa (eating disorder) and Prader-Willi Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterised by uncontrolled eating in children.
5 Loss of appetite. Deficiency of B-complex vitamins and iron can impair appetite in adults. Sleep can greatly affect appetite. Inadequate sleep (<6 hrs) can increase Leptin levels (appetite suppressing hormone) and decrease Ghrelin levels (hunger stimulating hormone). Thus leading to loss of appetite which slowly drives the body towards the fat storage mode.
6 Food cravings. We are constantly living with the urge to eat specific foods like chocolates, chips, caffeine, mostly sugary and salty foods. Biochemically, food cravings happen the same way as drug addiction and alcoholism.
Cravings can also be driven by emotions that associate with happy memories. Most women with PMS, have decreased serotonins (feel-good hormone) which triggers the cravings for sweets as the body produces serotonins after the consumption of sugary and fatty foods. Women who have less serotonin levels were found to crave for sugary gritty foods and those with elevated cortisol (stress hormone) had cravings for pastries and bakery foods, the fattier and sugary ones.
The chilling truth:
Like insulin resistance, Leptin resistance is a latent syndrome evolving with the generation of the last decade. Have you noticed how easily some people enjoy a big burger meal, the soft drink and the dessert, while many have a problem eating just two bananas and a cup of oatmeal?
Over the last five years, researchers have proven that overexposure to processed foods can cause hormonal changes and eating disorders. Fructose corn syrup, a chief ingredient in the food industry, is one of the biggest culprits. Processed foods are chemically altered and engineered in such a way that “no one can eat just one”. Even if we try to, we end up going home with this unsatisfied urge, that remains in our subconscious mind for days. The result? We end up bingeing later. The chilling truth is that obesity is, and has become, a part of our genetic material.
Who should we blame? Our genes, our lifestyle or the food industry?
The top diet solutions to trick your mind and drive your body towards muscle building mode and better metabolism.
1. Before and after tricks Start with a whiff of peppermint oil, a cup of warm water, munch on a carrot/cucumber stick and 8 pieces of unsalted almonds or 6 walnut halves or 20 grams of peanuts. End the meal with 3 tablespoons of low-fat yoghurt and 1 dried apricot/fig. Try these and see how your low-calorie meal becomes a feel-good and guilt-free meal.
2. Beat cravings . Once your craving sets the alarm, just take a 5-minute walk which will divert your mind. Taking a whiff of your favourite perfume or chewing gum can trick your senses.
Exercise is found to reduce the incidence of food cravings.
Buy chocolates you like of the smallest size and go for the almond/brazel nut coated ones. Thereby end up eating less chocolate and still be satisfied. Dark chocolates can be a guilt-free treat too in small amounts.
Avoid stocking foods which you often crave.
When PMS-ing, start your day with cereal and banana, which boosts the serotonin levels and see those cravings fade away.
Chocolate-flavoured soymilk can the best healthy option for chocoholics.
Including a whole egg for breakfast reduces uncontrolled hunger, appetite and food cravings. Yolks are a great source of biotin, Vitamin B12, folic acid, selenium and Vitamin D. Weight watchers can still include 2 yolks to their diet per week but not per meal.
Green tea and walnuts help suppress cravings.
Trytophan rich foods form the basis of serotonin production. Good sources are lean meat, chicken, turkey and seafood.
If you prefer being a vegan, soya products not only provide protein and add variety and but also makes one complete food for the body and mind.
3. Trick your mind
Have a meal that utilises the sense of flavour, colour, texture and temperature.
1) Texture: Main course: gritty cereal, baked potatoes, brown rice, quinoa, pasta or noodles.
2) Colour: Add fruits and vegetables, and colour to your plate. Make sure to choose warm shades in foods. Include broccoli, beans, orange, pumpkin, apple, capsicum and kiwi. Including white-coloured foods like egg whites, cabbage and cauliflower can trick your mind from missing rice and other refined foods.
3) Temperature: Eat as per your mind’s preference of temperature. If your dining out and your meal is fatty, start your meal with a cup of cold water and end it with warm water. Research shows that Vitamin C and probiotic foods post meals help prevent the surge of triglycerides in blood.
Either enjoy a cup of peppermint tea or 1/2 a cup of low-fat yoghurt. Most important, smell your food before eating. This is one good reason why mothers lose appetite after cooking meals. The flavours trick the mind and suppress appetite for that particular food.
