Tag: adequate sleep

by on
woman in purple eating
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Triggers for Common Food Cravings

Food cravings can be caused by many factors, ranging from being stressed and tired to actually needing nutrition. For example, a lack of sleep can augment fatigue and release the hormone cortisol, which can trigger hunger. Dieting and limiting calories can elevate ghrelin, the hunger hormone, and simultaneously can lessen the hormone leptin which provides a sensation of satiety. Additionally, if you are exercising a lot, this will naturally raise your calorie and nutrient requirements, of course. Even just simply being bored, doesn’t that often trigger food cravings?

How to Put an End to Food Cravings

  • Get adequate sleep. Consistent good-quality sleep is needed for your body to repair and your brain to clean itself of toxins. Being well-rested will help you a great deal too when it comes to having the needed willpower to bypass the unhealthy sugary snacks that can be so tempting when one is tired.
  • Manage stress the best you can. The more you can manage stress daily with simple but effective strategies, the more you will be able to control your food intake. My post, 5 Strategies to de-Stress Like Never Before, will walk you through the basics.
  • Put unhealthy foods out of sight or simply do a pantry purge. The main idea is to have at home only foods that work well with your metabolism and that you are going to feel good eating whether you have a craving or not. Having a “good food environment” is key to long-term success.
  • Stock up on healthy foods and snacks. The Primal Blueprint template works well for my metabolism. See which foods work best for you (as we are all unique individuals with specific requirements and sensitivities) and buy accordingly after consulting your personal physician of course.
grilled meat dish served on white plate
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

More Strategies

  • Consume enough protein each day. Consuming enough protein every day provides a host of health benefits. Among other things, it enhances muscle mass, aids with managing our weight, helps with stabilizing our blood sugar levels, and betters our mood.
  • Keep a food diary. This will allow you to be more mindful of what you are eating every day. You can become more aware of what triggers food cravings the most (emotions, times of day, etc.).
  • Get up and move. If you experience a food craving, sometimes just taking a walk or stretching, for instance, can help with getting rid of that craving. As mentioned in a previous post, we are meant to be active, engaging in regular physical activity throughout the day, each day. This means any type of movement depending on your preferences and routine. Regular physical activity is shown to help with heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and several cancers. It further helps with hypertension, keeping a healthy body weight, and enhancing mental health, quality of life, and well-being.
assorted sliced fruits
Photo by Jane Doan on Pexels.com

On a Final Note

All of the above strategies will help you a great deal in putting an end to food cravings this new year. To these strategies, I want to add Ketone-IQ, which are exogenous ketones. I take one serving mid-afternoon, in general, and this allows me to control the amount of food I eat at the end of the day much better. I think this is a big help, because it is usually at the end of the day when we become most fatigued, that we are more easily tempted to eat unhealthy foods. You may want to give it a try too!

Have an Amazing New Year!

Reference

Zerbe, L. (2023, November 13). How to Stop Food Cravings: 9 Ways. Ancient Nutrition | Dr. Axe. https://ancientnutrition.com/blogs/all/how-to-stop-food-cravings

You can also find me on Instagram.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive health and wellness updates from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

by on

What to Prioritize

No matter where we are in age, there are always things we can tweak in order to feel better. To improve or simply maintain our health and energy levels as we get older, there are numerous things we need to work on. Once you start digging, it can look like a never-ending list of strategies to implement and it can be overwhelming. Maybe you don’t know where to start or maybe you are not sure at times that you can keep the goals you have set for yourself.

It’s important to keep in mind that only three things are at the foundation of feeling better: adequate sleep, nutrient-dense foods (which implies doing away with processed foods), and enough exercise/movement throughout the day. These are the pillars needed to build a stronger you. There is more to add to that, of course, but if you don’t prioritize these three things first, whatever else you implement will fall short.

Adequate Sleep

In How to Be Well, Dr. Frank Lipman said, “Some reasons to make sleep a priority: it’s when your body repairs, restores, maintains, and detoxifies itself. How you sleep is as important as how you live during waking hours.” Dr. Lipman recommends, for instance, to:

  • Go to bed when you’re tired.
  • Don’t eat your evening meals too late.
  • Avoid alcohol close to bedtime.
  • Leave technology (and TV) out of the bedroom.
  • Sleep in a very dark room.
  • Stay comfortably cool at night (in a room that is around 60-67 degrees Fahrenheit) as it has been demonstrated that one sleeps better that way.
  • Don’t go to sleep angry.

Nutrient-dense Foods

I had mentioned in a previous post about The Primal Blueprint Food Pyramid which types of foods someone should consider eating (according to the primal/paleo template). The bulk of any meal is vegetables. In smaller quantities then comes meat, fish, fowl, and eggs. The middle of the pyramid highlights the importance of consuming healthy fats, followed by certain foods you can eat in small amounts. Lastly, herbs, spices, extracts, and supplements top the pyramid of primal-approved foods.

Keep in mind that even these primal-approved foods may not work well for everyone. It is up to you to experiment and see how your body responds to each food you consume. To be more attuned to your body and how foods make you feel on a daily basis is part of becoming more knowledgeable about your health and overall wellness.

Exercise/Movement Throughout the Day

In a previous post about The Primal Blueprint Fitness Pyramid, I had explained how moving and exercising enough shouldn’t feel like yet another challenging goal to put on your to-do-list. Our ancestors were doing basic functional movements (squat, crawl, walk, run, jump, climb, carry, throw, etc.) when going about their daily activities.

Our lifestyle has changed tremendously over the centuries, especially in the last 100 years, but this doesn’t mean that we cannot throw in a few stretches and bodyweight exercises (for instance) as simple 1-2-minute-breaks throughout the day every day. Moving frequently, exercising your muscles and getting your heart rate up occasionally is all you have to do.

In Summary

Adequate sleep, better-quality foods, and exercise/movement throughout the day are the necessary first steps on your quest to feeling better before implementing other strategies. The same goes if you want to address daily stress. When we feel rested and with a nice flow of energy, we feel grounded and able to deal with each day’s ups and downs.

Until next time!

References

Gottfried, Sara. Younger : A Breakthrough Program to Reset Your Reset Your Genes, Reverse Aging, and Turn Back the Clock 10 Years. New York, Ny, Harperone, 2017, pp. 68–69.


Lipman, Frank M D. How to Be Well: The 6 Keys to a Happy and Healthy Life. Houghton Mifflin, 2019, pp. 108-9.

You can also find me on Instagram.