Speaker 1: I heard the craziest statistic about sugar recently and I
Speaker 1: was shocked. Said, an average American person has seventeen added
Speaker 1: teaspoons of sugar every single day, So that adds up
Speaker 1: to about sixty pounds of added sugar every year. There
Speaker 1: is six ten pound bowling balls. Do you know how
Speaker 1: heavy a ten pound bowling ball is? That is six
Speaker 1: of them that you are consuming in sugar. I'm Radi
Speaker 1: Wukiah and on my podcast A Really Good Cry, we
Speaker 1: embrace the messy and the beautiful, providing a space for raw,
Speaker 1: unfiltered conversations that celebrate vulnerability and allow you to tune
Speaker 1: in to learn, connect and find comfort together. Hey everyone,
Speaker 1: and welcome back to this week's episode of A Really
Speaker 1: Good Cry. If you're new here, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for joining this community. I'm so happy you're here. And
Speaker 1: if you're listening for the second, third, fourth, tenth, thirteenth,
Speaker 1: one hundredth time, not that there are one hundred episodes yet,
Speaker 1: but if you have been a consistent listener that has
Speaker 1: committed and that has supported me through this, through all
Speaker 1: the bad quality episodes, through all the chops and changes,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. I appreciate it. So deeply, and
Speaker 1: you guys are helping me to learn more, research more,
Speaker 1: and understand myself so much better. So just want to
Speaker 1: shout out and say thank you so much for that.
Speaker 1: Now this week, I really want to talk about something
Speaker 1: that has ruled my life for far too long, and
Speaker 1: I feel like from all the conversations I've been having
Speaker 1: with friends they could relate to this, and so I'm
Speaker 1: sure you can too. I want to touch on a
Speaker 1: topic called cravings. I feel like I have been a
Speaker 1: victim to my cravings for far too long. For most
Speaker 1: of my life, food has controlled me, rather than me
Speaker 1: having control over the food, and it became my normality,
Speaker 1: and to be honest, it was an emotional crutch for me.
Speaker 1: It was a place of joy, a place of sadness.
Speaker 1: Food really has been my go to for every single emotion.
Speaker 1: But you know what, before Christmas, before I left La
Speaker 1: for home to go home and celebrate Christmas with my family,
Speaker 1: I decided to try and go on sugar detoks and
Speaker 1: I thought I would last a week, but I celebrated
Speaker 1: one month, one month of no sugar, which, by the way,
Speaker 1: seemed absolutely impossible to me. You know, so many of
Speaker 1: my friends when I told them I was doing it.
Speaker 1: They're like, but you're so healthy, you know, you probably
Speaker 1: don't even have that much sugar. You eat so many vegetables,
Speaker 1: And I was like, yeah, I do eat vegetables, and
Speaker 1: yeah I do cook meals at home, and I am healthy.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I was used to having
Speaker 1: some sort of sugar at every single meal, and that's actually,
Speaker 1: even if it may be less than other people, it's
Speaker 1: actually just a sign to me that sugar is controlling me,
Speaker 1: and I don't have control of that desire, and I
Speaker 1: don't like that feeling. I spent a lot of my
Speaker 1: life controlling the things that you get addicted to. So
Speaker 1: I didn't smoke in my life, I didn't drink, I
Speaker 1: didn't do weed. I really stayed away from the things
Speaker 1: that I felt were able to control me or take
Speaker 1: control of my body or my mind. And only recently
Speaker 1: in noticing that sugar has the same effect on our
Speaker 1: body as alcohol and drugs, and so unfortunately what we
Speaker 1: see is normality, which is having sugar in our cereals,
Speaker 1: in our drinks, in our milks, sometimes in our cookies,
Speaker 1: in our breads, like every single thing. Eighty percent of
Speaker 1: what we probably eat, especially in America, has sugar in it,
Speaker 1: so it becomes our normality. But one thing is for sure,
Speaker 1: just because something is normal does not mean it is
Speaker 1: the right thing. And it confuses us because it's legal.
Speaker 1: Sugar in food items is legal. Certain drugs are not legal,
Speaker 1: But unfortunately sugar has pretty much the same effect as them.
Speaker 1: From our head to our toe, whether it's our mind,
Speaker 1: whether it's our organs, whether it's our anxiety levels, whether
Speaker 1: it's our energy levels, our mood, nemely, any health condition
Speaker 1: or any mental health issue, and I guarantee you it
Speaker 1: can trace back to sugar. And the reason I ended
Speaker 1: up doing it was because I had friends that were
Speaker 1: visiting from Canada. Wonderful friends that were visiting from Canada.
Speaker 1: We all went out for dinner at one of my
Speaker 1: favorite places called Pure Beater. They do the most delicious
Speaker 1: vegan terrama suit. Oh my goodness, it is so good.
Speaker 1: So we all go out to eat and it gets
Speaker 1: to dessert, and I'm like, obviously we're getting desert because
Speaker 1: in my mind, going out with friends and having dessert
Speaker 1: is like the best combination. There is no going out
Speaker 1: with friends and not having dessert like that does not
Speaker 1: make any sense to me. In my mind, a celebration
Speaker 1: of being together means you eat sweet things together. And
Speaker 1: so it got to dessert and he said, you know,
Speaker 1: one of my friends said, you know, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to have any dessert because I'm on a sugar detox.
Speaker 1: And I was like, okay, but you're on holiday. Is
Speaker 1: that is this not exempt from your sugar detox? And
Speaker 1: he said no, I really don't feel like having it.
Speaker 1: I don't want to break it. And I was like,
Speaker 1: this guy must be joking, because in my mind, I
Speaker 1: thought he's playing it up for us right now and
Speaker 1: then when he goes home, he's gonna have a big
Speaker 1: chocolate bar. Because honestly, in my mind, I couldn't imagine
Speaker 1: in what world you wouldn't want to eat a dessert
Speaker 1: with your friends and would want to skip a sweet
Speaker 1: treat when you're on holiday, becau, there's this vacation mode
Speaker 1: like you want to eat all the good things. But
Speaker 1: he stuck with it. He didn't have it, and he
Speaker 1: explained to me all the benefits that he was feeling.
Speaker 1: So I was like, you know what, I started reflecting
Speaker 1: back on my life and I said, since tour, which
Speaker 1: was a year, which was the beginning of last year.
Speaker 1: My stress levels were quite high during that time. My
Speaker 1: courset levels definitely felt like they were high, and I
Speaker 1: was craving so many sweet things. I think for energy
Speaker 1: to ease my anxiety. Well, I thought it was easing
Speaker 1: my anxiety and just for comfort. You know, when you're
Speaker 1: traveling and you're all over the place and all you
Speaker 1: want is something that feels good, like that feels really
Speaker 1: good to you, and chocolate and sweet things was my comfort.
Speaker 1: I honestly started having an extreme amount where I couldn't
Speaker 1: imagine having a meal without having something sweet after. And
Speaker 1: so when I thought about that, I was like, oh wow,
Speaker 1: I really am being controlled by this and I have
Speaker 1: zero control over my desire to eat these sweet things.
Speaker 1: So I said, you know what, I'm going to try it.
Speaker 1: And by the way, this was maybe the like one
Speaker 1: hundredth time I've tried to do with sugar detoks, and
Speaker 1: I usual, you fail on day one because I would
Speaker 1: get headaches and I would feel low energy. So I'd
Speaker 1: be like, I'll just have a little bit and I'll
Speaker 1: just cut it down. I don't have to take it
Speaker 1: out completely. This was the first time I was like
Speaker 1: it has to be done, because I don't like the
Speaker 1: feeling of being controlled. When you get to a point
Speaker 1: where you know you don't want something but you have
Speaker 1: it anyway, When you know it's not good for you,
Speaker 1: but you have it anyway, that's when you know you
Speaker 1: are going towards addiction. And I was like, mmmm, that's
Speaker 1: not happening for me. So Day one came, and what
Speaker 1: I did to start off with was I prepared myself
Speaker 1: and think that's what's really important. I'm going to go
Speaker 1: into this actually a little bit later on. I really
Speaker 1: want to share all the tips. That's what this episode
Speaker 1: is going to be about. I'm going to share with
Speaker 1: you how I managed to do thirty days without having
Speaker 1: any sugar. And by the way, after this thirty days,
Speaker 1: I did go back home for Christmas, and I did
Speaker 1: have some sweet things, but definitely in moderation, and I
Speaker 1: wasn't like throwing myself back into it. Sweet things tasted
Speaker 1: way sweeter than they used to, and small amounts wild
Speaker 1: satisfy me. I'm now back from Christmas holidays, obviously, and
Speaker 1: I've gone back to having no sugar. I'm on like
Speaker 1: day four, but it's way easier this time. And because
Speaker 1: I know how amazing the benefits are and what I
Speaker 1: was feeling after it, it's a no brainer for me.
Speaker 1: I know that's not what I want to go back to.
Speaker 1: So before I get into how you're going to do this,
Speaker 1: I'm going to share some of the juicy, amazing benefits
Speaker 1: of it so you want to stick with it, Like,
Speaker 1: let me tell you what you can get from it
Speaker 1: before I tell you the process of how to get there.
Speaker 1: Number one, I was getting all these tiny, tiny spots
Speaker 1: all over my forehead and all over my face here
Speaker 1: and I was like, what is this? What is happening.
Speaker 1: I've never had skin like this. I'm not eating anything different,
Speaker 1: what is happening? And at first I thought it was
Speaker 1: hormonal shifts, which, by the way, sugar will do that
Speaker 1: to you. Like I said, sugar affects every part of
Speaker 1: your body, and one of the key areas, especially for women,
Speaker 1: is hormones. And at first I was like, maybe it's that,
Speaker 1: But then I had my levels checked and everything was fine.
Speaker 1: And let me tell you, three days, three days into
Speaker 1: my sugar detox, my entire skin cleared up. My skin
Speaker 1: was glowing like my body had done a complete shift,
Speaker 1: not only that I stopped craving other things. It was
Speaker 1: like my whole palette became neutral again. In hindsight, I
Speaker 1: noticed that when I was craving lots of sugar, I
Speaker 1: was also craving lots of like intensely sweet things, intensely
Speaker 1: sour things, intensely chili things. I just wanted things at
Speaker 1: the extremes, And as soon as I cut sugar out,
Speaker 1: it almost rebalanced my taste buds where I wasn't craving
Speaker 1: all those extremes. I just wanted a balanced meal, and
Speaker 1: I didn't realize that that's what sugar was doing to
Speaker 1: my body. On top of that, I was feeling way
Speaker 1: less scruggy, I had way more energy, I didn't have
Speaker 1: those afternoon slumps that I was having every single day,
Speaker 1: And my skin just got better and better, and I
Speaker 1: was shocked. I couldn't believe how clear my skin looked
Speaker 1: and how glowy and bright my skin looked without having sugar,
Speaker 1: Like what a difference it made. Sugar literally dulled my
Speaker 1: entire being from the inside out. So now I'm convinced
Speaker 1: that he actually didn't go home and have a chocolate bar,
Speaker 1: and he actually did not want to have that sweet thing.
Speaker 1: And I only realized that after doing a month of
Speaker 1: it and thinking, wow, I really don't want to eat
Speaker 1: this sweet thing every I actually plan to do a week,
Speaker 1: and then I end up doing another week and then
Speaker 1: another week, and then I was like, there is no
Speaker 1: reason for me to stop this. So all that to sayosive,
Speaker 1: if it's possible for me, it is possible for you too,
Speaker 1: And I'm going to tell you exactly how you're going
Speaker 1: to do it. The one thing I will start with
Speaker 1: it's something that I mentioned on my episode about getting
Speaker 1: back on track, But do not wait to feel different
Speaker 1: before you make a change in your life. I think
Speaker 1: that's a big mistake that we make. We wait to
Speaker 1: feel the certain way to take action, when actually what
Speaker 1: we have to do is take the action to feel
Speaker 1: the change. That then fuels are sticking on that new
Speaker 1: pattern that we've got. And so don't wait till something happens,
Speaker 1: or don't wait till your stress is over, and don't
Speaker 1: wait till whatever it is you're waiting for to make
Speaker 1: this change. Make the change, feel the difference, and then
Speaker 1: it will fuel you staying on that pattern. Do not
Speaker 1: wait to feel before you do. All you have to
Speaker 1: do is make it to day one. And as soon
Speaker 1: as you know and you feel accomplished that you have
Speaker 1: made it through day one, day two, day three, day four,
Speaker 1: day five, day seven, it all becomes so much easier.
Speaker 1: All you have to do is make it through day one.
Speaker 1: I heard the craziest statistic about sugar recently, and I
Speaker 1: was shocked. Said, an average American person has seventeen added
Speaker 1: teaspoons of sugar every single day. Seventeen teaspoons of sugar
Speaker 1: every single day. In an average American adults diet more
Speaker 1: than three times the recommended daily amount. And by the way,
Speaker 1: there's not a recommended daily amount, because a recommended daily
Speaker 1: amount means something that you should be having for your health.
Speaker 1: But actually this is the recommended limit because sugar actually
Speaker 1: has zero benefit, it has no nutrient value, it actually
Speaker 1: does nothing for you. So there's no recommended amount that
Speaker 1: you should be having. It is an extreme limit that
Speaker 1: you should not be going above. And American, an average
Speaker 1: American is having three times more than the limit that
Speaker 1: is set by the government. And so an average American
Speaker 1: person is having three times that limit. So that adds
Speaker 1: up to about sixty pounds of added sugar every year,
Speaker 1: there is six ten pound bowling balls. Do you know
Speaker 1: how heavy a ten pound bowling ball is? That is
Speaker 1: six of them that you are consuming in sugar. I've
Speaker 1: been seeing so much informationately about the toxicity of sugar,
Speaker 1: especially when it comes to brain health, especially when it
Speaker 1: comes to deterioration of the brain, especially when it comes
Speaker 1: to anxiety, when it comes to female hormones. The amount
Speaker 1: of things that sugar impacts that we're not aware of
Speaker 1: is actually quite scary. And so let's get you off it,
Speaker 1: shall we, Or at least let's get you to a
Speaker 1: point where you're having minimal amounts and that it's not
Speaker 1: in control of you. The first step to giving up
Speaker 1: sugar is planning. So the first thing I did when
Speaker 1: I decided I was going to be on day one
Speaker 1: of no sugar, the first thing I did was planned.
Speaker 1: Because when you're in day one, you think you're going
Speaker 1: to be amazing. You think I'm never going to get
Speaker 1: craving for sugar. No, as soon as I make the
Speaker 1: decision to give up sugar, that's it. I'm going to
Speaker 1: be superhuman and I will not even crave it, not once.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to find it difficult because you're on
Speaker 1: that hype, you're excited about it. The problem is you
Speaker 1: get to mid day of day one and you're ready
Speaker 1: to break. And so what you have to do is
Speaker 1: you need a plan. My plan was stewed fruit. It
Speaker 1: was absolutely delicious of taken apple, put into a pan
Speaker 1: a little bit of water, and just cook the fruit down.
Speaker 1: It would be plums, it would be apples, it could
Speaker 1: be pears, whatever fruit you fancy. Put that in, let
Speaker 1: it get really caramelized in juicy, and then I'd have
Speaker 1: that with no other sugar, yogurt and a sprinkle of
Speaker 1: some nuts or some nut butter. And it was my
Speaker 1: saving grace. But you have to have it ready in
Speaker 1: the fridge. You can't leave it till that moment because
Speaker 1: in that moment you will get weak. It's just how
Speaker 1: our mind works, the path of least resistance. So make
Speaker 1: sure that it's ready in your fridge, or the apples
Speaker 1: are already cut, ready to be put in the pan.
Speaker 1: So there's very short period of time where you are
Speaker 1: without the sugar fix. For don't let the motivation at
Speaker 1: the beginning for you, because it will it will make
Speaker 1: you believe that you are not going to feel like
Speaker 1: you want something, but don't buy into it. It's a trick.
Speaker 1: It's a trick, and your body will try and get
Speaker 1: you to have some because it is what it's used to.
Speaker 1: But do not let yourself fail. Do not let yourself
Speaker 1: fall for it. Your mine will trick you. But now
Speaker 1: you know better. The motivation runs out, the stressful times come,
Speaker 1: our hormones are shifting, we get our period. Lord knows
Speaker 1: you need to be ready for those shugar cravings when
Speaker 1: you get your periods. So now you know, a little
Speaker 1: bit of some post fruit, no matter sugar, yogurt, a
Speaker 1: little bit of nut buttter delish. The second thing I
Speaker 1: did was make sure that I had alternatives in the
Speaker 1: house because at the end of the day, they're there
Speaker 1: for a reason. They're helpful, especially in the first few days.
Speaker 1: So I had monk fruit. Now, monk fruit is a sweetener.
Speaker 1: It comes from a tree. It doesn't spike your glucose levels,
Speaker 1: but it's quite sweet to taste. And so whether it
Speaker 1: was like there's a maple syrup that they do, that's
Speaker 1: monk fruit. You can get munk fruit chocolate chips, you
Speaker 1: can get monk fruit sugar. So if you do want
Speaker 1: to still use things that mimic sugar at least have
Speaker 1: the alternative so you don't go to the real thing.
Speaker 1: But again, all these things have to be taken in moderation,
Speaker 1: Like you can't have too many things with sweetness because
Speaker 1: it upsets your gut too, and so really it's about balance.
Speaker 1: So if you are going to use it, still use
Speaker 1: it as if it is sugar, small amounts if you
Speaker 1: really have to put it into certain things, but don't
Speaker 1: rely on it. But I do recommend trying to stay
Speaker 1: away from them and just sticking to fruit because fruit
Speaker 1: is delicious and it has way more nutrients in it,
Speaker 1: because then you go from being addicted to one thing
Speaker 1: to being addicted to another, and so it's kind of
Speaker 1: nice to just have a clean cut if possible. Now,
Speaker 1: the other thing you have to be really careful about
Speaker 1: is all the other things that have sugar in it
Speaker 1: that you may not realize, so whether it is your cereals.
Speaker 1: So what you really have to do is start checking
Speaker 1: all your labels. It's a bit of a tedious process,
Speaker 1: but it's so worth it. Check everything that you normally
Speaker 1: have from morning to evening. I guarantee you'll find it
Speaker 1: in something that you weren't even expecting it. In whether
Speaker 1: it is your sauces, you'll ketch up, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: catch up in One tablespoon of ketchup is one tablespoon
Speaker 1: of sugar. So make sure you're checking your labels from
Speaker 1: the first thing you in the morning till the evening
Speaker 1: and check how many grams of sugar it has. Ideally
Speaker 1: take it out completely while you're on this and try
Speaker 1: and find alternatives. There are lots of no idea sugar cereals,
Speaker 1: and honestly, the more processed something is, the more likely
Speaker 1: it is to have a lot more sugar in it.
Speaker 1: If you're not quite ready for the sugar detoks, a
Speaker 1: good way to understand how much sugar you are actually
Speaker 1: having is to look through your diet and touch up
Speaker 1: how much sugar you're actually having throughout the day, and
Speaker 1: then you could try and reduce it instead of cutting
Speaker 1: out completely. So let's say you're on thirty grams of sugar,
Speaker 1: maybe you cut it down to fifteen and you notice
Speaker 1: the areas that you can take it out, so you
Speaker 1: don't have to necessarily go to the extreme of cutting
Speaker 1: everything out if you're not ready for it, but you
Speaker 1: could definitely decrease it in some way. As sad as
Speaker 1: it is, you basically just have to assume that sugar
Speaker 1: is in everything from cereals to milks, to protein powders
Speaker 1: to chips, the drinks and snacks. You'll probably be quite
Speaker 1: surprised when you do end up adding it up, and
Speaker 1: when you end up looking at labels, it will creep
Speaker 1: up in places that you weren't even expecting. Another part
Speaker 1: of planning is thinking about all the scenarios that you
Speaker 1: find it the most difficult to resist. So for me,
Speaker 1: it was social situations like if I go to the cinema,
Speaker 1: then I want to have something a sweet tree. If
Speaker 1: it's a Friday night and I've got friends coming around,
Speaker 1: let's order some dessert. If I'm feeling sad, let's order
Speaker 1: some dessert. So figure out the situations. Mine were mainly
Speaker 1: social situations that I found it difficult to restrain. So
Speaker 1: when I ended up going to the cinema, I ended
Speaker 1: up actually having my vegan protein powder, which is chocolate flavor.
Speaker 1: It doesn't have actual sugar in it, and I made
Speaker 1: it into a hot chocolate. So I took my hot
Speaker 1: chocolate with me to the cinema, and honestly, it was
Speaker 1: so satisfying and I actually didn't want anything else. But
Speaker 1: because I planned it beforehand and I knew in my
Speaker 1: mind I was doing that, it made it much easier.
Speaker 1: Next up, this was probably the biggest thing that helped
Speaker 1: me curb my sugar cravings, and it was increasing my protein.
Speaker 1: And I never actually thought I would link the two,
Speaker 1: but it made it huge difference because I was so
Speaker 1: satiated by my meals that I didn't even want anything afterwards,
Speaker 1: So upping my protein completely changed my desire and my
Speaker 1: craving for sugar. So the day that I decided to
Speaker 1: give up sugar, I also made a point to increase
Speaker 1: my protein and was way more conscious of it. And
Speaker 1: so being Indian, I grew up with a carb predominant meal,
Speaker 1: like most of my meals would be carbohydrate based and
Speaker 1: then having protein on the side, and even the protein
Speaker 1: would be diluted like in a dhal or something. So
Speaker 1: now what I've done is, even if it's not large quantities,
Speaker 1: every single meal without a doubt, has to have some
Speaker 1: protein in it. And what a game changer it has made. Look,
Speaker 1: I don't believe in this extreme of like the crazy
Speaker 1: amount of protein that people are trying to get in.
Speaker 1: It's so unnatural to the body, and so I think
Speaker 1: some people are taking it to a far extremes. But
Speaker 1: I do think there is a point to having a
Speaker 1: balanced meal, and so protein is part of that balanced meal. Carbohydrates,
Speaker 1: fats and protein, and so making sure you have a
Speaker 1: protein with each meal, a carbohydrate with each meal, and
Speaker 1: fats with each meal is really important. And if you're
Speaker 1: lacking in the protein, it really changes the way that
Speaker 1: you feel satisfied in the meal and therefore are still
Speaker 1: craving things afterwards. Look in our radia, it even says
Speaker 1: when you have the balance of a good meal, you
Speaker 1: know a meal it has been well balanced. If you're
Speaker 1: not craving something after when it's got the perfect balance
Speaker 1: of all the tastes or the food groups, you actually
Speaker 1: shouldn't desire anything afterwards. That's a sign of a good meal.
Speaker 1: There's a difference between feeling satiated and feeling full. Full
Speaker 1: makes you feel lethargic after a full makes you feel
Speaker 1: really sluggish after your meal. Satiated energizes you, and so
Speaker 1: I think there's a big difference between the two. When
Speaker 1: you feel full, it results in feeling slow, sluggish, and
Speaker 1: lithargic afterwards. But when you're satiated in just the right
Speaker 1: amount to feel energized, to feel like you can get
Speaker 1: on with your day, and it actually makes your body
Speaker 1: feel more active. Protein basically just helps to regulate your
Speaker 1: blood sugar levels too, which means that you don't have
Speaker 1: as many fluctuations in your blood sugar levels, and that
Speaker 1: results in lessings. The more your blood sugar levels fluctuate,
Speaker 1: go from highs to lows, the more you actually end
Speaker 1: up craving foods, and you end up craving the foods
Speaker 1: that you know you don't want to eat, but also
Speaker 1: want to eat, the high carbohydrate foods like breads and
Speaker 1: pastas and all the sugary goodies. Next up, don't skip
Speaker 1: meals because you know what happens. You get yourself to
Speaker 1: a point where you're so hungry you just want to
Speaker 1: reach for something that's going to give you instant energy.
Speaker 1: And usually our body has been trained to know that
Speaker 1: we get instant energy from the high carbohydrate, high sugary foods,
Speaker 1: and that's what it wants to reach for. So just
Speaker 1: don't get your body to that point. And again that's planning,
Speaker 1: making sure that you've got if you're going to be
Speaker 1: out over meal times, have a little snack with you.
Speaker 1: Don't wait to get to that point, because inevitably your
Speaker 1: body is just going to go into panic mode and
Speaker 1: just reach for the thing that's going to give it
Speaker 1: the most amount of energy in the least amount of time.
Speaker 1: And all the science has indicated that as soon as
Speaker 1: your blood sugar levels drop really low, that's when you
Speaker 1: start reaching for all the high carbohydrate foods. It triggers
Speaker 1: our bodies response to want those things. So plan your meals,
Speaker 1: and if you can't plan your meals, plan your snacks.
Speaker 1: Next up, hydration. So we've talked about protein, We've talked
Speaker 1: about planning your meals. We've talked about poached apples and
Speaker 1: fruits to help with curving your cravings. We've talked about
Speaker 1: alternatives to sugars, like sweetness like monk fruit, stevia. But
Speaker 1: a huge part of this is also hydration. Oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: when you are hydrated enough. I actually didn't know this,
Speaker 1: but the same area of your brain that controls your
Speaker 1: hunger actually controls your thirst two. So sometimes your signals
Speaker 1: get crossed and so when you're actually thirsty. You think
Speaker 1: that you're craving something sweet or you're hungry, when actually
Speaker 1: all you need to do is hydrate. One of my
Speaker 1: favorite quotes in the world. My favorite quote is drink
Speaker 1: water and mind your business, two very important things to
Speaker 1: live a peaceful, happy life. So if there's one thing
Speaker 1: you take away from this episode, it's drink water and
Speaker 1: mind your business. Let's talk about sleep next, shall we.
Speaker 1: That's the two things actually I've got on my feed
Speaker 1: at the moment is sleep, how important sleep is, and
Speaker 1: how toxic sugar is combination of both bad combo lack
Speaker 1: of sleep. I actually did my university dissertation on the
Speaker 1: correlation the association between sleep and obesity, and I remember,
Speaker 1: after going through all the research, I was shocked at
Speaker 1: how blatant the association was between lack of sleep and
Speaker 1: obesity for so many reasons, some of which I've talked
Speaker 1: about already. Whether it's the low blood sugar levels, your
Speaker 1: cravings just being heightened from the moment you wake up.
Speaker 1: And I've noticed this when I wake up after lack
Speaker 1: of sleep, when I've had like four or five hours sleep,
Speaker 1: from the moment I wake up, I'm hungry. And I
Speaker 1: don't want the things that I know are good for me.
Speaker 1: I want the things that I know are bad for
Speaker 1: me but are going to give me energy. And that's
Speaker 1: really what it's linked to. You're just trying to make
Speaker 1: up for the lack of processing that's happened at night,
Speaker 1: the lack of metabolizing, the lack of energy that you're feeling.
Speaker 1: You just are trying to get get get because your
Speaker 1: body feels depleted. Sleep impacts our hormones that control our appetite.
Speaker 1: But when you're sleep deprived, your hunger hormone grellin increases
Speaker 1: and your satiety hormone called leptin decreases, which means you
Speaker 1: start craving all the sugary carby things that you know
Speaker 1: you don't want but also really want. I've actually never
Speaker 1: had alcohol before, or i haven't had a drunk night,
Speaker 1: but every single time I've had a late night and
Speaker 1: an early morning on a couple of hours sleep, I
Speaker 1: swear I start to understand what a hangover must feel like,
Speaker 1: and I just start craving a really big carby comforting
Speaker 1: breakfast in the morning. And I always remember my friends
Speaker 1: after having a late night out and getting smashed the
Speaker 1: night before. All they want in the morning is like
Speaker 1: a big, solid breakfast, and so I definitely think lack
Speaker 1: of sleep has that same effect as a hangover does. Also,
Speaker 1: I think you need to remember not to be too
Speaker 1: hard on yourself and don't restrict yourself too much. When
Speaker 1: people surrender to a food craving, they often blame it
Speaker 1: on a lack of self control. But you know what,
Speaker 1: cravings are caused by a combination of so many things,
Speaker 1: whether it's our appetite, hormones, our behavioral conditioning, and the
Speaker 1: fact that we have all these sugar foods so easily
Speaker 1: accessible to us more so than healthy foods. Cravings can
Speaker 1: actually be fueled by just smelling fresh bread when we
Speaker 1: walk into a bakery, or situations or emotions that trigger
Speaker 1: us to want comfort, and so restricting yourself completely can
Speaker 1: actually lead to binge eating rather than sustain change. So
Speaker 1: understand that your cravings are also just part of life,
Speaker 1: and not giving yourself unto ultimatums is so important. It's
Speaker 1: like when you're younger and your mom says you can't
Speaker 1: have this, it actually makes you want it more. So
Speaker 1: don't even phrase it like that to yourself. Find the
Speaker 1: reason and repeat that instead, I don't want to eat
Speaker 1: this because it makes my skin feel terrible, it makes
Speaker 1: me feel lethargic and unhappy, it makes me feel sluggish
Speaker 1: after I've eaten it, rather than saying do not have
Speaker 1: this because it's off bounds and if you have it,
Speaker 1: you're a terrible person with no self control, which is
Speaker 1: usually what our mind ends up telling us. We create
Speaker 1: these limitations, we create these ultimatums that if you have
Speaker 1: it this one time, that means you're a failure. But
Speaker 1: you're not. And so I think changing the way that
Speaker 1: you're wording it to yourself and the way you're framing
Speaker 1: it can make all the difference to being able to
Speaker 1: stick to it. I remember hearing this and it is
Speaker 1: stuck with me through so many parts of my life.
Speaker 1: It's not about subtraction, it's about addition. So find the
Speaker 1: higher taste and find the things that make you feel
Speaker 1: good that you can add into your life, and then
Speaker 1: the things that you want to get rid of will
Speaker 1: naturally fall away or they feel easier to let go of.
Speaker 1: I remember my spiritual teacher referring it to as a
Speaker 1: higher taste. When you get a higher taste, when you
Speaker 1: experience something better that makes you feel better, that makes
Speaker 1: you feel vibrant, that makes you feel energetic, that creates
Speaker 1: something good inside of you. You naturally don't want the
Speaker 1: things that make you feel lesser, that actually don't make
Speaker 1: you feel good, and so focus on creating better habits
Speaker 1: rather than trying to get rid of the negative habits.
Speaker 1: We always think about the things that we are losing
Speaker 1: before we think about the things that we're gaining, and
Speaker 1: so it takes a mindset shift of actually, let's think
Speaker 1: about we are gaining before we think about the loss.
Speaker 1: Your mind will feel so much more at ease about
Speaker 1: those choices that you make when you're thinking about what
Speaker 1: you're gaining versus what you're losing, because as soon as
Speaker 1: you're in a lost mentality, you essentially put yourself in
Speaker 1: a scarcity mindset, which creates panic and anxiety. And take
Speaker 1: you one day at a time. People, there's no rush,
Speaker 1: We've got a whole life. Doesn't mean that you should
Speaker 1: slack on this, but don't set yourself goals that feel
Speaker 1: too far away, like oh, I'm giving up sugar for
Speaker 1: a year. I literally told myself I'd give out for
Speaker 1: a week if anything I was hoping to make it
Speaker 1: to one day and I was going to feel like
Speaker 1: I had success. So take it one day at a time,
Speaker 1: say you know what, yeah, maybe today, maybe three days,
Speaker 1: maybe seven days, and then eventually you'll probably end up
Speaker 1: doing it for longer. But as soon as you set
Speaker 1: a crazy long goal, your body's also going to start
Speaker 1: panicking and thinking, oh my god, all those situations I'm
Speaker 1: going to miss out on, all the sweet, delicious things
Speaker 1: I'm going to miss out on, and naturally you're going
Speaker 1: to feel like crab. And so take it one day
Speaker 1: at a time, one week at a time, and just
Speaker 1: give yourself some grace. And you know what, once you've
Speaker 1: done it for a certain amount of time, I decide,
Speaker 1: you know, I want to include something once a week,
Speaker 1: a little treat once a week, And why not have
Speaker 1: that treat once a week. It's better than daily. Having
Speaker 1: once a week sugary treat is better than what you
Speaker 1: were doing before. Or decide you want it on celebrations
Speaker 1: or on Christmas. Enjoy the celebrations, but just know how
Speaker 1: to get yourself back on track. I've noticed people say
Speaker 1: to go cold turkey, because when you have a small
Speaker 1: taste of it, it can set you off on the
Speaker 1: wrong path. But honestly, that's not the case for me,
Speaker 1: and it may not be for you either. I found
Speaker 1: the one offs are totally fine, and I actually don't
Speaker 1: even eat as much of it as I normally would
Speaker 1: or binge on it. I usually take a bite to
Speaker 1: try and then I'm like, Okay, this is great, but
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily need all of it. And so sometimes
Speaker 1: letting yourself have something once a week stops your mind
Speaker 1: from feeling like you've taken it away completely, and it
Speaker 1: just creates normality in your life rather than feeling too restricted. Also,
Speaker 1: what you will notice is how sweet things actually are
Speaker 1: once you've gotten rid of it. So it's actually great
Speaker 1: to do this just as a reset to realize what
Speaker 1: things actually taste like and what you're actually putting into body.
Speaker 1: I feel the same way about salt. I've really reduced
Speaker 1: my salt intakes, so now everything tastes so salty to
Speaker 1: me when I eat out when I'm not in control
Speaker 1: of the amount of salt I'm putting in. I really
Speaker 1: think it's the more you have, the more you craved.
Speaker 1: That's the same with you know, cigarettes, with alcohol, it's
Speaker 1: like the more you have, the higher your tolerances, which
Speaker 1: means the more you need to satisfy your cravings for it,
Speaker 1: And so having these random one offs actually shouldn't throw
Speaker 1: you off or make you want it the next day
Speaker 1: and the next day. I think it should just satisfy
Speaker 1: you for that moment. But if you are someone who's
Speaker 1: all or nothing Jay, my husband is definitely like that,
Speaker 1: then you might just have to go cold turkey and
Speaker 1: not give yourself some treats. Next up, I recommend really
Speaker 1: focusing on portion control. One of my team members actually
Speaker 1: really wanted to get off chips. She loved a good
Speaker 1: tortilla chip, and I don't blame her. They're so Moorish
Speaker 1: and delicious. It was actually one of my big cravings
Speaker 1: when I was having a lot of sugar. That was
Speaker 1: my other thing. I really wanted lots of chips. I
Speaker 1: think it was a salty and carbiness of it that
Speaker 1: really attracted me. Anyway, She didn't want to give it
Speaker 1: up completely because she really loved her chips and wanted
Speaker 1: to keep them in her life, but she didn't want
Speaker 1: to finish a whole bag. She would usually sit with
Speaker 1: a whole bag and by the end of it she'd
Speaker 1: throw it at me and be like, you shouldn't have
Speaker 1: let me do that. Why did you let me do that?
Speaker 1: Take this away from me? So I kept telling her
Speaker 1: just portion it out, like take the amount that you
Speaker 1: want in a bowl and cap yourself with that. Don't
Speaker 1: go back to the bag. And once you've got it
Speaker 1: in the bowl and you've calculated the amount of chips
Speaker 1: that you want, just eat that and then you know
Speaker 1: what your limits are. It really makes a difference because
Speaker 1: when you got bag of chips in front of them,
Speaker 1: you know you're just gonna go act it. And that's
Speaker 1: the same with chocolate. You made this at My mom
Speaker 1: is so cute. She has one small piece of dark
Speaker 1: chocolate every single day after her lunch and that's just
Speaker 1: her portion. She doesn't go back for another one. She
Speaker 1: just knows that that's a sweet tweet that she loves having,
Speaker 1: and so she's got it controlled in the amount that
Speaker 1: she wants it and it really satisfies her. So let's
Speaker 1: talk about supplements and vitamins when it comes to cravings.
Speaker 1: So research has shown the low levels of B twelve
Speaker 1: in your body actually leads to more cravings. B vitamins
Speaker 1: actually help our body to convert what we eat into
Speaker 1: the energy that fuels ourselves in our body, and so
Speaker 1: when the brain doesn't have enough energy, it triggers our
Speaker 1: cravings and our desire to have sweet foods. So get
Speaker 1: yourself a bee supplement if you are finding yourself craving
Speaker 1: a lot of things. To be honest, most of us
Speaker 1: are deficient in it, and so I'm sure you could
Speaker 1: use it in your life, especially South Asians, we have
Speaker 1: seem to have a genetic disposition to having low B
Speaker 1: twelve levels. Another supplement people actually don't know about that
Speaker 1: helps to curb cravings and is not as zepic and
Speaker 1: does not ruin your body is a supplement called Berberon.
Speaker 1: It's been around an Ivadic and Chinese medicine for a
Speaker 1: really long time. It is plant extracts, but it helps
Speaker 1: to support your insulin secretion in your body, which helps
Speaker 1: to control your blood sugar spikes and your blood sugar levels,
Speaker 1: which in turn helps with cravings. So I really hope
Speaker 1: that these tips help you in curbing your cravings. If
Speaker 1: this is one of your goals for this year, then
Speaker 1: I really hope this helped. It has helped me so much,
Speaker 1: So try one of these things or all of them,
Speaker 1: everything from planning to sleep, to protein to mindset shift,
Speaker 1: and hopefully between all of these tips, you neither take
Speaker 1: all of them or just some of them, and it
Speaker 1: gives you what you need to feel more balanced and
Speaker 1: in control. I know we can feel really disheartening when
Speaker 1: you're trying to stick to something and you keep feeling
Speaker 1: like you're failing, But just know that if you're trying
Speaker 1: to make changes, you're already doing something that's amazing for yourself.
Speaker 1: Life is all about the ebbs and flows. So show
Speaker 1: yourself some love for even trying loads of love and
Speaker 1: have a wonderful week. Cry out if you need to,
Speaker 1: but don't reach for that sweet tree. Not this week anyway,
Speaker 1: not after listening to this episode. Have a great week, guys,
Speaker 1: and sending you so much love.