You truly are what you eat; if you eat rubbish, you feel rubbish; if you eat too much, you weigh too much; if you don’t eat enough, there won’t be enough of you; if you eat for emotional reasons, you will always feel emotional.
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The only way to control your health the right way is to understand why you do what you do. Follow the advice below to help yourself get/stay in shape by simply asking yourself 3 questions before you eat anything.
1. What am I eating?
And don’t just answer ‘I’m eating a lovely cupcake’. WHAT is actually IN it? What is it really? Have you chosen something high in fat? Low in carbs? High in sugar? Low in protein? What are the ingredients in what your eating? Is it natural or is it processed/packaged food?
You should know what food is good and what food is bad, if you’re choosing something a bit naughty then you need to move onto the next question…
2. Why am I eating this?
Out of the three questions you should ask yourself, this one id the most important. Are you eating to fuel up for a workout? Are you eating because you’re bored? Are you sad? Lonely? Are you eating because you are craving sugar? Is it because you’re hungry and haven’t eaten for a few hours?
Keep a food journal for a week, you might be surprised how often you eat when you’re not actually hungry. If certain feelings make you want to eat then you’re half way to solving the problem once you’ve worked out what they are.
If you’re eating something sugary and you feel like you don’t have a choice, that you NEED it and that you just can’t say no, there is a possibility you blood sugar level is crashing. Basically if you eat food high in sugar or cards your blood sugar can rise quickly, because it rose quickly after a while it will crash quickly, as all that sugar leaves your blood stream quickly you body with panic and demand you have more sugar. Not many people can resist these cravings, the only way to deal with is it go for a balanced diet so that your blood sugar doesn’t rise and fall so quickly.
It’s also worth noting that the brain gets thirst and hunger mixed up. You body can tell you you’re hungry, when in fact you really need to have a drink!
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3. How am I going to feel afterwards?
Think of this question in terms of physically and emotionally. Is the food going to make you feel ill? Are you going to have heart burn? Will you have gas? Will you be bloated? Will you have a stomachache? Will you get a headache? If the answer to any of the above is ‘yes’, you may well have an allergy to the food in question and you should seek medical advice from your doctor. Again, it’s worth keeping a food diary if you feel this way often.
If you think you’re going to regret it later then you have to think about why you’ll regret it? Do you have a target that you want to get to and by eating this will if keep you away from that target? Think about how important that target is. Why did you set it? When do you need to get there? Visualise how you will feel when you reach your target and then decide if what you’re about to eat is going to help you get there or delay you getting there.
If you ask yourself these 3 questions every time you eat you will end up understanding your mind and your body a whole lot better and you won’t feel the need for willpower anymore, because you’llhave it!