Eating for the wrong reasons? Keep cravings at bay!

Hippocrates said, “If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.”

Digestion | Healthy Eating | PMS | Stress and sleep

asktheexpert
Sonia Chartier
@AVogel_ca


02 August 2015

Our Lifestyle

As we have all heard it before, being reasonable and living a well-balanced lifestyle can unequivocally reduce stress and sickness.

Here and now, that’s easier said than done!  Most families need two working parents to afford living more or less comfortably.  This in itself places stress on every family member. The parents, most of all, for having to juggle between work, household chores and parenting and the children because of earlier social involvement and reduced free playtime –without a screen that is.

 

The stresses of modern life can make you feel as though you are on a treadmill. Most of us feel as though we never have enough time to do things, and certainly not enough time for ourselves!  This naturally takes away from the connection to the Self, which is far more important than most people think. Spending time with the Self means understanding yourself; self-knowing brings a whole new perspective on the world.  It is quite contrary to the trend of self-exhibition on social platforms, which is closer to a performance than from knowing and showing your Self.  Connecting with your Self is a strong instinct, one that craves compensation if it is not met.

When not in the form of an “addiction” to social media, the compensatory reaction will come in the form of a craving: people turn to stimulants; either drugs, cigarettes or food. Compensatory behavior successfully appeases stress and discontentment. Alas, the effect is limited to approximately 30 minutes.

Compensatory behavior

It would be interesting to measure how much good this “relaxation/compensatory” behavior is doing versus how much bad it leaves behind. Everyone is familiar with the comfort felt when indulging in treats. The fact that you are doing only that, adds to the pleasure, as you are spending a treasured moment with yourself! It relieves the psyche for a few minutes, but it weighs heavily on the body.

PMS or hormonal surges provide the perfect example. Most women crave either salty foods or sweets during certain times of the month. Some bouts provoke, what we can call “the PMS monster.” A ravenous monster that induces eating binges, mostly composed of the most deliciously empty calorie foods one can find. The absolute bliss during the feast is almost surreal, until it all comes down, when foods sit there, making you feel bloated, afraid of what the fat, sugar and salt that you just ingested will do, and guilty of having given in to the “the PMS monster.”

What is actually does inside your body is changes in the blood chemistry, bringing the metabolism in a state that aggravates glands, which in turn release hormones. The hormones naturally being produced are metabolizing normally through a gush of other material and chaos arises.  This brings on “entropy”, a state of physiological chaos where too many reactions are occurring and the body is being overloaded and drained.  You know it – it’s that terrible PMS feeling!  What is worse is that in the case of PMS, your diet during the last month will affect the way your period goes the following month. Give in and feed the monster one month, and you will have the urge to feed it for the months to come! Stopping the vicious circle will get more and more difficult.

The best starting point is the liver

By detoxifying and supporting your liver, you can help keep cravings at bay. Unfortunately, when your metabolism is in a toxic state you crave junk food, driving you to maintain that metabolic state. When you clean up your act, cravings seem to disappear like magic. How do you get the magic to happen? An initial detox and follow up maintenance diet is pretty very hard to achieve because of the stresses of daily routine.

Herbal remedies to the rescue

Natural remedies can help soften the effort when trying to convert to a healthier lifestyle. Herbals can detoxify the system and help the liver function at optimum capacity, while lacto-fermented whey can help achieve regularity. Products such as Boldocynara and Molkosan can send you well on your way to better health, because they put you in action. Picking up those products is a sign that you are in action mode. You’ve passed thinking about it, now you’re doing something about it!

While you are in action mode, Boldocynara will cleanse your liver and Molkosan will feed your friendly bacteria so that you can begin to reverse the cycle and lose the cravings for certain foods.  In addition, signing out of social media will help you refocus on the real you.

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