Ever found yourself waging war against an insatiable craving for something sweet or salty?
In this transformative discussion, we're tackling the cravings conundrum head-on. Join me as I get candid about my own skirmish with peanut cravings, and let's dissect the role of dopamine, stress, and habits in fueling these food desires. We're here to arm you with understanding and strategies, ensuring that managing your cravings doesn't mean sacrificing satisfaction but rather steering towards healthier nutrition and sustainable weight management.
Have you ever considered that your lunch could be the key to conquering evening snack attacks? This episode isn't just about identifying triggers; it's about actionable solutions, like the power of a protein-packed midday meal. We'll walk you through the planning and preparation of meals that keep convenience food temptations at arm's length.
Moreover, we'll shed light on the dangers of processed foods, why your hydration levels matter more than you think, and the importance of maintaining an eating schedule that guards against extreme hunger and cravings. Here's to a lifestyle where balance is the main course, and deprivation is off the menu.
Amidst our battle with cravings, stress unbeknownst to many, plays a covert role in leading our charge towards the fridge. So, let's uncover how high cortisol levels not only intensify our cravings but also contribute to storing unwanted belly fat. From the therapeutic embrace of meditation to the vitality of sleep in regulating hunger hormones, we share personal experiences and a smorgasbord of stress-management techniques.
And before you step out for your next grocery run, we've got practical advice to ensure you're powered by informed choice rather than impulse.
It's more than a conversation; it's a community where thriving through menopause and beyond is our collective triumph.
Click here to join my 21 day bootcamp for support on your weight loss journey!
***
Just in case you missed it:
Join my10:21 Day Weight Loss Boot Camp, to be apart of our vibrant community and kickstart your journey!
See you there!
Ever found yourself waging war against an insatiable craving for something sweet or salty?
In this transformative discussion, we're tackling the cravings conundrum head-on. Join me as I get candid about my own skirmish with peanut cravings, and let's dissect the role of dopamine, stress, and habits in fueling these food desires. We're here to arm you with understanding and strategies, ensuring that managing your cravings doesn't mean sacrificing satisfaction but rather steering towards healthier nutrition and sustainable weight management.
Have you ever considered that your lunch could be the key to conquering evening snack attacks? This episode isn't just about identifying triggers; it's about actionable solutions, like the power of a protein-packed midday meal. We'll walk you through the planning and preparation of meals that keep convenience food temptations at arm's length.
Moreover, we'll shed light on the dangers of processed foods, why your hydration levels matter more than you think, and the importance of maintaining an eating schedule that guards against extreme hunger and cravings. Here's to a lifestyle where balance is the main course, and deprivation is off the menu.
Amidst our battle with cravings, stress unbeknownst to many, plays a covert role in leading our charge towards the fridge. So, let's uncover how high cortisol levels not only intensify our cravings but also contribute to storing unwanted belly fat. From the therapeutic embrace of meditation to the vitality of sleep in regulating hunger hormones, we share personal experiences and a smorgasbord of stress-management techniques.
And before you step out for your next grocery run, we've got practical advice to ensure you're powered by informed choice rather than impulse.
It's more than a conversation; it's a community where thriving through menopause and beyond is our collective triumph.
Click here to join my 21 day bootcamp for support on your weight loss journey!
***
Just in case you missed it:
Join my10:21 Day Weight Loss Boot Camp, to be apart of our vibrant community and kickstart your journey!
See you there!
Hello, hello, my friends. Today we are talking about food cravings, all right, so go ahead and just tell me right away in the chat do you struggle with cravings of any sort? And if you do, tell me what kind. And have you ever asked yourself why is it that I have these cravings even when I am not hungry? So if you've struggled with cravings, or if cravings are damaging your weight loss progress, you are not alone. That's part of my story. I have struggled with my weight all my life and the cravings. Right now I am battling peanut cravings, oh my goodness. So I'm gonna share with you today what we can do just to beat these cravings and how we can really try to stop or limit them as much as possible so they are not interfering with our weight loss progress.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Thriving Through Menopause podcast. Dr Inaka Yembe, your host, is dedicated to helping you navigate the transformative journey of menopause and perimenopause, particularly focused on achieving menopausal weight loss and reducing belly fat. As a post-menopausal physician herself who has helped thousands of women experiencing the significant life stage, she understands the unique challenges you face. Listen in as we explore a wide range of topics aimed at supporting you in your health and wellness journey. Hopefully, the practical tips and strategies offered potentially help you adopt an empowering approach towards menopausal weight loss and belly fat reduction. And now here's your host, Dr Inaka Yembe.
Speaker 1:All right, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Dr Inaka Yembe. I'm a family medicine physician. I work full-time in emergency medicine and I have a part-time weight loss clinic in the hospital. I also have an online bootcamp program for women struggling with menopausal weight gain or with weight loss periods. So if you're struggling, don't struggle alone. Hit the link in my bio and subscribe.
Speaker 1:The next cycle starts on February, the 19th. Now my goal, really, and my passion, is to help women lose weight in a healthy, sustainable manner. I have somebody asked me on my page why am I always talking about nutrition? So, just so you know, nutrition is responsible for 75 to 80% of your weight. Exercise helps, of course, but nutrition is key. Furthermore, if you have weight loss surgery, if you are taking medicines for weight loss, all of them must be associated with a healthy lifestyle change. Otherwise, the effects of the medicine or the surgery they weigh off after a while, and two, three years down the line, you're back to square one. So we are back to nutrition. Nutrition is key, all right. So, that said, cravings, ha ha. Cravings sometimes are really our worst enemy. And if you see me looking here, I have my show notes so I don't miss anything but a craving. What is it? It's an intense desire for something, for one thing.
Speaker 1:Everyone who has a craving who has had?
Speaker 1:cravings. You know that you want a specific thing, and usually it is a craving for something sweet or salty or something that contains unhealthy fats. There are very few people now. If you crave for things like broccoli or arugula or onions, okay, power to you. That's very, very rare.
Speaker 1:Studies now show that up to 90% of the population 9-0, struggle with cravings. So let's look at the science behind cravings, and I just want to put this out there If you're struggling with cravings, it's not you or what you're doing wrong. So most of us have a cravings and we eat the wrong thing and then we give up. Don't do that. Please listen to the end of this video. I'm going to tell you what cravings are and you need to understand the science behind it. It's not you. It's a brain chemical system that's been activated for the majority of your life, so you can work to beat that. So don't beat yourself down if you give into a craving, okay, this is something we all struggle with. Cravings are often triggered by your brain trying to fulfill a need. It could be an emotional need.
Speaker 1:It could be things like anxiety or stress or fatigue or simply boredom or just habit. During this episode, when the craving is happening, there's an intense activation of a part of your brain, and this brain is the memory part that associates food and reward. So if you eat a certain food and it makes you feel like you're rewarded, it makes you feel good, your brain remembers that and then when you get back in that situation, your brain may activate that reward system. So again, it's not you, it's the brain reward system that's been activated. That said, let's talk about a hormone or a chemical called dopamine.
Speaker 1:This one chemical is key in the reward system and cravings or addictions and things like that. So dopamine is our feel-good hormone. It's a chemical that's released, that controls our pleasure and it actually causes us to seek pleasurable things. So if food is your pleasure and you've eaten a certain food and that has activated that release of dopamine, then when you get in a situation where you're not feeling good, you're stressed out, you're bored, you're tired, that system is going to activate itself. You could be sitting here just feeling okay, not doing anything, just resting, but you're so stressed, pretty soon your whole head is in the refrigerator and you don't even know why.
Speaker 1:The reason is because your brain now is pushing you to seek something pleasurable to help you so that you don't feel bad. And if food was your go-to thing, each time you sought food too either soothe an emotion or to make you feel better, your brain is going to remember that. Ultimately, though you eat a little bit of whatever it is you felt good At a certain point, you need to eat just a little bit more to stimulate this same amount of dopamine. See now, your body gets used to a certain amount of dopamine and it doesn't even release it as much. So you eat the same amount of pleasurable food and you don't feel the same, and then you just tend to eat a little bit more to even get your body to stimulate that dopamine. And, first thing, you know you've eaten too much.
Speaker 1:That's how we come about eating too much, even when we don't even intend to.
Speaker 1:I want you to understand that that phenomenon is called habituation, and that's really how we get addicted to certain things. I have dealt with a lot of food addictions. Oh my gosh. I came from a life of just being overweight, born at 10 pounds. I've lost some to my heaviest weight in adulthood slightly over 300 pounds, and my biggest addiction was ice cream. I mean, I just used to eat so much ice cream and my body suffered because of that. But we get addicted because of that habituation. You need just a little bit more to make you feel even the same and sometimes you eat so much of whatever it is you don't even get there.
Speaker 1:So very, very important for you to remember that. The biggest one, though, is sugar. When you consume sugar, your brain releases a surge, a large amount of dopamine, and then your body now gets used to this amount of dopamine floating around. Your body gets used to it, such that, anytime you're not consuming sugar, your body is feeling that the dopamine level is not enough, and is causing you to seek sugar now. In fact, studies have shown that addiction to cocaine and heroin is almost the same as addiction to sugar. However, of course, this is different. You get addicted to cocaine or heroin. The health consequences are almost immediate.
Speaker 2:You consume cocaine, you can have a heart attack stroke almost immediately, and those drugs cause social problems, all kinds of things.
Speaker 1:Sugar addiction, though, is equally dangerous. The consequences are subtle, they happen so slowly, but you can have equally major and deadly health consequences from sugar addiction. So it's really worth your while to start working. If you think you're addicted to sugars or certain foods, it's really worth your while to start working now. On what can I do? Take action, take action. I'll hurt this thing on. The action changes things. When you listen to some good information, take action. Find that one thing that resonates with you. Take action. That's the only thing that's going to help you make a change. Now I read that there are five stages of cravings. They want to think about that also.
Speaker 1:Arousal Something arouses you. Is it fatigue? Is it stress? Is it just habituation? Did you smell something that you like? What is it? Then, after that, there's that intense attention, and then there's a desire oh my gosh, I gotta have it, I gotta have it and I gotta have it. Now it's almost like an emergency, that one thing that you want, and then you actually consume it. And then maybe you consume too much and then you regret it. Those of us who are trying to lose weight anytime that we consume things that we don't want to, unintentionally, then we regret it. You can avoid the regret. You can avoid consuming it If you listen and apply some of these tips. That may help you.
Speaker 1:So, again, if you just join, type in the chat, what is the food that you struggle with? What is it that you crave for, what is it? So I think at this time you're wondering okay, now you told us the science, what can I do? Is there anything that can be done? Of course, that's why I'm here. Of course there are things that can be done.
Speaker 1:Before I tell you what can be done, I want you to consider three things. Number one is not going to be easy. I do know that everything that's worthwhile is not easy, but, that said, it's not going to be easy. So just don't expect to start to make a change Anytime you make a change, your body resists its sum, but you want to persist and pretty soon you get used to it. Number two be patient. Please be patient with yourself. You know, when I started my weight loss journey back then, I was told that a habit takes three weeks to form and if you do something for three weeks, you get used to it and then you don't go back there. No, no, no, I don't believe that. My personal self whatever I was struggling with then, I'm still struggling with now. I'm almost 56 and I'm still struggling with the same thing. So just expect is going to be a struggle and whatever you're doing, it may not go away. It may come back on and off and you have to deal with it again. That's normal. So you want to expect it.
Speaker 1:The third thing I'll tell you we're not perfect. I'm not Jesus Christ, and neither are you. So we're all going to make mistakes. We all went to try and fail. That's part of the process, right, that's part of the process. Stay with it. Tell yourself I made a mistake, that's okay. I'm learning my body, I'm learning these changes and I'm going to persist.
Speaker 1:All right, how can we beat a food cravings? Number one, the biggest one, of course. You've heard this eat more protein. Very important Eat more protein. Studies show that proteins increase that sensation of fullness. Your goal is going to be one gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight.
Speaker 1:Proteins decrease cravings. They do decrease insulin spikes. They don't cause insulin spikes and so when you consume proteins, your insulin levels are steady. Keep you full longer. You have a higher chance of having less cravings. All right, practically, this is the way I look at it.
Speaker 1:When you wake up in the morning, you want to start your day off with protein At least 30 grams of protein. If you are addicted to sweets, don't eat it with breakfast as in a smoothie, and no, it's healthy. But that sweetness, your brain's going to remember that and make you want to consume sweet things, even though what you're consuming at the time may not have as many calories. So if I'm a sugar addict, I'm going to be eating eggs, for example, or maybe some turkey bacon, or maybe some ground turkey things like that that are not sweet, because I don't want that a monster to raise its head and make me have cravings just before afternoon meal. So eat more protein. That would help you.
Speaker 1:Number two thing that you want to think about your buffer meals, your second buffer meal, buffer meals and meals that you have first and last. So your first buffer meal is your meal number one. Your last buffer meal is the last meal of the day that one also eats a high protein meal. It's nothing worse than eating a bowl of salad trying to get into bed. Now it's 11 o'clock and I'm thinking oh, wow, wow, okay, I need a little nightcap here. Don't do the nightcaps. Eat more protein for your last meal. All right, if it's somebody who has cravings every evening. You had your meal in the afternoon, you've had your meal in the evening, or even before your evening meal. You're thinking well, should I have a snack? Should I eat a little snack? Why do I need to have some pretzels? Pretzels does a little stick of bread, don't do it. So what I say is reevaluate your lunch time. Most of us women we are notorious we go to lunch, we have that big old salad lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers.
Speaker 1:Where's your protein? Your body is going to continue to want to eat. So long as you don't have enough protein, what can you do? Chop some chicken, throw that in your salad. Some ball eggs. Add that to your salad. Shrimp, add some protein to your lunch. That's going to help you not have those one-take cravings and make you consume extra calories that you don't need, or we're not intending to, even before supper. All right. Tip number two is planning. We all know the saying feeling to plan is planning to fail. Plan your meals. That would decrease the likelihood of you just being uncertain about what to eat. And let me tell you something when you're not sure of what I'm going to eat next, your brain by default goes to something unhealthy. Why is that? Because they are convenient. They're everywhere.
Speaker 2:If I didn't have my food.
Speaker 1:I can easily grab something so fast from the drive-through or anywhere. It's everywhere and it's still tasty. So be careful with that. Plan your meals and have them ready, and when you eat these unhealthy foods and this manufactured and processed food. That's my tip number three Avoid processed foods.
Speaker 1:Why? Because processed foods what do they mean? The manufacturer has taken the food from its natural state and they have removed a lot of things like the fiber. They have also added things that make it so palatable. The food scientists have they added sugar, they added unhealthy oils, salt, everything that makes it taste so good, and so you want more of it. Your brain is going to remember that.
Speaker 1:But they're also harmful, especially those that have sugars. Why is that? Because it causes a spike in your insulin level, meaning it causes your insulin level to go up quickly. And anything that goes up quickly, something is going to crash, and what's going to crash is your blood sugar. First thing you know, you came out of the McDonald's. You had that big old what are they called? The burger and the large coke, and two hours after the fact, you're thinking well, maybe I should have some coffee and some crackers at this point. Why is that insulin level went up, sugar crashed in about two hours. Your brain says, whoa, something is happening, eat something, eat something quick, and it's almost like an emergency. Remove or eliminate as much as possible these processed foods from your daily eating. See how I say daily, because we can't do anything at 100%. I'm not going to pretend that I'm eating 100% healthy.
Speaker 1:No, it doesn't happen that way. I'm human, so I eat healthy foods. I will say 80, 85% of the time. I think I'm doing good with that from where I came, and then once in a while that allows me to eat something, something different, all right.
Speaker 1:Tip number four drink more water. Stay hydrated. Sometimes our bodies need water but it makes us feel hungry. You may consume. You may confuse thirst with hunger. So if you feel like you're hungry, just drink water at the time and then see hunger, natural hunger, waxes and wings. It doesn't really feel like an emergency, like the craving that you have. So if you drink water and it is true hunger, that's going to die down. So drink water, because sometimes you're just thirsty.
Speaker 1:The next tip is eat regularly. One of the biggest drivers of cravings is hunger. You're hungry, you just haven't eaten enough. Maybe you're trying to lose weight. You slush your calories down. So don't do that. I've done that. It's not sustainable. I promise you don't slash your calories too low, low-caloric diets are not sustainable. You stay hungry. You're going to have a lot more cravings. You're going to fight it. You're going to fight the cravings. You're going to fight the cravings. And, by the way, the part of the brain that drives the cravings is bigger. It's a primitive part. You cannot reason with it. And first thing you know, one week, three days now you just give up and you're eating anything. Don't do that. Eat regular meals. Avoid extreme hunger. I like to level my meals Meal number one, number two, number three, number four.
Speaker 2:Why is that?
Speaker 1:Because when I call it breakfast, sometimes maybe I didn't finish my breakfast and then it's 10 o'clock and I'm thinking, okay, it's not time for lunch, so what do I do? I have to maybe eat a snack while I'm waiting for lunch. So don't do that. Level it with meal number one. You can eat that at any time If you're intermittent fasting. Your meal number one maybe 11 o'clock, that's fine. Your meal number two maybe whatever time, that's fine.
Speaker 1:Remember, always eat from your meal prep. Don't go seeking extra foods like snacks and things like that. It is not time for your next meal and you think you want to eat something? Oh, yes, ma'am, that's why it's your next meal. Just go ahead and eat it, as opposed to eating something else as in a snack. All right, this next tip also ties in with that one Avoid street diets.
Speaker 1:Once you have a diet that eliminates a food group completely, problems start. Your brain starts to feel like it's deficient in something and especially if you're toughing it out, toughing it out, toughing it out the same thing, pretty soon that feeling overcomes you and then you give up. Try to avoid diets, not diet. There are lifestyles that I respect Vegan, vegetarian and things like that. It's a lifestyle, but it's not a diet, so very, very important. If you're not sure how many calories or what you need to eat in order to lose weight, consider joining my program, because that's what I'm really really, really big on nutrition. I used to be a marathon runner, but I was still 260 pounds marathon runner Okay, until I got my nutrition straight.
Speaker 1:All right. This next one. I've already talked about it. Try not to be perfect. Perfection is the killer of a healthy lifestyle, just because when we try to be perfect and we make a mistake, we feel like a failure, we discourage ourselves, we get discouraged and it's easy to give up. Allow yourself some leeway. I said 20% margin of error is acceptable, all right.
Speaker 1:Next tip is to work on your stress. Studies show that people, especially women, under a significant amount of stress we do have a higher calorie consumption. So work on your stress. Stress induces food cravings. Why is that? Because it causes stimulation of the hormone called cortisol. Cortisol increases belly fat storage. It also causes increased cravings. So you want to be careful about working on your stress. Why Stress also drives you to eat. Stress also increases that cortisol level. So be careful with your stress.
Speaker 1:How do I work on my stress? We have different ways. Some of us meditate, prayer Prayers help me a lot, just walking, listening to slow music, taking a warm bath. Sometimes we have to say counseling. I had counseling once no shame in my game. It was very important to me that I get counseling at a time that I was stressed, because at that time I was also 300 pounds and I'm going to put this in here for moms with children and I like to talk just a little bit about the children, because I have children in my clinic as well from the ages of seven and over, when you have a child that's morbidly obese, I always recommend just having a psychologist who specialized in child psychology to speak to that child, because I've lived this situation when I was young a young child. I was so big Mentally I was very depressed, very depressed.
Speaker 1:Everyone picked on me in school.
Speaker 2:I was so sad.
Speaker 1:I couldn't portray my feelings at home because I felt nobody would understand. I used to hide those feelings and it's very damaging. It's important because your child may not tell you you don't want your child living sad growing up. It can change even their future relationships. So it's important If your child is overweight and you're trying to help the child, also consider getting them a psychological evaluation because they may open up more to a stranger. Not that they don't love you, but some of our children by default, just by the nature of the fact that they want to please their parents, they want to be the perfect child Most children want to be. So it's important for you to get a specialist to say hey, speak to my child and see if there's any problem here. Some of the children just eat their feelings anyway. Anyway, that's it for children, but for us adults also, work on your stress and if you can't live by yourself, please seek help. There's nothing wrong with seeking help when you need to Alright.
Speaker 1:Next tip is sleep. Do you know that sleep is tied to your weight? How is that Sleep during your sleep? When you're sleeping, there are two hormones that are balanced leptin and ghrelin. It's your hormone. It will cause you to have cravings. So, of course, if you don't sleep enough, your ghrelin level is too high. That's the one that makes you just want to eat all the time. The studies do show that those people who don't sleep enough tend to be overweight anyway.
Speaker 1:Next, tip here is just a practical one. Don't do a body system overhaul, and what I mean is okay. Now I'm having all these cravings, so I'm going to go cold turkey, I'm going to slash all this stuff out of my life and I'm going to be the perfect person. No, it doesn't work like that. Always start slow. If you're somebody who drinks and this is what I tell my patients in the clinic I have people who drink, say, three bottles or three cans of coke in a day. You can't go from three cans of coke in a day to zero. It's very hard. I've been doing this for years and years and years.
Speaker 1:So what I tell them is hey, listen, instead of drinking three cans, why don't you go to two cans and one can of Diet Coke, if you can? You may not like that taste of Diet Coke, but we need to start winning off slowly, because anything that you do very fast, very backfire. Remember, dopamine is here. Its levels are high.
Speaker 1:You feel that pleasure when you eat that thing that's unhealthy, and then you're not eating it. Your dopamine level is dropping low. Your body says wait a minute, we need to go seek this same thing. So you can't go from 100 to zero. Win off slowly, go to two cans and then one can that you've got to be intentional.
Speaker 1:It's going to be uncomfortable. You may get headache, all kinds of things. Your body's telling you what's happening. You're telling your body it's okay and eventually transition completely to a Diet Coke which has it has calories. Okay, don't say it's zero, because it's zero they can. That's another story. Diet Coke has calories, don't be fooled. But anyway, I'll say, go to Diet Coke, it has fewer calories than regular Coke. Then eventually, maybe you just go to Diet Coke once a week. That's one of the biggest and most successful strategies that I have found in my patience.
Speaker 1:Schedule the time that you want that, something that you call unhealthy. Is it Sunday that you go out to eat with your family? Is it Friday that you have date night? Then you figure out okay, I'm going to have my little piece of chocolate cake when I go for date night every Friday. I'm going to have it, I'm going to move away from it and I'm done. So schedule that whatever you want once a week. Whatever you do once a week is not going to break the bank. And don't try to be perfect and say I would never, ever, because when you start with it, never, ever. It's so hard, it's so hard, it is so hard. I tell you. Don't do it. Alright.
Speaker 1:Practical tips anytime that you're shopping, go into the grocery store in two ways. Number one, most important eat a full meal before you go grocery shopping. Very important. I was the one once in a while going to grocery shopping. I go to all the tasting aisles and taste everything, because the stomach was empty. You want to eat a high protein meal. Drink lots of water before you go shopping. It would help prevent you from eating the wrong things and it will help prevent you from staring at the sales. And, by the way, the grocery stores do not lose money in sales. You're the one who buys all that stuff that's on sale which is not. It's just all the unhealthy stuff and they get you into the store and you get other things and we spend the money coming out with stuff. So there's no sale in the grocery store. I don't care what you say, there is no sale. Be careful with that. But eat and then make a shopping list. For me personally, at this point in my life, if it's not on my list, I'm not buying it. If I forgot to put it on my list, well then the next time that I go to the grocery store it will be on the list. Very important. So next thing here protect your environment.
Speaker 1:Alright, let me give you the scenario when I say protect your environment, the things that you are addicted to. For me, at this time, I'm addicted to peanuts, so there is no way I can come home with a bottle of peanuts and put it there in my pantry and fool myself. Well, I'm going to have just a tablespoon of peanuts once a day. It doesn't happen like that. Me personally, my head is going to be in the peanut bottle all day. I'm going to eat it all. I'm only going to come out from the air when the bottle is empty.
Speaker 1:So if you have these things that you are addicted to or that you crave for, I want you to remove them completely from your environment, because attempting they tempt you. So whenever you want to consume whatever it is that you crave for, go to the gas station or go to the grocery store, get you one serving thing and satisfy your craving, and be done. Don't bring it home. Peanuts, get away from us. You can't really tell how much I mean some of these bags of peanuts at 20 servings, that's about I don't know 3,000-4,000 calories. And then I'm wondering why my belly fat is still here why am I?
Speaker 1:not losing weight. I'm working so hard. That's the reason why Remove these things from your environment to protect your investment in your health. You're working so hard already. The next one, though, is a very, very practical one. I want you to take this seriously.
Speaker 1:Journal your feelings. Anytime that you have cravings, just pick up a journal and say I'm going to do a one-week journal or I'm going to do a one-month. 30 days really is nice if you can, but I cannot pretend that I can keep a journal of a certain thing for a whole 30 days. I mean, I'm going to miss some days, but anyway, if you start off with a week, you're likely to be most successful. Write down your feelings. Ask yourself how am I feeling now that I'm craving? Am I just tired? Am I just bored?
Speaker 1:One of my biggest, biggest triggers for cravings was just fatigue. I was working so hard. Single mom, kids in school, I had to work and work, and I was so tired, and I was just eating to resuscitate or to try to get fatigue off because I was so tired. So sometimes you can recognize that one of my biggest next trigger was stress like that current everyone's problems on my head. I'm just thinking, thinking. Thinking can fix the problems. But I was just thinking about it. That's when the specialist came in and helped me overcome that. But either way, I want you to work on your stress, because it's going to help so many things, especially it's going to help your cravings. It's also going to help things like anxiety, high blood pressure, increased heart rate and things like that. Very important for you to work on your stress, all right.
Speaker 1:The very, very last thing is for those of you, if you're, like me, addicted to sugar. The reason is because we've consumed sugary things for too long. It's actually changes the way your taste buds feel If you eat everything too too sweet. At a certain point, when you start cutting back on the sugar, you feel like well, wait a minute, wait a minute, I need to add more sugar. That's the one that you really need to work on intentionally. Let's say, you had four tablespoons of sugar in your coffee every morning. This is when you back it off to three, back it off to two and then back it off to one, or transition to say, two tablespoons of sugar, two tablespoons of a natural sweetener like stevia, and then slowly back off the sugar. Why is that? Remember when we talked about the cocaine and the heroin. Long term, sugar consumption is also damaging to your health because it's fatty liver, because it's liver to be stored in your abdomen can cause blockages in your heart, diabetes, hypertension, strokes and things like that. Very important Okay, this is my specialty is the food.
Speaker 1:Why? Because I love to eat. That's what's going to be in trouble. Got my weight up to 300 pounds because I love to eat. Now I still eat, but I eat sensibly. The food is out there. The food that's healthy for you is also out there.
Speaker 1:So what are the foods that can help reduce cravings? Number one lean meats. I stopped eating manufactured sausage patties for breakfast. Why is that? Because they have sugar. Some of them have additives that I could not pronounce, so I just make my own patties out of turkey 99% lean turkey. I need to probably put a recipe on. I cook like an African woman. Okay, mix it, taste it. Mix it, taste it, taste good. Now cook it. That's why it's so hard for me to create recipes, because I cook on the fly. But anyway, your lean meats very important. Lean meats. Eggs, those ones that stick with you, stay in your belly long time, decrease your cravings. Next one is also healthy fats. We don't need to be on a fat-free diet, no, don't do that, because you need fats for your hormones, for your enzymes, for your body to work optimally. So, but healthy fats are things like avocado, olive oil, fatty fish and things like that. You need those and those are very satiating. Fruit is important, very helpful, don't?
Speaker 1:go and get the fruit in. It says on the can no sugar added. It's in the can. They've got it in fruit juice. They've got a little fruit chopped and stored in the can. Don't eat that. Instead, eat the fresh fruit. Can fruit is no good. Dry fruit is no good either. Frozen fruit is good. Fresh fruit, yes. Don't consume huge amounts, just stick with one serving. But you're better off with fresh or frozen fruit compared to dry fruit or canned fruit.
Speaker 1:Now the next thing that's really better healthy food that will decrease your cravings. This next one I think I had to post somewhere chia seeds. Chia seeds just really act like a natural bariatric surgery. If you eat chia seeds even before you go out for an event, it helps you mix it up. Two tablespoons of chia seeds. Mix it up in your favorite liquid, in water. Almond milk is what I use. Put in the refrigerator. It's gonna swell up. Eat that like a chia pudding. Drink lots of water. That thing is going to occupy half or three fonts of your stomach. It's going to be there for a while. While you're out there dancing you know me and my crazy dancing Not eating my stomach is so full. And if you go to African parties, there's so much food that's tempting. So I like to have a full stomach. Eat the chia pudding before you go out. That's one of the things that can help reduce your cravings.
Speaker 1:Dark chocolate for those of you who are addicted to chocolate, consider on your day that you're going to go out and eat the chocolate. Like I said, one day a week, one time a week, it's not gonna hurt. But consider swapping, say, like a milk chocolate or any chocolate that has so much sugar added to it. Consider swapping that for a dark chocolate. That one is a little healthier. It has polyphenols, which are antioxidants. Most of them are 70% cocoa cacao. However you want to pronounce it, most of them are 70% cocoa or higher. So a lot healthier for you.
Speaker 1:Next food group that would help decrease your cravings, of course, leafy greens, leafy vegetables. The same thing. Like the proteins, they have fiber. They would also increase the amount, the bulk of your stomach. They have a slower transit time, make it feel full longer and help with cravings.
Speaker 1:Yogurt is another one. Yogurt is kind of like a trick. You gotta be careful with the kind of yogurt that you pick. I always go for unsweetened low-fat Greek yogurt. Now, it really doesn't have to be low-fat. You could go for unsweetened regular Greek yogurt, but not the one that has fruit on the bottom, because that one has too much added sugar, and not the one that has flavoring, definitely not the one that has cereal on the top. If it has anything added to it, you won't really be careful. Read your levels. That's going to help you. And that's my next tip. You're going to help yourself decrease your cravings if you look at the levels of the foods that you purchase.
Speaker 1:I had this discussion with one of my patients. Yesterday was clinic day. I had a patient that came in and she had been purchasing the cauliflower pizza crust and I told her right off the bat. I said don't buy that stuff. It's no good. It's got so much added to it. It's not just cauliflower. She was so convinced that it was cauliflower, why? Because of the box, the front, all you see is cauliflower. The big level says cauliflower pizza crust. That's it. But look at the ingredients. It had so much. It even had sugar. It had oil like canola oil.
Speaker 1:You don't want canola oil in your system. It's so unhealthy. So look at your food levels when you eat that crust, especially because of the sugar.
Speaker 1:It's going to spike your insulin, Blood sugar is going to crash and then you're going to have cravings in just a couple of hours. So don't do that. Leafy greens legumes are high in fiber also, so things like chickpeas, lentils those are high in fiber help decrease your cravings. Sweet potatoes are also great for you. And the last food that I'll talk about is salmon. Salmon is a fatty fish, of course, has all the healthy fats and also high in protein. That's going to help decrease your cravings later on. So very important.
Speaker 1:I hope these tips help you. I hope you have one thing that can resonate with you and take action. Why is that? Only action changes things. This live is going to be uploaded to my YouTube channel, so go there, Dr Inaka Yen-Ben TV, Subscribe to my channel and again, if you're struggling and you need help, sign into my next program. It is $21 for 21 days. That is just a gift to you. I do have workouts five, six days a week. We have a live meal prep and a live coaching call. Thanks for the love, my friends. I feel it. I feel it. You have a good weekend ahead, Thank you, bye.
Speaker 2:Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Thriving Through Menopause. We hope you found valuable insights and practical advice to support your journey. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast, share it and review. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Remember, menopause doesn't have to be a challenge. It can be an opportunity for growth, renewal and self-care. Connect with us on social media, where we share additional resources, tips and advice to help you along your path. Once again, thanks for listening in and we hope you'll join us again on the next episode of Thriving Through Menopause. Until then,