I know this is a health blog and all but it doesn’t matter how healthy you are, sometimes you just get cravings for bad food.
Maybe you’re on a diet for that new years resolution or maybe you just always eat healthy — whatever the case, it can get tough when you get those sugar cravings. I find after I’ve had sugar in the morning my cravings for the rest of the day get worse. It sucks because you promise yourself you’re going to burn off those extra calories in the Gym tomorrow, but there’s a wee problem with that.
According to Robert Reames, CN, Gold’s Gym Fitness Institute, fat gain from eating high sugar substances is not just to do with the calories ingested. Your body gets huge spikes in insulin when you eat sugar and that tells your body to start storing fat. It flicks the switch on your metabolism because fruits and other natural sugar products were of high value in our revolutionary history and storing the goodness gained from them was imperative to survival.
But I’m not trying to survive! I hear you scream. Me either. Ain’t nobody got time for that. I just want to eat something now and then that isn’t very good for me. Well there’s something that can help. According to Robert, if you eat high sugar foods that are accompanied by fiber, protein or fats – you can block that insulin spike and then you’re just dealing with the calories.
Here’s my top 5 choices for sugary foods that won’t make your body think it’s 10,000 BC.
Greek Yogurt Parfait
This thing doesn’t just look amazing it -tastes- amazing. Trust me. Greek yogurt with its 9g of sugar, 20g of protein and 120 calories is just a bowl of goodness. Combine it with a cup of raspberries which have about 9g of fiber and suddenly you’re looking at a snack that doesn’t just taste amazing but something that is going to be a piece of cake (LOL) to burn off at the Gym. Grate some almond on it too for an extra kick and some of those essential fats!
‘thinkThin’ Natural Energy Bar
I know you want a snickers I want a snickers too. I want three snickers. I want one of those bags of 10 snack sized snickers. Oh my god! But don’t do it. Get one of these instead, honestly, these are just the best. You have one of these and you don’t think ‘wow im being so good right now’ you think ‘damn I’m in trouble I am scoffing this yummy treat’. But you’re not in trouble! These bars have small amounts of real sugar (none of that fake stuff) and some sugar alcohols. They don’t have that nasty compound taste that you get with Aspartame treats. Try them out!
Dark Chocolate
This stuff is great. Antioxidants? Check. Chocolate cravings satisfied? Check. Low sugar count compared to regular chocolate? Check. A small piece of this will do you no harm at all. Yum.
Natural Peanut Butter
One of my favourite things to have when I’m craving is celery and peanut butter. Natural peanut butter doesn’t have the nasty fats found in regular peanut butter making it a healthy alternative. When you combine it with celery with its’ high fibre content you end up with a tasty treat that is not going to flip that fat storage switch!
Popsicle’s
I know it doesn’t look good. It’s got sugar in it. It’s what kids have — that alone means it is bad. If kids are eating it that means I can’t! Well, no I say! I want my kids’ treats and I want them now! When you drink juice you swallow it down fast and your portion control is basically whatever glass you grab out of the cupboard. Not so with a popsicle! You have a set number of predetermined calories (love it) and they are very slowly ingested (double love it!) meaning you won’t get that insulin spike! My top picks are all natural fruit juice popsicle’s to avoid that high fructose syrup.
