I am indulging in a much deserved week off, I had been planning to make sure that my week off began with a lovely healthy breakfast, followed by a morning of activity followed by a pot of tea watching an old movie.
However with rising on Monday morning very early, I popped out to pick up some breakfast goodies. Gone went my need for exotic fruits, granola and honey in came chocolate croissants and a chocolate bar.
Despite my (halfhearted) attempts my urge for chocolate this week has been insatiable; I could quite happily polish off more if I had any less self control.
I was thinking about why good intentions went out of the window, and why my body wasn’t playing ball, then it dawned on me it coming up to that time of the month, and my hormones are all over the place.
This got me to thinking, how much are monthly cravings down to hormones and how much is it down to mood? I have looked at a number of articles trying to make sense of TOTM cravings and actually I couldn’t find anything too scientific, just options’. Theories include iron deficiency, vitamin and mineral deficiency, mood enhancers, comfort eating, energy boosters.
Taking these theories in to consideration I have been thinking about why do I have cravings at the TOTM?
1. Comfort: It is not going to come as a surprise that I comfort eat. At that time of the month I can suffer with monster mood swings (less so than when I was younger) and I do often feel really down. Chocolate fills that emotional hole when I am feeling sorry for myself and I am worried I will die alone never to be loved (I mean that semi seriously).
2. Energy: I often feel that I could sleep for England at the TOTM and I will often turn to sugary snacks when I am experiencing an energy slump. Jelly tots and skittles being particular favorites.
So what have I learnt from this and how can I get around these cravings? Well simply tracking and making allowances for my urges will be the first place to start. Actually jelly tots and skittles are not too heavy on points and can be slipped in to my daily points with a bit of forward planning.
Now the chocolate issue. This is a bit harder, as I have already switched my chocolate choices to the less point heavy, and when an urges reaches me I eat loads! Now the best way to look at this is that yes I have made smart choices, and if I was not on WW the damage would be much greater than if I was eating ‘proper’ chocolate bars, but that doesn’t really help me.
One of the things I have gleaned through my internet trawling is that Dark Chocolate can be quite good for you. Full of Iron, Zinc and anti oxidants. It also has the same mood altering affect that milk chocolate has. Dark chocolate also has a stronger flavor than milk, and I can only eat a fraction of the quantity that I may devour if it was milk chocolate. Dark chocolate though not perfect (it can contain a larger quantity of fat) I think should be the way to go and prevent a chocolate massacre.
So the 2 things I have learnt
1. Plan and track: Weightwatchers does not ban any food and you can eat what you like as long as you plan and track.
2. Quality not Quantity: Good quality Dark chocolate should hopefully quell my urge to eat chocolate but without the need to eat vast quantities.
Anyone else experience cravings? How do you deal with them?
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