Let your body choose its food
AS A species, we seem to have lost our intuitive ability to know what it is we need food-wise. Your body will let you know in pretty certain terms whether or not the last meal you ate worked well for your unique biochemistry.
If you can learn to understand and work with its food-response language, you'll find yourself more satisfied, energised, healthy and alert.
What to look for
There are three areas to look at within an hour or two after eating a meal – satiety, emotions and energy.
Satiety – you should feel completely satisfied when you finish your meal. There shouldn't be a desire for more food, something sweet, or for tea or coffee. If there is, it's a distinct sign you've not fuelled yourself appropriately.
Emotional well-being – you should feel emotionally better for having eaten – if there's any irritation, depression, apathy or anxiety, once again, you've not chosen your meal correctly.
Energetic wellbeing – you should feel more energised after eating, so feelings of hyperness, sleepiness, lethargy or nervousness, for example, will indicate a negative reaction to the meal.
What should make a meal?
A meal (and preferably, a snack) should consist of the three macronutrients – fat, protein and carbohydrates.
When all are consumed in proportions appropriate to your biochemical needs (people may require greater or smaller amounts of one or the other), your post-meal effects will be very positive. However, if you consistently don't, you may end up impacting very negatively on your health, your weight and your general feeling of well-being.
Working it all out
Some quick pointers for establishing whether or not your last meal delivered too many carbohydrates, are:
Headache, anxiety, don't feel satisfied, get hungry quickly, crave fats and proteins, may crave sweets, jumpy mind, tired but wired, jittery, nervous energy, energy highs and lows. Too much protein or fat can result in the following symptoms:
Lethargic, sleepy, dull or depressed mood, mentally sluggish or slow, heavy gut, feel full but hungry, may crave sweets, tea or coffee.
Sweet cravings can happen in both instances, so you'll need to experiment with both groups of macronutrients in order to establish which is driving your sweet needs.
All in all, I find this a very helpful way to remain "in charge" of one's diet and health.
Try keeping a record of what you eat, an idea of the proportions you eat, your carbs, fats and proteins and, of course, how you felt after each meal.
If your appetite is light, aim to eat more carbohydrates than fats and proteins and reverse this if you have a big appetite. Again, keep a record and you may find a pattern emerging, a heavy appetite in the morning, light at lunchtime and moderate at dinnertime, or variations on this. — Tanya Wyatt, Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach, The Happy Body (041)581-1679 tanya@thehappybody.co.z www.thehappybody.co.za