Hi Komal,
I'm a 46-year-old male, at home throughout the lockdown.
I love cooking so I started making fantastic dishes everyday.
In the beginning, it was fun.
But now I seem to be eating a lot. Add to that, I drink every evening. And when there's drink, the eating goes beyond hunger.
I've tried yoga. I walk 6 kms every day. But my appetite is making me eat much more than I normally do.
I haven't really put on too much weight. But this binge-eating is worrying me and I seem to be always taking at least three helpings... even for lunch.
How do I stop this?
One of the problems is that I hate to throw food so everything goes into my tummy.
Rakesh

Ans:

Diet should comprise of small frequent meals to increase your metabolism.

Include nutrient dense foods with high protein and fibre to increase satiety value and provide essential nutrients.

As you are busy at work, include healthy foods like buttermilk, fruits and nuts as fillers in between meals.

Avoid skipping meals as this will lower your metabolism.

Excess calories at dinner will get converted to fat and will result in weight gain.

Have a bowl of salad before dinner and include fibre rich foods to add bulk to your diet.

Have a cup of skimmed milk at bed time in case you still feel hungry.

Milk has the amino acid tryptophan, which helps in inducing sleep and provides protein which is slowly digested and raises the satiety value.

Ans:

Weight loss should be achieved by having adequate nutrition in terms of all macro and micro nutrients.

Muscle mass should be increased by good strengthening exercises and subsequently pre- and post-workout meals.

Cardio activities like running /jogging can be incorporated for fat loss as well.

Avoid high fat and sugar foods, soft/hards drinks, juices, fast and packaged foods, etc.

Include good protein and fibre foods like whole grain cereals, legumes, nuts, fruits, vegetables, etc.

To avoid binge eating, you need to control your mind and focus on your goal.

For the sweet crave, satisfy the urge with dates, jaggery, raisins, etc.

Ans: Hey Aravind, I know how frustrating this can be. But definitely we can improve.

1. Work on balancing your meals - have nutritionally deficient meals (protein, fibre deficient) can make you feel hungry soon after a meal. Take portion of protein, one portion of salad, one portion of cooked vegetables and one portion of carbohydrates. If you are a vegetarian, you can have 2 portions of proteins

2. Avoid eating only fruits. Club them with handful of nuts or a portion of proteins (hung curd). Eating only fruits will make you feel hungry soon due to their fructose content.

3. Go for a quick walk/jog after a meal. This will sensitise insulin and the cravings will curb.

4. Include 30-45 minutes of exercise daily to help you curd overall cravings too.

Also, you can check for HOMA IR index (requires 8-10 hours of fasting) - this tells you if you are insulin resistant. Symptoms apart from feeling hungry and sweet cravings for insulin resistant are Dark patch on neck, skin tags around neck and under arms, feeling tired all the time, frequent thirst and urination. The tips I mentioned will help you reverse insulin resistance too. :)