Dear Roopashree,
I love junk food and desserts.
I tend to binge eat.
Is it okay to eat them as long as one eats healthy as well?
Please don’t tell me to stop eating snacks and sweets; I can’t survive without them.
I will be very unhappy.
In anticipation,
Ranu Attavar

Ans:

Diabetes means control over simple carbohydrates which is primarily sugar.

You must understand that if carbs intake is not in control, your blood sugar levels will shoot up and can cause severe complications.

If you must have sweets, have healthy sugars from dates, fruits, jaggery, dry fruits, nuts, etc, but in small portion sizes.

Exercise regularly and boost your metabolism with a balanced diet having good fibre and complex carb content.

Sleep well and be focused on improving your health.

Ans:

Eating healthy within the nutritional requirements is the need for a balanced diet.

You need to focus on complex carbohydrates and fibre-rich foods like whole wheat grains, vegetables, fruits, etc; high protein foods like low fat dairy products, pulses and legumes, nuts, soya, eggs and lean meat to increase your immunity and endurance; and low fat and low sugar foods.

Coupled with a regular regimen of cardio and weight training exercises, it will help increase your lean mass and lower body fat.

Consistency and regularity in following these guidelines will enable you to attain a healthy body.

 

Ans: Dear Balaji,
Overeating usually suggests emotional hunger rather than physical hunger.
This means that you are feeding an unresolved emotion that gets satiated when you eat making you feel less lonely or happier or more loved.
You must identify which emotion is crying out to be fed...so that you can address it and eliminate it from the source.
In the meantime, maintain a disciplined physical fitness routine and alongside work with an expert who can help you trace the overeating to an emotion so that you can be free from this.

All the best!

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. :)