Do not pass the point of hunger!
The other day I was in a meeting that was much later than I expected. I had missed lunch by a lot and was so hungry I could barely think straight. He had a long drive home ahead of him and it was rush hour in Los Angeles. Luckily, there was a Trader Joe’s nearby, so I went to get a snack to keep me going. I grabbed some toasted almonds and a banana, like an experienced health coach would, but then my body took over and I lost control. I stopped by for some blueberry oatmeal muffins sweetened with fruit juice and couldn’t resist. When I got back to my car, I opened the muffins and started eating. The first barely made a dent in my hunger, so I quickly ate a second. almonds? Banana? Forget this. I was still starving after the second muffin so I went ahead and had a third. I wasn’t the least bit satisfied, and I could have eaten the fourth, except for the fact that I was starting to feel sick; I was dizzy, a little nauseous, and was starting to get a headache from the spike in blood sugar, so I tossed the cupcake in the backseat where I couldn’t reach it, while I spent the next 45 minutes. in traffic.
When I walked into my apartment, I had a throbbing headache, I was irritable, and I was just as hungry as I was before I ate the muffins.
After I finally got some real food in my system and came to my senses, I realized that I had just done exactly what I tell my clients never to do; let yourself go past the point of hunger so that you can’t make a rational decision about what to eat. In fact, a client of mine had just finished telling me the day before how she bought fast food for the first time in months; she had forgotten to bring food during a busy day of meetings, and she accidentally allowed herself to be so hungry that, at the time, fast food seemed like a good idea.
Remember this:
Your body is powerful. We are biologically wired to avoid starvation. If you pass the point of starvation (if your blood sugar drops too low or you are nutrient deficient), your body’s survival instinct will kick in and override your intellect. We are no match for our bodies!
When your blood sugar drops too low, we don’t have enough fuel for our brains; we literally can’t think straight.
Our bodies will always try to get what they need to stay in balance. That’s why cravings are so hard to fight. In my case, my blood sugar had dropped too low, causing my body to crave glucose, our body’s main fuel for energy. Sugar is the fastest form of glucose. I don’t eat sugar, but the refined flour in the rolls is a close second, which is why I bought them and felt compelled to eat them over the almonds. Unfortunately, our bodies and brains need a steady stream of glucose to function properly, not a surge of too much glucose at once, followed by a crash in blood sugar. Also, the bagels I ate contained very little nutrients and little to no protein, so my body was still hungry; but the more muffins I ate, the more my blood sugar rose, which eventually made me feel sick.
It’s been so long since anything has happened to me that I’ve forgotten what it feels like to be dominated by my body, even though I talk to my clients about it all the time. What a great reminder!
So what should you do to avoid my mistake? It’s simple:
Always be prepared. Carry solid nutritious snacks that will stabilize your blood sugar when you’re going to be away for long periods of time, such as nuts, whole grain crackers, fruit, avocado, or pack a healthy lunch.
Take it from me; Don’t let yourself pass the point of hunger!