Cravings

A friend of mine sent me an email late last night about craving some ice cream, wondering if I had any suggestions to help. Although I don’t normally crave ice cream specifically, I do have cravings and am learning to live with them. While my friend craves ice cream, I crave biscuits...and teas…and red meat… You get the gist; I don’t need to bore you with the long list of things I crave on any given day. (So you are not aloneJ)

Before I go on about what I have learnt about cravings and what it is I do to help me, I’ll tell you my suggestion to my dear friend. Its three words: GREEN TEA SLUSHY.

As I have gotten more serious about beating the bulge, I have become passionate about Green Tea. I drink no less than 4 cups of green tea daily (no kidding), and if nothing else it keeps me hydrated. But I really do think there is some truth in the belief that Green Tea helps weight loss.  I have included my recipe for this – feel free to try it and drop a comment to tell us what you think.

I got the idea from a recipe on the monthly magazine called Prevention, and then adapted it to my tastes. It’s:

• 2 green tea bags (my rule is two bags for one person, and one more bag for any additional people)
• 2 inch fresh peeled ginger root, cut into very thin slices (this is optional, but I love ginger)
• Ice cubes
• Sweetener or honey to taste

To do:

• Bring 2 mugs full of water to boil (I usually boil the ginger slices with the water)
• Pour into your idea mug, straining the ginger if you choose to. Drop your green tea bags into the water (never pour boiling water over green tea bags- it will burn the leaves and give it a sharp taste), and then let it seep for 3 to 5minutes. I usually pop in a couple of tablets of sweetener at this point. Unfortunately, honey does not agree with me so I don’t use it, but if you can take honey go for it.
• Then let it cool for about 15 to 20 minutes. When it’s cool, take out the tea bags. You can drop in some ice cubes at this point and that’s just a Green Iced Tea. I hardly ever stop here…
• For the slushy part of this recipe simply fast track -grab your bender, drop in some ice cubes (remember ice is water, so you don’t want to add to much ice that you lose the fabulous taste of your green tea and ginger), then pour in your Green Iced Tea and pulse at 1 minute intervals until the ice is crushed/pulverized.
• Pour out your Green Tea Slushy into your favorite mug and stick a straw
• Gulp or slurp away!

I really love this because:

a.      Green Tea is POWERFUL and has been said to help weight loss efforts

b.      Green Tea is full of antioxidants that can boost your metabolism. It has also been said to help reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease etc. See some benefits of green tea here (http://www.thirdage.com/cholesterol/25-benefits-to-drinking-green-tea ) and maybe you will join me in the Green Tea Revolution.

c.      Cold beverages are said to be rev up calorie burn, because your body has to first heat up the icy drink to reach body temperature; a feat that requires energy. And when you want to lose weight, you want to burn energy.

d.      When I am in crave-mode, I am not so particular about wanting something in my tummy; I just want to feel my mouth moving and this fits the bill. By the time I am done with my tall glass or mug of slushy, my cravings are usually sorted.

One thing I have learnt though, is that you NEVER ignore your cravings, they will only rebound and you will find yourself worse off than you were in the first instance (like eating an entire pack of penguins chocolate biscuits in one sitting ---believe me, this is experience talking). My advice is that you find an alternative  - a healthy alternative to satisfy the craving.

What do YOU do when you have cravings? Please drop a comment (below) and let me know and learn from you. 

 

In the meantime, please FOLLOW "DROP IT" via Email by inputting your email address on the field to the right side of the blog post, then click submit. Don’t forget to recommend DROP IT to a friend!