What is stopping you?

Table Of Content

This newsletter is dedicated to YOU!

So I asked some of you on my Instagram (@roshnisanghvi) about one thing that is stopping you from achieving your weight loss goals. I got some fantastic responses and have picked the three most common answers to help you better. So here we go:

I have difficulty with portion control…

But what if I told you ‘how much’ you eat really doesn’t matter as long as you understand ‘what’ to eat.

Portion control stems from two main problems:

1) Restrictive dieting: Any diet that restricts plant-based food groups such as ‘low- carb’, ‘gluten-free’, and ‘grain-free diets’ is a restrictive diet. All plant-based food groups are important and restricting any of them often causes hormonal imbalance, nutritional deficiencies, and extensive cravings. Eventually, you get frustrated and end up ‘over-eating’- thus have a problem with portion control. Imagine avoiding grains (rice/ wheat) all day. You will get frustrated by the evening and overeat! It’s not your fault.

2) Leptin resistance: Leptin is a hormone that signals your brain to stop eating when it is almost full. Obesity is often associated with leptin resistance- meaning, you do have the hormone, but for some reason, it is not absorbed by the body.

SOLUTION: Start your meals with a high fiber food group such as vegetables and beans. Maybe add some boiled chickpeas to your salad. Fiber fills you up and boosts leptin sensitivity in a long run. Adding a prebiotic fiber supplement like psyllium husk will also help.

PS: All my clients eat ‘unlimited’ food and still lose weight. This shows that ‘what’ you eat matters and not ‘how much’.

I work late night work and have mid-night cravings…

Research does show that our hunger hormone ghrelin peaks during the night time. This is one of the reasons why you never wake up craving junk snacks like a pizza or desserts. Firstly, understand this and remember that giving in to your cravings is not your fault, it’s really biology.

That being said, sleeping past 11 pm puts your body’s natural circadian cycle off track, leading to more leptin resistance and weight gain. Ideally, try and get to bed by 11pm latest and avoid the use of technology post 9pm.

SOLUTION: But what if your job demands you to stay up late at night? You can try a few things as mentioned below:

1) Add 30 minutes of structured physical activity at least four times a week. Exercise helps with hormonal balance and boost glucose metabolism (you will not store a lot of calories as body fat).

2) Stay prepared: Starch-based snacks like roasted (or boiled) sweet potato, roasted chickpeas, hummus, and black bean brownies are really low in calories and nutritionally dense. Prepare them in advance and keep them at your work desk. Starches are 1-2 calories per gram (half the number of calories as proteins!). They also help with glucose metabolism. Make sure to keep these snacks low- fat (no oil’s).

3) Lots and lots and lots of herbal teas (no caffeine): Everything from Chamomile to Ashwagandha is amazing!. Avoid green tea’s and coffee’s because they do have some caffeine. Keep a kettle and tea bags (or loose tea’s) close by. Drinking often will keep you away from eating. Trust me once you get used to it, you will look forward to your tea’s.

I cannot give up on alcohol…

Would you believe me if I said that was me a few years back? I would look forward to my few glasses of wine per week and genuinely enjoyed it.

One sentence I heard changed my perspective on alcohol completely. Let me share it with you.

Imagine you fall down and hurt yourself. The first thing people will tell you is to rub alcohol on your wound to avoid an infection. Alcohol is rubbed on the wound to kill any bacteria or other dangerous pathogens. Now think of the effect this portion has on your gut bacteria when you consume it. Just one drink over the weekend is enough to wipe out a lot of the good colonies of gut bacteria in your stomach and all the work it took you to fix the gut all week.

I’m going to upload a video on my Instagram the coming week talking about the effects of alcohol on the body. Just 1/2 drink per day is enough to boost your susceptibility to many types of cancers!

SOLUTION: But how to get over your craving for alcohol? Most of us are social drinkers. We want ‘something’ while hanging out with friends. Something that helps me now is ‘non-alcoholic wine and beers’. What even is this! Google it! You will be surprised how close these non-alcoholic drinks taste to the real thing.

They do have some sugars so do not overdo it, but it’s a good step to help you get over alcohol. Eventually, you can switch to plain soda and lemon/ salt. A few weeks off and you won’t even crave alcohol anymore.

A few drinks occasionally per year is fine, but alcohol every weekend hampers your health and progress.

Google “Roshni Sanghvi Recipes” to check out all my recipes.

Leave me a love note on Instagram if this helps you!

Loving you always,

Roshni Sanghvi.