Chocolate is good in many ways but too much of anything can be a bummer on your system. We crave cholcate because it works on the pleasure center in our brain. Who wants to fight that? Those of us who crave just a little too much! Curbing the craving can be done, I assure you.
British researchers at the University of Exeter found that when people fit 15 minutes of walking into the middle of their day they ate less chocolate throughout the days as those who didn’t walk. Why does a walk reduce cravings?
- A new setting and activity takes your mind off the idea of a craved food.
- Exercise regulates blood sugar, making you less oriented toward sweet food.
- Getting your heart rate up reduces the kind of stress that leads to high fat, high sugar craving.
- Chocolate cravings often come from the desire for a spike in serotonin (the neurotransmitter responsible for mood) and dopamine (pleasure chemical). Exercise also elicits both chemicals.
Prior to the Exeter study we knew that cravings could be curbed by exercise but we didn’t know if curbing actually led to a change in real behavior. In other words, do we stop eating when we no longer crave chocolate?
Indeed we do. Well, we didn’t stop eating it altogether but we ate half as much as those who didn’t walk. All progress is good. Do the math… If you walk past the Hershey’s kiss bowl on Sally’s desk, oh say 10 times a day and you bow to your candy ball-and-chain, chances are you might eat five kisses.
That’s 100 calories.
If you’re eating that maybe 4 days a week, that’s 400 calories times the 48 weeks a year you work. Add it up and you get 19,200 calories or 5.5 pounds (not to mention that it adds up to 10 lbs of kisses over a year and Sally will shell out $60 on you alone – Sally needs to rethink her plan too!).
Cut your kiss intake in half and you’ll not only save 2.25 extra pounds but you’ll also have the added benefit of more oxygen to the brain, plus the calories you might burn in 15 minutes of brisk walking. That could actually completely counter the kisses in total. It’s a win-win!
Here’s an Olga exercise you can do inside to get that heart rate up if the whether doesn’t cooperate. Read below for instructions.
You in Your Workplace:
Dish the dish! Or at least stash it. Start a campaign to have people remove their candy dishes from sight or altogether. Brian Wansink of the Cornel Food and Brand Lab says we eat with our eyes not our stomach. If you can at least put the dish in drawer, it will be less tempting.
See you on the brisk PATH Ahead!
Olga Crawl Instructions:
Some people call this exercise the gorilla crawl (well, maybe only Olga cllas it that). Some call simply call it a crawl. The idea is to race along a hallway or across a gym floor as quickly as you can on your hands and feet. Go for 30-60 seconds, rest 10-30 seconds and go again. Repeat 3-5 times.
If you’re really adventurous, you can flip over so you’re in Table Pose with your hips facing the ceiling, knees bent and hands behiond you. Crawl in the direction of your head. We call this the crab walk. Alternate between crab and gorilla and you’ll feel it the next day for sure! Pair the crawls with other Olga exercises from our blogs or some jump roping or stair walking to complete 15 minutes of brain-power exercise.