Ask Marilyn: resisting the afternoon urge to snack?
Q: At 4 pm every afternoon my energy levels slump and I find myself reaching for chocolate. How can I stop this bad habit?
A: It seems to me that you have not been eating anything between lunch and 4 pm so your energy slump is most likely linked to a dip in blood sugar – the body’s main fuel- which causes you to become hungry.
To keep your blood sugar level stable make sure you lunch on slow releasing carbohydrates (brown rice, oatcakes and whole meal bread) and proteins (avocado, eggs, hummus, oily fish, lentils) that release energy steadily into the blood stream. I also suggest that you eat three meals a day and two snacks in between those meals to keep your blood sugar levels steady; pre-empt the energy crash by having a slow energy releasing snack (nuts, seeds, some fruit, including berries, cherries, grapefruit, pear and melon) just before 4 pm.
If you still crave sugar, a team at the US Department of Agriculture have recently found that introducing cinnamon into the diet can help – half a teaspoon a day can reduce blood sugar levels by up to 20 per cent and keep them steady through the day. Sprinkle cinnamon on porridge, a smoothie or in a hot drink.