NUTRITION
FOOD CRAVINGS A NEW MINDSET AND NEW TOOLS FOR HELPING YOUR CLIENTS NAVIGATE DIFFICULT TERRAIN By Ellie Steele I WILL NEVER FORGET THE DAY THAT ONE OF MY PERSONAL TRAINING COLLEAGUES HEADED OUTSIDE WITH HER CLIENT TO TRAIN IN THE FRESH SPRING AIR. They had a solid relationship, so when my trainer friend was cold, she helped herself to the jacket her client had shed. She put her hands in the pockets, trying to warm up and her hands fell on something. Out of curiosity, she pulled her hands out of the pockets to find a chocolate bar wrapper, in not ONE pocket, but BOTH! She jokingly scolded her client, came back after the session, told us the story and we all laughed! The thing is, despite it being funny, this 84 canfitpro September/October 2022
story is indicative of just how powerful food cravings are and we all know how they can impede our client’s progress. We know there are many clients who spend thousands of dollars on personal training and commit to making positive changes to their eating habits but get derailed by temptation after a long day, when they are busy or sometimes for no good reason that we, or they, can identify. This was MY personal experience as well. In my teens and twenties, I struggled with cycles of being “on track” with my healthy eating plan, trying to reach my own body composition goals and then “falling off the wagon”. For years, I lived with shame, guilt, and a feeling that I was just “weak”.
I could not understand it, I knew I was trying VERY hard, but I was failing and giving in to sugary, carbohydrate cravings daily despite my efforts. Now, after 20 years of personal and professional experience, I have a solid understanding of the plethora of factors that contribute to overwhelming food cravings that affect everyone to some degree but affect some of us to a painful degree. Here is what I have learned so far. 1. All human beings are wired to eat and there are multiple pathways connecting our gut, brain, and eating behaviours that prompt excessive