It’s noon and although there’s only an hour until lunch, the call of the vending machine is getting stronger and stronger. Eventually you can resist no more and just have to buy a bar of chocolate.

If this sounds familiar, you may be lacking more than the willpower to resist shiny wrappers promising sugary goodness. Nutritionists say that it could be a sign of a hormonal imbalance.

Essentially, those with a modern diet are in a Catch-22 situation. According to Yvonne Bishop-Weston, lead nutritionist at the Foods for Life clinic, by feeding sugar into your body in the form of chocolate, cake or biscuits – or by eating hidden sugars in ready meals and processed food – we upset our natural blood-glucose balance. Sugar highs lead to lows, which set off a craving for more sugar to bring us back up to a level with which the body is happy.

During this cycle, the body constantly releases hormones as it tries to regulate the metabolism. The problem is that these hormones affect not only blood sugar levels but many other things too.

The results of a hormone imbalance can be fatigue, night sweats, sleep problems, mood swings, memory impairment, depression, excessive weight gain, low sex drive. For women, it can also mean irregular periods and fertility problems.

One of the simplest things you can do to start getting your blood sugar levels under control is to eat a decent breakfast.

Ms Bishop-Weston says that by eating a breakfast such as wholegrain toast or porridge, you can ensure that your body starts the day in the right way.

“You need to eat within one hour of waking up,” she says. “If you eat too late your body goes into crisis mode and will release stress hormones to deal with that, so you actually start your day stressed.”

That feeling of stress may end up driving us to eat comfort food such as a bar of chocolate.

That’s part of the reason why a balanced diet is so important: it’s not just about weight, but also about creating some internal calm for your body. Along with a healthy, balanced diet, some nutritionists recommend supplements.

Ms Bishop-Weston says to help soothe over-worked adrenal glands, take vitamin C, vitamin B5, purified fish oil or algae oil and magnesium. Herbs, such as ginseng and liquorice, also help to rejuvenate the glands.

The liver is one of the most important organs when it comes to balancing hormones. As well as eating foods that support the liver, such as broccoli, beets, garlic and lemons, you can boost its performance with herbs such as milk thistle, dandelion root and turmeric.

Getting blood sugar under control also depends on how your digestive system works. Ms Bishop-Weston advises that how you eat food can be important, as well as what you eat, and recommends chewing food until it is actually liquid before swallowing.

“This ensures that you really release all the nutrients and helps the body to digest food,” she says. “Poorly digested food can lead to infection and fermentation, including bloating and wind, which then leads to your body being in crisis mode again.”

This releases stress hormones and we throw ourselves back to square one.

Bishop-Weston advises to strengthen your digestive system, drink plenty of water, which helps to keep your body hydrated, reducing the risk of it going into crisis mode. Eat regular meals, but don’t eat too late at night as that can disrupt sleep, which is essential to a well-run body.

Hopefully once you get your hormones in harmony, the call of the vending machine will no longer ring in your ears.