Whether it’s for french fries or Belgian chocolate, when it hits, you can’t seem to think of anything else except gorging on the object of your food craving.
There’re many reasons why we experience food cravings, from nutritional imbalances and emotional stresses, to the fact that some of what we eat, especially sugar glucose, has a similar effect on our body as addictive substances like alcohol, nicotine and cocaine.
Food cravings can be responsible for a lot of your unhealthy eating. When they hit, we tend to lose our better judgment about what we should eat and opt instead to just satisfy the craving as soon as possible.
So if you were able to better manage food cravings and reduce or eliminate the poor eating habits they encourage, your weight loss program would get a major boost.
Next time you have a food craving, try some of the following tips to help reduce its impact on your weight and health:
- Accept the Craving – This is perhaps the most important step in changing how you react to food cravings. Accepting the craving doesn’t mean to necessarily give in to it, but just to stop fighting it. For many people, food cravings cause panic because they know it means that the diet disciplines they have worked so hard to develop are under attack and they’re worried that ‘losing’ to the food craving will mean they can’t climb back to where they were. The stress isn’t worth it and you are more likely to give in to avoid the experiencing the stress.So stop fighting and start learning from your cravings. Think about what brings them on. Soon you will start to see patterns and triggers, many of which you will be able to avoid.
- Reduce the Power of the Craving – By reducing the hold the craving has on you, you will reduce the chance that you will give into it. Exercise offers a double benefit. When you feel an urge to eat something, go for a walk. Not only will it reduce or eliminate the current craving, but exercise reduces the occurrence of cravings. Other ways of lessening a craving include picturing yourself eating the food, chewing gum and drinking water.
- Distract Yourself from the Craving – Use the sensation of a food craving as a trigger to do something other than eating. Call a friend, do some housework or work on your hobby. The idea is to use the time that it would take to give in to the craving to get into something else that will help you forget that you had the craving in the first place.
- Substitute – The only real problem with cravings is that they are usually for unhealthy foods. So learn to swap healthier options for the foods you crave. Have a hankering for some sweet candy? Try raisins or other dried fruit. Need salt right now? Try lightly salted peanuts which have less salt and more healthy fats and protein than potato chips.
- Give-In – But do so in a way we call ‘measured surrender’. If you’re unbending in your attempts to eliminate cravings, you invite a dam burst of indulgence when, one day, you just can’t manage any more. So occasionally relieving some of that pressure will actually increase your chance of overall success. Want chocolate? Have it every now and then, but try to limit the amount you eat or try dark chocolate, which has a higher cocoa content.
- Relax – Don’t be too hard on yourself if you give in to a craving. Allowing yourself to be defeated reduces your motivation and desire to keep trying.
As mentioned, nutritional imbalances and shortages are one of the biggest causes of food cravings. Your body detects a shortage of a particular nutrient, sends signals to your brain to ‘stock up’ – and then you get a food craving.
It all means that you can significantly reduce the occurrence and severity of food cravings by maintaining nutritional balance in your body. Your Herbal One nutritional counselor has the training and products you need to give your body all the nutrients it needs to remain healthy and keep you on track for successful weight management.