How can I manage my food cravings?

• When you stop eating the food and decide that it's out of your life forever -- not just for a day or a week or a month -- you stop thinking about it.
• When you stop thinking about it, you stop desiring it.

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Managing food cravings is a simple but difficult process. In my experience, I have seen that most often when an individual makes an emotional judgment and gives into eating when they are not hungry it is often do to temporarily losing sight of their goal(s) and/or continuation of habits.

Try these tips for controlling food cravings:

• Develop a mantra. Something like: "I feed my body and my needs, not my taste buds."
• Ask yourself questions like: "Why am I going to eat this? Is it because I actually want it and need it or am I reactively responding to an immediate desire?"
• Keep focused on your goal. Post it in sight at work and at home and refer to it often.
• Drink a glass of water to slow the decision making process down. Water can make you feel a little fuller AND it will give you something to do while deciding if you are actually going to give in to your cravings.

Yours in health,
Robert

Managing food cravings is a simple but difficult process. In my experience, I have seen that most often when an individual makes an emotional judgment and gives into eating when they are not hungry it is often do to temporarily losing sight of their goal(s) and/or continuation of habits.

Try these tips for controlling food cravings:

• Develop a mantra. Something like: "I feed my body and my needs, not my taste buds."
• Ask yourself questions like: "Why am I going to eat this? Is it because I actually want it and need it or am I reactively responding to an immediate desire?"
• Keep focused on your goal. Post it in sight at work and at home and refer to it often.
• Drink a glass of water to slow the decision making process down. Water can make you feel a little fuller AND it will give you something to do while deciding if you are actually going to give in to your cravings.

To your health,
Robert

The easiest way to get your mind off that hot fudge sundae is to picture this instead: a white sandy beach in Tahiti. Or a scene from your favorite movie. Or a slow dance with your honey under a starry sky. Just picture something -- anything -- delightfully pleasant that isn't food related. Research suggests that doing so can help stop a craving, fast.

Just Imagine . . .

In a study, college students were asked to vividly picture themselves engaged in a well-loved activity every time a food craving came up and to maintain the alternate image until the craving faded. Compared with control groups using other craving-quelling techniques like distraction or mentally challenging tasks, the daydreamers experienced a much more dramatic nosedive in both the strength and vividness of their food cravings. Researchers suspect that because the students employed their senses -- like sight, sound, and smell -- when imaging the enjoyable activity, it took the edge off their food urges and made the craved item seem less real.

Give It Time

Interestingly, despite a weakening of their cravings, the college kids practicing the visualization technique didn't eat less of their yearned-for foods during the short 4-day study. But the study authors suspect that would be the next logical result or step in a longer study if the students practiced the visualization habit for a longer period of time. And even if daydreaming only diminishes the intensity of food cravings, that's a great start to getting a handle on them.

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Here are the top tips I give my clients to reduce their cravings:

1.  Eat the right carbs. A sugar craving is simply your body asking for energy. When sugar is digested in the body it becomes glucose. Glucose is what fuels our body and cells and essential for maintaining your energy levels.  Eating the right type of carbs helps your body maintain a steady flow of energy into the body and wards off blood sugar highs and lows. All carbs contain sugar but depending on their chemical structures – simple or complex – they are processed differently. Most simple carbs are highly processed, contain refined sugars and have little or no nutrients which you will find in many processed foods. Instead go for natural foods like fruit which do contain naturally occurring simple sugars but are high in fiber so it helps slow down digestion, limiting the amount of sugar that flows into the cells. Try whole grains too, like brown rice, quinoa, barley or even millet. Sweet vegetables can be really effective as well to ward off sugar cravings. Try carrots, sweet potatoes and beets.

2.  Find balance. Eating a balanced diet coupled with a balanced lifestyle is key to being healthy, maintaining your ideal weight and reducing cravings. Our bodies sometimes trigger a craving in us when we are off balance. For example eating a diet too rich in sugar may cause a craving for meat. Foods that maintain balance and help curb your cravings are whole grains, beans, vegetables and dark leafy greens.

3.  Do something you love. Often we feel a need to reach out for our favorite food when we are stressed, anxious, bored or even just sad. Instead of reaching out for the oreo or bag of chips when our emotions get the better of us, do something you enjoy. Talk to a friend, go on a walk or to the gym, dance, sing or whatever makes your heart sing. 

A great way to manage a food craving is to actually have a little bit of it, so that you satisfy what you are longing for. Watch health educator and author Daphne Oz explain how giving in to a food craving is ok, as long as you don't overdo it.