Dreaming about pizza, chocolate, or your favourite sweet or salty snack? Cravings, we all get them, they’re the biggest obstacle to sticking to your diet. But don’t let your food cravings destroy your progress toward your goals. Here are five simple things that you can do to control your cravings.
// Eat smaller more frequent meals throughout the day
The longer you go without eating, the lower your blood sugar. Smaller more frequent meals will help stabilize your blood sugar and insulin levels and reduce hunger and cravings. Make healthy choices for both your meals and your snacks including fresh fruit, nuts and protein. Avoid sugary snacks that will cause rapid blood sugar spikes – chocolate, cakes or colas.
// Drink more water and stay hydrated
Drinking more water will delay hunger and cravings, you should always have a water bottle at hand. Drink a glass of water before each meal and with each snack to help you feel full sooner and prevent overeating. Drinking more water and replacing the sugary, syrupy soft drinks, Frappuccino’s, and bottled juices will greatly reduce your calorie intake and your cravings. Oh, but you only drink sugar-free drinks…read on.
// Avoid artificial sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners and calorie-free sugar substitutes which are advertised as being 200 times sweeter than sugar will only increase your cravings for sweetness. They will simply replace one craving and addiction for another. By avoiding artificial sweeteners, especially those found in diet sodas, you can control your cravings and better manage your diet.
// Recognise your food triggers and work to avoid them
Cake to celebrate, ice cream or chocolate when you’re sad, fast food when you’re stressed, anxious or angry – all examples of emotional food triggers. These go-to comfort foods generally always include unhealthy doses of sugar, fats, and salt. Locations and activities are also associated with cravings such as popcorn and a large cola at the movie theater, hot dogs and beer at sports events or bags of chips on the couch in front of the television. Be aware of the feelings and locations trigger your food cravings.
// Discard those temptations
Consider the aisle of your grocery store a battlefield attacking you with row upon row of chips and cookies and stacks of sodas. If you don’t put them in your cart and take them home you won’t have them there to tempt you. Stock your fridge and pantry with healthier alternatives and you’ll be more likely to choose those instead. There are many options for more health conscious choices that will allow you to indulge and feel less guilty when you are hungry or when you must give in to your cravings.
How do you control your cravings? – Comment below and let us know, we love hearing from you!
Definitely aim to be strong at the supermarket but is easier to have will power while shopping than to be at home and have will power against the pantry.
My current crave is ICE!!!! Could be worse right!