Perhaps one of the most difficult things to control when one is trying to lose weight is food craving, especially if you have already made it a habit to easily give in, and that you have been doing so for the longest time. Even if you have tried mightily hard to work on a specific diet plan, your cravings could just as easily shatter it. Food craving has been defined as one’s intense desire to eat a certain food – a desire that is much more than just simple hunger. While this can be true for both sexes, women usually experience food cravings more often than men.

What Causes Food Cravings?

People eat in response to their emotion – some people eat after a really bad day at work; some people eat after a job well done to celebrate. This goes on to show that eating serves as a go-to habit after a depressing incident or after a fulfilling accomplishment. Fluctuations in mood often brings about fluctuations in food cravings as well.

Psychological and emotional factors influence how we see food. For some, there are “comfort foods” that have been associated with feeling better – chocolate bars, tubs of ice cream, a big slice of cake or packets of candies. As you can see, these are not really healthy eating options. But food cravings are not only confined to sweet foods. Today you may be craving for something sweet, tomorrow you will be looking for something salty and the day after you’ll want something crunchy.

Hormones also play a part in stimulating food cravings. Women can attest to the fact that there are times, especially when one is about to get her monthly period, when food cravings are particularly strong. Pregnancy also trigger craving for certain types of food.

Because the mind is very powerful, it can sometimes play tricks on you. Walking home and passing by somebody’s kitchen with the beautiful aroma of whatever it is they are cooking filling the air, it becomes very easy to catch your attention. Next thing you know, you food cravings have been triggered and the diet plan flies out of the window.

A badly-planned diet also does more harm than good. If you have been restricting yourself from consuming certain types of food, it usually backfires on you. As an unfortunate result, the very foods that you are trying so hard to avoid are typically the ones that you crave for. So you see, it really isn’t wise to completely eradicate some foods from your diet, especially if you have been eating these types of food as long as you can remember. Instead, what you can do is to make the transition gradual so that in time, the cravings will taper off by itself.

What You Can Do to Deal with Food Cravings

You do not have to fall as a helpless victim to your food cravings. Fact of the matter is, you can do something. So really, there is no excuse. Here are some of the things that you can easily do for you to ward off food cravings – and appetite suppressant medications are nowhere to be found on the list.

• Do Not Skip Meals

  People who are trying to lose weight think that skipping meals could actually accelerate the weight loss process, but this is not true at all. In fact, what skipping meals actually do for you is that it makes you more hungry, making you indulge in food binging the next time you eat. What you can do instead is to eat smart. Instead of skipping breakfast only to eat a lot for lunch, try to modify your eating habits. Eat small meals six times each day. This way, you are not left hungry and that your blood sugar levels remain stable. Keep in mind that a sudden fall in blood sugar levels will trigger food cravings.

• Increase Water Intake

  Perhaps you have heard this advice repeated over and over again. The reason behind this repetitive emphasis is because it is true. Water provides you with a lot of health benefits and there really are good reasons why you should consume more. Water prevents dehydration, helps digest your food and helps you make feel full faster. Once you feel full, your food cravings also tend to vanish.

• Exercise

  Exercise is especially helpful for people who are always feeling stressed out and anxious and whose resort is to find comfort in comfort foods. Exercise helps you release those pent up emotions, providing a suitable outlet for your stresses. Additionally, exercising had been known to trigger the release of endorphins, also commonly known as the happy hormone. Not only will this help you feel a lot better about yourself and your general state of well-being, it will ultimately help you avoid reaching out for your comfort foods.

• Drink Coffee

  Coffee contains caffeine which can help suppress a person’s appetite thereby dealing with food cravings. Furthermore, coffee helps improve mood. There are evidences of studies that shows coffee can indeed enhance the mood of an individual. A study was made on coffee drinking individuals who were asked to withdraw coffee and those who do not drink coffee at all. Participants of the study were given controlled doses of beverages containing caffeine, particularly coffee, while some of them were given placebos. After 30 minutes of ingestion, they were assessed and evaluated using tests formulated by the Cognitive Drug Research. It showed that those who are habitual coffee consumers have an increase in mood levels; while those who are non-habitual coffee consumers had an increase in performance level. This indicates that coffee, when ingested moderately, has huge positive effects on the behaviour, moods and the cognitive abilities of an individual.

• Load Up on Protein and Fiber

  Unlike carbohydrates, fiber-rich and protein-rich foods make you feel full faster. There are a lot of fiber-rich foods that are easily accessible to you. Examples include oats, fruits, vegetables, and beans. For foods rich in protein, stick to fish and skinless chicken.

Sources
blogs.prevention.com
dietonautopilot.com
healthyplace.com
cravingsecrets.com
naturalhealthontheweb.com