How to Beat Food Cravings - Easy Ten Ways

It is hard to avoid food cravings when you are trying to lose weight. This is because most diets and programs for weight loss involve changing your eating habits. Some food cravings are caused by genuine cravings for a nutrient but most of the time food cravings have a psychological component. Some people crave cake the same way that an alcoholic craves a few drinks. They are addicted to sugar. However like alcoholics very few cravings are actually caused by anything physical. Food cravings are almost always in the mind.

Here are ten tips you can use to fight food cravings so that they don't sabotage your weight loss plans.

1. If you feel a craving coming on, change your surroundings or what you are doing. This helps you leave the situation that may have subtly and psychologically caused the craving in the first place. This psychological trick is called change the thought, change the feeling. If you are not triggered by familiar circumstances then you will not feel like indulging in that food.

2. When a craving hits, go for a short run or jog. This focuses your mind on your body and you forget your craving. This is called the fine art of self-distraction.

3. Fool your taste buds by substituting the taste that you are craving for another. For instance, if you are craving something salty, try something spicy to try and trick your brain out of being rewarded for the craving. If you are craving something sweet then try something sour, like a pickle instead.

4. Give yourself a different type of reward for the craving. For instance if you are craving potato chips take a warm bath or watch your favorite television show instead.

5. Never starve yourself. Going without a meal for too long can cause you to become vulnerable to cravings. The lower your blood sugar is the more likely you are to crave something that is bad for you.

6. Stay in control of anger. Angry people who are unable to handle their feelings tend to crave fatty, warm and salty foods. This is called eating your aggression.

7. Never get lonely. If you are isolated and alone you may resort to eating comfort food as a substitute for affection and love. If you feel tempted to eat because you are lonely then call up a friend.

8. Don't overtax yourself and become too tired. Make sure you get enough sleep, as exhausted people tend to make bad decisions about what to eat. Your body might also trick you into thinking that the food that you crave is the one that is going to perk you up.

9. Stay away from sugar. Sugar is thought by some dietitians to be as addictive as heroin. You get a high when you eat it and you are low until you get some more. Recognize that once you eat one sugary food you might crave another in just a few hours. This is how excess calories add up.

10. Make sure you are getting enough calcium. If you are craving high calorie foods such as cheese, it could be that your body is craving calcium. Eat lower fat foods than are rich in calcium like spinach, broccoli, or Swiss chard and drink herbal teas and water to balance your cravings.

Many cravings for unhealthy foods have no physical basis at all. The key is to stop seeing food as a cure for whatever ails you and address your personal issues so that you do not develop chronically unhealthy eating habits that can sabotage your weight loss.

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