How To Reduce Food Cravings Naturally – Many of you have asked me to write about how to control food cravings. I have a section on cravings in my book Good Food, Bad Diet, but I can tell you now that cravings are not as terrible as you’ve been conditioned to believe. You don’t give in to your desires because you don’t have “will.” As you probably know, desires are powerful forces.
The good news is that you can use your cravings not only to discover what you’re missing in your diet, but also to help heal your relationship with food.
How To Reduce Food Cravings Naturally
So yes, today we are going to put a positive spin on food cravings. I know you’re fine with that, right?
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First, let’s talk about the difference between craving and hunger, because they are two completely different things. I made a nice graph to show you what I mean.
While sometimes you can’t tell the difference between cravings and hunger (and sometimes you have both), it’s important to know what these feelings are that you’re having.
It has always been believed that we want foods rich in micronutrients that our bodies need, but this has never been proven.
In the case of pica, a condition that is more common during pregnancy, a person craves inedible substances such as chalk, starch or dirt. However, we are not sure if this is due to micronutrient deficiency.
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And while most food cravings are based on emotions, there are some chemical reasons why you may have them.
Women crave food during the luteal phase of their cycle (i.e. before their period) due to fluctuations in progesterone, estrogen and serotonin.
A 2017 study in obesity found that the hunger hormone ghrelin plays a role in “hedonically motivated eating behavior”—that is, how I feel when I’m full, but there’s a chocolate cake in front of me. The study indicated that people with higher baseline levels of ghrelin had greater food cravings. Stress and diet are two things that increase ghrelin. We already suspect that stress can cause food cravings, whether they’re rooted in blood sugar or a desire for high levels of approval and reward, as in “I’ve had a bad day, I deserve that ice cream.”
Not eating enough or reducing the amount of carbohydrates can lead to cravings. If you’re on a low-carb diet and can’t stop thinking about things you shouldn’t be eating, like sugar and bread, you may need to add some of them back. Lack of carbohydrates causes the release of neuropeptide Y, which specifically increases carbohydrate cravings, but this research has been done primarily in animals.
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I know, it’s hard. Especially if you are a parent. But sleep affects hunger hormones and leads to food cravings, especially for quick energy carbohydrates. Our bodies know that sugar and other refined carbohydrates = quick energy, so that’s what we crave when we’re tired. Listen to your body!
A recent study in the journal Sleep showed that lack of sleep also activates the endocannabinoid system. This system is believed to regulate many physiological processes, including appetite. The researchers found that even when the subjects were sleep-deprived, their endocannabinoid levels increased, which increased their preference for hedonic eating.
I took carrots to the movies because I didn’t want to eat popcorn. If you weren’t so sad I would remember and smile.
However, food cravings may be contextual, but they are habits. There is no physiological need to eat sweets after dinner. If you tend to crave the same thing at the same time every day, ask yourself why you crave this food. Are you bored? Hungry? Looking to satisfy a need other than hunger with food?
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If you find yourself in a certain situation that triggers a craving for a certain food, stop for a second and listen to what your body is craving rather than habitually and automatically making a connection between the situation or place and the food.
Do you like eating popcorn at the movies because it adds to the experience? Is it something special you wouldn’t want to do without? Or is it just a habit that leads to behavior? The cravings may eventually subside if you shift your focus, but it’s up to you to decide, on a case-by-case basis, if that’s where you want to go and if you think it’s satisfying to let go of your cravings. .. and success. .
It says: Eating for pleasure (not hunger) is good and part of keeping our lives full and happy. You should enjoy the food! But it’s also important to be intentional about what you eat. That is, knowing why you are consuming something and being able to do so consciously.
I will not tell you to get out of the situation, because there will always be another situation with another desire. But learning to anticipate and deal with them instead of avoiding them makes all the difference.
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Let’s stop looking at food cravings as these negative entities bent on destroying us. We are human beings. We want things. Get over it.
You don’t want to eat chocolate because it’s “bad” for you and you think that once you start, you can’t stop.
To avoid eating chocolate, eat something that is not associated with chocolate, such as fruit. And now let me tell you, no one I’ve ever met in my life has ever satisfied a chocolate craving with an apple. So the “how to satisfy your cravings” articles online are “naturally sweet, like fruit!” To reduce desire, they are filled with dirt.
Finally, after eating too many other foods in an attempt to hide your chocolate craving, give in and eat chocolate. Except until then you really want chocolate because you’re telling yourself you can’t eat it. So you eat more than you originally thought possible, because you know that tomorrow you will be banned from eating chocolate again.
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You take some chocolate and eat it. (Here’s a great recipe for mug brownies, FYI.) You enjoy chocolate, but you know you can always eat more, so you don’t need to eat a ton.
Or maybe you eat more than you think, but understand that sometimes we overeat and that’s okay.
Once you start saying that no food is off limits, you’ll be surprised how your cravings decrease.
Telling yourself to eat something you don’t want, because some external influence told you to, leads to unhappiness. Oh really.
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You need to get rid of the “shoulds”. The “need” is not caused by us, but by the expectations that other people have of us and that we assume.
Letting go of “songs” allows us to make the decisions we want without the involvement of others. In the end, no one should manage your diet and food choices but you.
Respecting your food cravings and not “doing” to stop eating what you want can help calm cravings.
Abby Langer has been a Registered Dietitian since 1999. Educated at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Loyola University in Chicago, Abby has worked extensively in both clinical nutrition and nutrition consulting and media.
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