How to Manage Cravings
One of the biggest challenges we face when we are trying to change our diet are the cravings. Why do we crave the foods we are so desperate to get out of our lives?
If you experience cravings for certain foods, it's NOT because you are weak or lack discipline. Cravings are actually programmed into our bodies to help us get the nutrients we are lacking. It is a very intelligent communication system inside our bodies designed to get us to consume those nutrients that our body needs.
The challenge is that we can ALSO experience cravings created by the way we eat or live. It’s why you reach for a sweet soda when you are eating french fries, or a glass of wine when you are eating a steak. We can create cravings when we eat foods that have an intense flavor because our body starts looking for the opposite. It is all about balance. Our body always wants to be in balance or homeostasis.
What are cravings?
You might describe a craving as a sudden urge to eat a specific food, often at a time when we are not hungry. They can be hard to resist and can involve a complex interplay of factors. Cravings are not “bad”. They are not something you have to conquer or ignore.
Cravings are the body’s way of sending us information about what is out of balance. Like I mentioned above, we can create cravings when we eat intense foods like french fries or artificially flavored snacks. Our tastebuds start sending us signals for the opposite flavor to bring us back into balance.
But our body can also send us cravings when we are out of balance in other ways, like when we are really tired, or emotionally taxed. Cravings can come from more than just our tastebuds. The key is to managing the cravings you feel are to understand where they came from.
Cravings can be:
Emotional - we've had a rough day and we want a "treat" or something to help us feel better. It’s why you might look for something sweet in the afternoon, or crave ice cream at the end of day to help soothe us.
Physical - can be caused by a nutritional deficiency, like craving chocolate during your menstrual cycle (usually because of the magnesium in cacao) or craving citrus when you are fighting off a cold.
Lack of energy - you might crave more carbs because you had a bad night of sleep and you need quick sources of energy
Rituals - a routine your body is used to, like drinking coffee every morning or a glass of wine with dinner.
Environment or Time of Year - there could be environmental cues that trigger cravings like the holidays when we tend to eat more sweets. Certain foods make the holiday feel “special”.
The next time you have a craving, pause and question where it might be coming from first, before you do anything about it.
Is the craving emotional? Has it been a while since you had a good hug? Did you just have a fight with someone and now you want ice cream? Or, is the craving physical? Foods that are high in salt or sugar, prompt us to want the opposite if we eat too much.
So, the first step I suggest for you is to consider is ...... what kind of craving is it, and what does it stem from?
Strategies to Curb Cravings
Here are some ways to lessen cravings and start to lessen the hold they have on you":
Stop and listen to your body. Consider what kind of craving this is. Are you tired? Are you emotional? Are you actually hungry? Take a 10 minute pause before reaching for the food you are trying to avoid, and ask yourself what are you really hungry for?
Slowly reduce the amount of the food or "treat" you are eating: Is it soda, chocolate, coffee, baked goods..... try to have a smaller amount than the day before.
Improve the quality: Have some, but change up the source. Is there a higher quality version you can have that has a natural sweetener, or is less processed.
Don't bring it into the house: Finish what you have and don't buy more. Make it harder to get that soda, or candy or potato chips. If it’s not in the house, it is easier to let that craving wave pass.
Pay attention to when you have a craving and what triggers the craving. Many times it's when you eat something of the opposite flavor, such as when you have salty dinner, like Chinese food, that you really want something sweet after.... so how can you balance out that meal so it doesn't send you into a craving afterwards.
Drink more water. That might sound a bit boring, but when we are on a cravings roller coaster, especially for sugar, we might actually be dehydrated. Increase your water intake and even better, add some electrolytes into your water once a day.
Want to go deeper? I’ve taught a class on this very topic!
I paired up with an Integrative Nutritionist to teach classes on health topics critical to women’s health including cravings. See our upcoming classes and access the replays from past classes including this Cravings Masterclass on my classes page.
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