7 Simple Strategies to Kill Cravings and Lose Weight

This is an article from 2008 but the message still holds true and I think it is worth sharing to everyone, let me know what you think 


Americans are well-aware of common addictions: smoking, caffeine, alcohol, amphetamines, prescription pain meds, and sleeping pills. However, most of us are blind to this country's biggest addiction of all: Food. The shocking truth is that too much weight now kills more people than cigarette smoking.

Yes, food is addictive - as we all can attest. Whether it's a physical, mental, emotional, conditional, cultural, or all-of-the-above addiction makes no difference. We're hooked, and that's why it's so tough to beat those cravings that loudly lure us in, no matter how much we try to think or talk ourselves out of them.

For some of us, it's sweets that woo; for others, it's salt. It can be greasy chips we choose, or diet pop we gulp. Bread soothes, meat rules, cheese pleads. Countless combos connive to command and control. And let's not forget the dark devil himself, a seductive master who leaves us weak in the knees and vacant of sense...chocolate.

Whichever cravings hold you hostage, these seven strategies can help you escape - freeing you to lose weight, sidestep diseases, and build health.

1. Satisfy Your Hunger Drive
You must control your hunger drive to lose and maintain ideal weight - a mythical cultural mantra you may believe. When you fail to control your hunger and give in once more to your cravings, you feel inherently weak, lacking will power and self-control. Delete that myth from your brain. Your hunger drive cannot be controlled. It is a natural instinct, and, like all human instincts, it keeps you alive.

When you're thirsty, you drink. When you're sleepy, you sleep. When you're hungry, guess what? You should eat. Simply fill up on the right foods that satisfy your hunger drive (see Strategy #2). Yippee! You are now free to eat until you're full.

Remember to listen to your brain and stop eating before your stomach begs for mercy. And when you're hungry again, truly hungry and not just needy for emotional comfort or relief from boredom, eat! Who would have thunk it? You get to eat when you're hungry!

Cravings, triggered by hunger, can be crushed, if you stop waging war with your hunger drive and start satisfying it by filling up on the best-for-you foods.

2. Fill Up on Good-Guy Carbs
For all the carb confusion, there is one glaring fact. All carbs are not created equally. The good-guy carbohydrates, sourced by whole, fresh fruits, vegetables, unrefined grains (brown rice, not breads) and legumes, satisfy your hunger drive, thereby calming cravings. When one of your goodies, but baddie screams at you, whether mid-afternoon or during evening T.V. viewing, eat and fill up on nature's best-for-you foods first, and be amazed by the fading of the craving.

Hint: For cravings to disappear, you must eat enough of the best-for-you foods to really and truly fill you up.

3. Ditch Bad-Boy Carbs
On the other hand, the bad boys incite cravings. Steer clear of them. Scout them out and ban them from your house, workplace, and car. As experience teaches, the more refined sugar, desserts, baked goods, breads, salty snacks, and chocolate you eat, the more hooked you get. If they are out of sight, they are much easier to avoid.

The natural sugars and sodium (nature's salt), wrapped up in nature's perfect, nutrient-dense package of fruits, vegetables, unrefined grains, and legumes, are your biggest allies to successfully fight and conquer cravings. When cravings call, be sure to first load up on these foods, especially whole fruits and vegetables, to render those sabotaging urges powerless.

4. Graze on Fruit for Breakfast
Fresh fruit expedites your freedom from cravings. The challenge is - eating enough fruit in a day when traditional food faves demand front stage and centre. Rather than breakfasting on the typical bad-boy carbs which trigger cravings (dried-up cereal from a box, quick oats, brown-coloured white toast, pancakes, pop tarts, pastries), fat-laden bacon and eggs, or just a cup of pick-me-up-then-crash-me-down, why not jump out of the breakfast box and fill your morning and stomach with nature's best craving crushers - fresh fruits?

Pay attention to your hunger drive and eat enough whole fruits, approximately four to ten, to fill you up and satisfy you. Grazing on whole, fresh fruits until noon helps shut the gate before the cravings get out of the barn, gain momentum, and sneak attack later in the day. Try it. See how many whole fresh fruits fill you up and behold your incredible shrinking cravings.

5. Keep Healthy Snacks Handy
Whether at home, work, or on the go, think ahead and keep healthy snacks with you at all times - cut-up veggies, fruit, and raw, unsalted nuts and seeds. That way, when cravings start crooning, your fortifications will stop them dead in their tracks.

6. Stop the Diet-go-Round - Forever
Sure diets work, for a while - until they don't. But they are excellent at one thing - adding red-hot fuel to your cravings.

First, diets deprive you of your food faves - until you can't stand it, give in, and sneak them back into your life. Second, diets restrict calories and portions, leaving you hungry, making you crave more, and building that food frenzy to a height that consumes your thoughts and your life until...you give in. Third, diets often limit the major nutrient, carbohydrates. With a shortage of good-guy carbs, cravings take control, and you grab the first bad-guy carb in sight. The result: you feel like a hopeless failure one more time.

So the next time you're tempted to diet, just remember one thing: Diets Don't Work!

7. Add and Wiggle!
Okay. Let's face it right now. You're not perfect. You will never be perfect. Nor do you have to be perfect to finally be free from food cravings. So give yourself some wiggle room. Instead of proclaiming that you're never ever going to be seduced by one of your food friends again (that's not going to happen so why go there?), try a new strategy.

Think addition, not subtraction. In other words, instead of trapping yourself in a restrictive food-box of "can't haves," depriving yourself from the get-go, think about which foods you "get to" add to your day that will give you the most nutrition for your calorie buck. These are the very same foods - fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes - that will short-stop those cravings that have enslaved you for decades.

Then follow the 80/20 Rule. Eighty percent of the time when meals and snacks are routine without holidays, birthdays, or get-togethers, add and fill up first on those best-for-you foods. The other twenty percent of the time, don't worry about it and wiggle! Just beware you don't wiggle too much.


No matter how diligent you are at incorporating these 7 Strategies into specific action steps in your daily life, if you are a mere mortal, there will be times when a goodie, but baddie will hop into your open-like-a-baby-bird mouth, and when you least expect it. No worries, with persistent mindfulness, time, and patience, you can unlock that trap door, free yourself from cravings, and build your body-dream-come-true.


Author:  Dr. Leslie Van Romer, author of the weight-loss book, "Getting Into Your Pants," is a chiropractor, speaker and expert in weight loss, diet and nutrition. She empowers individuals with direction and hope to lose weight, boost health and feel good about themselves.

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How to stay healthy over Christmas

Wondering how you're going to survive the holiday party season? Good Food nutritionist, Kerry Torrens shares her secrets for staying healthy over Christmas, avoiding overindulgence and beating the morning-after blues.

 

"My diet is pretty good most of the time, as you'd expect" says Kerry, "but the party season is tricky. Here are my strategies for coping with the overindulgence and late nights that are an inevitable but enjoyable part of the festive season."

Everything starts with breakfast

If I'm going out in the evening, I'll start the day with a generous bowl of porridge, topped with a handful of cranberries and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Porridge stabilises blood sugar levels, which helps control appetite later in the day. I also add a good dollop of probiotic yogurt, which helps boost immunity as well as combat some of the less beneficial effects of the party season, like too much alcohol and not enough sleep



Breakfast ideas:

• Cinnamon porridge with banana & berries
• Porridge plus
• Porridge with blueberry compo

Stay hydrated

On the day of a big night out, and the day after, I make a conscious effort to drink 6-8 glasses of water, or plenty of herbal teas or diluted juice. Even mild dehydration can lead to a headache and combined with the diuretic effects of alcohol makes maintaining your fluid intake so important. Regular teas and coffee count towards your fluid intake, but caffeinated versions shouldn't make up your full quota. I sometimes struggle to drink enough when it's cold, so I'll take a full glass of water to bed with me at night and start the day with a second. I make sure I've drunk both before I have my breakfast.

Sensible snacking

If I'm hungry when I arrive at a party, I struggle to resist the canapés, so I always have a pre-party snack. One of my favourites is a small pot of plain yogurt with a sliced banana. The yogurt's protein slows stomach emptying, which helps delay the effects of that first glass of wine while the potassium-rich banana helps balance any increase in my salt intake - especially helpful if I'm going to be nibbling on olives, crisps or salted nuts. I know I'm better off eating before I go to a party because I'm more likely to stick to my resolve when the canapés come round a second or third time. Other snacks which do the trick include granary toast with nut butter, a bowl of muesli with milk, or a mug of chunky vegetable soup


Pre-party snack ideas:

• Peanut butter & banana on toast
• Italian vegetable soup
• Indian chickpea & vegetable soup

Back away from the buffet

Buffets can be a disaster zone - so I make sure I fill half my plate with salad and vegetables, and the rest with protein-based canapés like salmon and chicken. I take my time selecting and eating my food and I move away from the table as soon as my plate is full so I avoid non-stop grazing.

Canapés / buffet food:

• Thai chicken bites
• Sesame beef wraps
• Smoky chicken skewers

No more hangovers

Don't be tempted to skip meals so you can stockpile calories for drinking. Alcohol only supplies empty calories, so avoiding proper meals to compensate for a booze splurge means you're losing out on valuable nutrients, just when your body needs them to help it detoxify. I stick to one type of drink and I make it a lighter-coloured one because they tend to be lower in the chemical by-products that can worsen a hangover. I aim to have no more than one alcoholic drink an hour, alternated with juice, water or soft drinks - perfect if you don't like holding an empty glass.
Read our guide to hangover cures, plus take our quiz and find out how many calories are in alcoholic drinks.

What to eat the next morning

My best 'morning after' breakfast is a frittata or omelette packed with veg. I love mushrooms for their energising B vitamins, tomatoes for vitamin C and onions for their liver-friendly sulphur compounds. If I have spinach to hand I'll add a generous handful because it's a great source of folate which helps my body repair DNA. Eggs are an excellent choice for the morning after because they provide choline, a nutrient that supports the liver. Add a sprinkle of cayenne pepper or a chopped chilli to boost circulation and rev up your recovery. If you can't face a cooked breakfast then have a smoothie made with fruits like bananas, oranges or kiwi - these are rich in potassium which helps replenish the electrolytes lost due to the diuretic effects of alcohol.

Morning-after breakfast:

• Spanish spinach omelette
• Artichoke & roasted red pepper soufflé omelette
• One-pan English breakfast
• Forest fruit & banana smoothie

Get back on track

After a big night out I don't skip meals, even if I have over-indulged. After all, it's the balance of your diet that's important. I apply the 80:20 principle - eating healthily 80% of the time, which allows me the space for delicious treats at weekends and on special occasions.

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A registered Nutritional Therapist, Kerry Torrens is a contributing author to a number of nutritional and cookery publications including BBC Good Food. Kerry is a member of the The Royal Society of Medicine, Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC), British Association for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy (BANT).
All health content on bbcgoodfood.com is provided for general information only, and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of your own doctor or any other health care professional. If you have any concerns about your general health, you should contact  your local health care provider. See our website terms and conditions for more information.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/how-stay-healthy-over-Christmas

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