5 Ways to Conquer Your Food Cravings
5 Ways to Conquer Your Food Cravings
Food cravings are not believed to be good for your health. Craving actually means the desperation of consuming a specific type of food whether you are hungry or not or whether your body requires it or not. At one point, you are going easy with your day and suddenly you are clutched under a strong desire of having one particular food. It can be something sweet or something spicy but, definitely something that is not healthy.
It becomes difficult not to have the food you want to have at that moment. Even though you know it is the reason for overeating and weight gaining, you would want to consume the food. Well, how to tame these cravings? Know that most of these cravings are the tricks of your mind. So, when your mind tricks you for a certain food, you would need to trick it back to conquer that craving. Follow some simple tips to divert your mind and suppress the cravings:
Drink water
The simplest way to shut the craving up is by drinking a glass or two of water. If you think like you are hungry after having a good meal or inclination to eat something, gulp water. Have it until you think your stomach feels full. If you wait for a few minutes after drinking enough amount of water, your craving would fade away by itself.
Moreover, drinking more water is always beneficial for your health. If you are following some kind of diet and want to reduce the amount of the food you eat, drinking water before your meal would decrease the appetite.
Make a plan for your meals
When you need to think what you would be eating next, you are turning to bad food habits unconsciously. You consume any of your favorite taste when you are hungry and do not know what you want in your meal. Better you plan your meals; make a list of various foods you would take in a week. Once you are sure what you would have in the following meal, you are less likely to crave other things before or after a meal.
Avoid extreme hunger
Hunger could be the best possible reason for your various food cravings. It is better to eat in a short period of time before you get extremely hungry. Keep some healthy snacks handy to avoid getting too hungry. Extreme hunger brings temptation of eating sweets which is not good for your health for some obvious reasons.
When you are on a weight loss program or following some healthy diet plan, such food carvings drive you off the track. Instead of getting good food, extreme hunger would make you eat anything scrumptious and you would end up surrendering to a dish loaded with calories.
Take a good night sleep
The appetite you have depends largely on the fluctuation of hormones throughout the day. This fluctuation gets disrupted when you do not take enough sleep. For example, if you are taking dinner at 9, you are most likely to go to bed by 11 or midnight. If you keep up till late or later than midnight, you would surely crave for fast food. Lack of sleep causes poor regulation of your appetite as well as induces strong food cravings.
Do not go super-market or grocery store hungry
This trick could be one of those tricks you have read in the articles for ideas to save money on food. However, this also works to tame unwanted food temptations. Avoid going to super-markets when you are hungry. You would surely get whatever on the shopping list but, without a doubt, you would also buy what is not on that list.
A grocery store is the worst possible place you would ever go when you are carving or starving. It would give you access to any food you desire to have; furthermore, these stores put the most tempting and unhealthy foods in eyesight. It is advantageous for store sales too as you tend to impulsive buying. Go shopping when you have eaten recently and never ever make a mistake of going grocery hungry.
In the end, experiencing cravings is pretty normal as several people around the world go through the same. The important thing is how you understand and deal with it. Sudden food temptations are major reasons for weight gain, binge eating, and food addictions. Stamp down this feeling with the tips given above and develop good food habits to maintain your health.