Cravings to gobble food can lead to a lot of health issues. These irresistible urges are known as cravings and can drastically make you put on weight. People often get cravings for sweet food, fatty food, meat, etc. Dealing with these should be done on priority. Here are few tips that will help you out.
Think about something other than food
A report that came out in the Science Daily showed how people who craved for chocolate badly, were more forgetful than the ones who did not have a craving for it. This brought to light the fact that when an individual craves for food, his entire attention is focused on the food itself with little or less attention paid to any other thing. The people who volunteered for the experiment were next asked to think about the color of a rainbow or the smell of the eucalyptus plant. The result was amazing. It showed a drastic reduction in the craving for food by these individuals. Another technique advocated by many psychologists to curb food craving is a pattern of white and black dots on a monitor. This grabs the entire attention of the person and does not let him think about food, thereby curbing his desire for food. The white noise of the television also had the same effect on the individuals. Psychologists explained that engaging an individual in any simple visual task helps in reducing their curbing for food.
Limit your exposure to the television
A recent survey shows that people who watch television for longer durations have more tendencies for the food cravings than their counterparts who watch television less frequently. While watching television, it becomes natural for the individual to gorge on some snacks. This coupled with remaining long hours of television watching add to your weight. The various advertisements of junk foods shown on television further stimulate an individual to crave for those foods. A simple solution for such situations is to change the television channel to music or a cartoon channel to distract your mind from the thought of food. If at all you are hungry, you can snack on some healthy food. Make yourself a salad or a healthy snack to satisfy your hunger.
Consume smart carbohydrates
It is an established fact that the human body craves for food with high fat or sugar content and even high carbohydrate content. It is also correct that when an individual is stressed out, feeding on a menu of carbohydrate rich food helps in calming down the body. These carbohydrates give temporary calmness, but in the long run they lead to an increase in weight. Smart carbohydrates like whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetables, can be consumed for nutritional and nourishing purposes as well as for calming the body. These foods give an individualâs body the necessary nutritional power from fiber, photochemical, minerals and vitamins. If an individual has a craving for a grilled cheese sandwich, he can make one with skimmed fat cheese and whole wheat bread. Making a chocolate cake that you have been craving for a long time is also easy. You can substitute whole wheat flour with half white flour and sugar free substitues should be used instead of sugar. Fat free sour cream should be used to reduce the fat content of the recipe. Canola oil or margarine with a high content of plant omega 3âs and monounsaturated fat can be used in place of oil or butter. This will ensure that you fulfill your craving and do not even consume much fat which can lead to weight gain.
Donât let yourself to be very hungry
Many individuals skip a meal or avoid eating when they are hungry. This is crash dieting which has negative effects on both your health as well as your food cravings. When you are truly hungry and skip your meal, you tend to develop a craving for the high carbohydrate rich foods. You also over eat as a result of the skipping of the meal at the correct time. Candy bars, junk food like cheese burgers become your priority on your craving list. To counter this binge eating, you can eat small meals many times a day. This will also help in preventing your craving for food. At times however in order to control your craving for fast food, you can buy a small piece of cake or pie to appease yourself. It is better than eating a large cake yourself.
Take care of yourself
A good amount of nurturing yourself is a good way to divert your mind from the cravings of food. This can be achieved by taking good care of yourself, by been less stressed, angry or unhappy which can lead to your craving for junk food. If an individual feels that his inner voice is telling him often to eat fast food, then it is high time to take care of himself. When you divert your mind towards how you are looking and how you should keep yourself, you will start thinking about fitness. You would realize that eating food which is fatty can spoil your health and make you gain weight. Then you would not look good. Cravings for food often make a person stop thinking about how they look and more about how they can suffice their hunger. Taking good care of yourself would ensure you curb down the cravings.
