Can’t Resist Food Cravings? 8 Tricks to Try
We all have food cravings. Admit it – there are foods that, at some days in your life, you crave for so much! And that craving – that craving was so intense you just don’t want to think about the consequences – all you want to do is take a bite. And another bite. Plus another bite. And more!
But after giving in to food cravings, many of us feel nothing but guilt. You don’t have to always suppress such delicious craving. But, you need to figure out when to give in and how to control it. Here are some tips for you:
1) Imagine something else. When food craving hits, think about your favourite hobby or activity. A study published in the journal Appetite suggests that replacing your food craving with the thought of your favourite activity, like dancing, biking or singing – whilst employing all your senses to imagine it – is an effective way to reduce your food cravings.
2) Turn off the TV. Increased exposure to images and advertisements about junk food can fuel your food cravings. In 2008, a team of researchers from the University of Alberta found that food advertisements have a powerful influence on its viewers, especially on university students. They also found that students who watched TV the most were more likely to be overweight than those who had less viewing time.
3) Get enough sleep. Plenty of studies link food cravings with lack of sleep. Here’s why – when you are sleep-deprived, you are more likely to feel hungrier and reach for calorie-dense, less-healthy snacks.
4) Take a walk first. A new study published in the journal Appetite found that a short bout of exercise, such as a 15-minute walk, can reduce chocolate cravings. If exercise has been shown to help fight cravings for addictive drugs like nicotine, why can it not help suppress cravings for sinful foods?
5) Smell a different scent. Smelling the aroma of the food will only intensify your food cravings. In another study published in Appetite in 2012, participants who smelled jasmine (non-food odour) reported having reduced food cravings. A more recent study published in the journal Addictive Behaviour found that smelling a neutral odour diminished cravings for highly craved items such as chocolates.
6) Just chew it. There’s evidence suggesting that chewing a gum may help overcome food cravings. In 2011, researchers from the University of Leeds asked 60 subjects to rate their hunger, appetite and cravings for sweet and salty snacks for three hours after they ate lunch. They found that when the subjects chewed gum during the three hours, they ate 10 per cent less of a snack than when they didn’t chew gum. Just make sure to choose gum that’s low in sugar.
7) Tap it away. Psychological acupuncture, also known as emotional freedom technique (EFT), has been shown to reduce cravings without the need for will power (which often fails). This technique involves gentle tapping on pressure points while focusing on particular emotions and thoughts.
8) Give in to the best cravings. Research by the USDA Agricultural Research Service suggests that people who lost the most weight gave into their cravings for more caloric foods but did so less frequently than their larger counterparts. It’s okay to indulge. Just don’t make it a habit!
Which among these steps have you tried already? Can you suggest other ways to fight food cravings? Feel free to post your comment below.
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