Many of us experience cravings from time to time for various reasons. They can, without a doubt, sabotage all of your best efforts at a healthy diet and/or weight loss. The good news is… You HAVE A CHANCE. I’ll show you how.
Four self-evaluation questions
Cravings can undo all of your diet and exercise plans, so they should be investigated. To figure out WHY you have cravings, ask yourself the following questions:
- What causes my cravings?
- What foods do I have a strong desire for? Is it sweet (lollies), cold (ice cream), salty (chips), or cake (doughnuts)?
- When does the craving strike? Is it late afternoon? What do you do after dinner?
- What do I do when the cravings strike? Is it true that I am alone and bored?
- Is it possible that I'm stressed and rushing to meet a deadline?
- Is it possible that I'm not eating enough because I'm trying to lose weight?
Keeping a food diary can frequently reveal the pattern behind cravings. Cravings can be used to comfort ourselves and soothe away anger or resentment. But there can be other reasons why we crave for certain foods; it can be because our diet is unbalanced and we are deficient in one or two essential vitamins or minerals. The body may not have enough copper, and cocoa is a good source of copper.
The best way we can overcome our cravings is by eating healthy balanced meals that includes a generous serving of protein and plenty of vegetables or salad that will fill you up. This will help you overcome the physical cause of your cravings before moving on to other reasons why you’re using food. A young hungry woman stands in front of the refrigerator, yearning for chocolate pastries.
The four problematic foods and how to avoid them
When trying to eat light and reduce kilojoules, keep an eye out for these four worst offenders.
Chocolate is the single most common cause of diet failure. It’s difficult to limit yourself to just one piece of that rich velvety smoothness. If you’re feeling deprived on a diet with no chocolate and know you’ll eventually break out and binge on it, try this method: Allow yourself a few bites of chocolate on a daily basis, and allow yourself to ENJOY it. Sit quietly by yourself and place one of the squares in your mouth. Allow it to melt in your mouth, savouring every sensation as it does so.
You might discover that’s all you need for a quick fix. However, if you’re the type of person who can’t stop thinking about it, it may be best not to buy any at all. If it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind. Do not begin in the first place.
Potato Chips, Butter-loaded Pop Corns, and other salty snacks are a no-no for anyone attempting to eat healthy. Delicious, salty, and nibbled from a pack. You can’t stop once you start. Furthermore, you see them everywhere – at train stations, Seven Elevens, vending machines, when you go refuel your car, and at the checkout.
A small pack of potato chips will derail your diet by 250 calories and 15 g of fat. The majority of it is filled with fat. You might want to get your taste buds off these completely. You’ll be doing yourself a favour nutritionally because they don’t have much nutritional value.
A glass of wine has the most kilojoules and undoes the most diets of any beverage! Sure, it’s nice to unwind with a glass of wine at the end of the day, but one glass leads to another, and before you know it, you’ve consumed three! Not to mention the wine-paired snacks such as cheese and biscuits, olives, dip, and corn chips, not to mention nuts, pretzels, and other salty snacks.
Wine, like all alcoholic beverages, loosens diet resolve, causing you to eat more than you normally would. Rather than drinking wine on an empty stomach, save your glass of wine to drink with your meal. Another option is to dilute your wine with soda water or try one of the ‘alcohol removed’ wines, which will not impair your decision-making abilities.
If you enjoy a cappuccino or latte, it’s difficult to resist something sweet with it. Cake and coffee go so well together, whether it’s a freshly baked muffin, an almond croissant, a citrous tart, a Danish pastry, a raspberry slice, almond shortbread, honey baklava, a chocolate cookie, or banana bread (even toasted, it’s still cake!).
All cakes have the same issue. They’re high in fat and sugar, and they’re deliciously easy to consume, but they don’t fill you up. So, sip your coffee, but pass on the muffin on the side!
Cravings are the root cause of most diet failures. Majority of the time it is because your food is lacking in essential nutrition. If you are looking to improve your health and fitness in a permanent and healthy way, do try these simple hacks. If you are looking for a personalized program that will help you to cleanse your gut, and get rid of the toxins and free radicals in the body (that causes ageing and wrinkles) and also feed your body optimum nutrition that will improve your metabolism in a great way, please do get in touch with me. I can create a customized program that will be just right for you.
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