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In today’s post we will learn how to manage food cravings. Cravings start in your brain. Chemicals are released when you eat food, any food, good tasting or not. These chemicals and areas of the brain are the same as those involved in drug response and addiction. The chemicals are likely the same because we evolved to encourage healthy behaviours such as eating and reproduction. Here are a few steps in which you can manage cravings :
- Variety – Do not get in rut of eating the same things over and over, and try not to have patterns where you expose yourself to a lot of food availability, then a little, then a lot, then a little, etc.
- Don’t skip meals – Preferably eat 3 meals with snacks included. Don’t go longer than 5 hours between meals. Prolonged bouts of not eating results in low blood sugar and we compensate by overeating later.
- Don’t skip breakfast – Again, giving your body a stable supply of blood sugar first in the morning will attenuate hunger and reduce chance of overeating later in the day. S
- Eat protein, carbs, and fat at each meal or snack – Combining macronutrients will provide a steady supply of blood sugar and keep you fuller longer. (e.g. instead of eating an apple as a snack, eat it with peanut butter or a slice of low fat cheese)
- Drink water – Our body often confuses hunger with dehydration. Drink a glass with meals or in between meals and re-evaluate how hungry you think you are.
- Eat a small amount of the food you are craving – By trying to cut out a particularly craved food “cold turkey,” it can increase the desire to consume it and lead to over-indulging on it later. Try having a little bit of the craved food periodically and surround it with other healthy snacks such as fruit and vegetables.
- Tap your forehead – Some tips for getting through the craving are to tap your forehead. This may sound crazy but there is actually science behind this theory. When a craving comes on, place the five fingers of your hand on your forehead. Space them slightly apart and begin tapping each finger at intervals of a second. While you are doing this look upward and watch it. Before you know it, your craving will have disappeared.
- Sniff Mint – A study conducted at a university had subjects sniff peppermint throughout the day and those who did ate 2800 fewer calories per week than those who didn’t. The scent was hypothesized to disrupt the craving.
Hope this helps. Come back tomorrow for more inspiration.
I’ve got peppermint oil. I’ll give it a try. Thanks.
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Let me know if it worked for you 🙂
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Good info. I didn’t know you should eat fat, carb, and protein with each meal and snack. Love the tapping the forehead idea.
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Yes all nutrients are required by our body.
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No amount of good intake or good deeds confirm good output in reality😶. There are so many negative results when the person did was all he/she could..
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Positive and Negative is very subjective Priyanka.
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It is just that you make efforts all your life and the results never show up any good…you still keep trying because that’s what you can do🤷♀️being a good person is not really good for anyone. It is personally destroying
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Being consistent is a power we have. Imagine if our teachers or parents would have given up on us, we would not have been people we are today.
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Seems like some people gave up on us and that’s why we are like this today..unable to perform..unable to achieve..unable to have enough faith…
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If you will give the responsibility your happiness in someone other than you, then that’s a recipe for disaster. Take charge. I understand it’s difficult, it got against our basic nature of compassion and care. But we need to take ourselves first.
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Its tough when your efforts are not working in your favour..the confidence is lost..in depence.
Independence and freedom are only solution, only if your efforts can get you the 2. Untill then it is the disaster maybe
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What we have is now. Free yourself of such futuristic thought…when xyz will happen..till then
Change what little you can today, by change I mean your thoughts…build on your confidence even when you can’t see results. You think you learned the alphabet in one day? Did your parents or teachers give up on you? No, they persisted, you need to do the same.
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I am trying each day. Giving up was never an option. But without any results it loses the strengths.
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Good luck
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Thanks a lot ☺
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💙
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Reblogged this on The Reluctant Poet.
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Thank you for sharing
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Great info! That forehead tapping one is really interesting. Do you know why that is supposed to work? 🤔 Either way, I’m going to try it the next time I’ve got a craving! Thanks
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This reinforces the idea that it’s possible to distract ourselves from craving even our favourite foods no matter how much we weigh, and this could be used as a weight-loss strategy,
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Oh that makes sense! Thanks!
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Glad you found the explanation helpful.
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