You can stop overeating and you can stop cravings. It can be quite difficult but you can make life a lot easier by following the tips below.
1. Eat a balanced diet – Many people find that they experience intense cravings by mid afternoon because simply put they have had a manic morning, skipped breakfast and have only eaten an apple for lunch! These intense cravings then spill over into the evening as your body tries to catch up with calories by searching for calorie dense foods which usually turn out to be the fattiest, heaviest foods around. If you want to avoid these you need to make a motivated effort to get in a proper breakfast, lunch and dinner. Making sure you nourish the body with nutritious foods regularly will stop these intense cravings.
2. Help Suppress It – You could try things to put you off eating or giving in. Sometimes just brushing your teeth can help and other times sucking on a lolly is helpful. I used to crave right after dinner but have found that by simply having a lollipop I prevented myself from overeating and bingeing on other things. The distraction was also enough to let me get on with work.
3. Do Something New – Some cravings are habit or boredom. Many of us come home from a hard day at work and veg out in front of the TV. We will eat as we watch because watching TV actually is boring and eating is something to do. So instead of trying to use the TV to relax (which it doesn’t do) do something else. Try being creative or exercising. You could draw, paint, learn a new instrument or go and try out a dance class or even learn a new language. Replace the time with a new habit and you will no longer crave.
4. Drink Water – Sometimes we think we are hungry when really we are just dehydrated. In fact most people who live on a cooked food diet are dehydrated. We need to be drinking more water – so if in doubt drink.
5. Wait it out – Sometimes just waiting 10-15 minutes is enough for the craving to go away. There are plenty of things you can do to distract yourself in this time. If you find it difficult to think of something make a list so that when you are stuck in a craving you can just pick something off the list to do. Once you get past it you will feel much more empowered and feel more confident in your ability to kick the next craving to the curb.
There are plenty of others things you can do to overcome cravings, but this are good starting points. Don’t let cravings get the better of you. They can be beaten and you don’t have to let them rule your life. Stop overeating and start making changes today.
Cravings can be more than just a little desire for chocolate or a particular “food”. Physical cravings to foods can be intense and lead to bingeing. There are 2 reasons for this. One is that we are hungry. When we go along while without food our body craves for the densest foods – your body may have associated calorie dense foods as burgers or fries. It just wants to get those calories in. The other reason is that we are simply addicted to food. A lot of the food we put into our body has chemicals within it that make it addictive. One of these is Heterocyclic Amines (HCAs).
Cheese contains morphine (yes really!) and chocolate of course has caffeine as well as sugar. They can send us into a downward spiral that is difficult to claw out of. However you can get out of it quite easily by making the right changes to your lifestyle.
First of all it is really important that you start consuming breakfast and start eating consistently. You have to make eating a priority otherwise you will find time and time again the evening will come and you will craving beyond belief and end up going on a massive binge. Of course though there are ways to calm that feeling down immediately too but the best thing to do is avoid it completely.
If you find yourself in an intense mess by the evening then its time to start eating fruit, This might puzzle you and you may be thinking that fruit is the last thing you would consider eating as it will make your cravings worse, but it won’t! It won’t as long as you eat enough. In tense times where I haven’t eaten all day the best thing to do is to get your blender out put a few cups of water in and blend it with 5-8 ripe bananas. Then drink! This will satisfy your hunger and stop the cravings.
Another tip is that it is always a good idea to drink water. When we are dehydrated we can feel less hungry which can lead to under eating and thus bingeing later on. Drinking throughout the day will help you maintain regular eating.
Lastly have more self-awareness. If you can be more intune with yourself you may realize that a lot of your eating isn’t hunger but emotional issues. Stress and upset can make us want to grab a doughnut. Excitement and happiness can also make us want to grab a doughnut. This is because society has placed food at the centre of celebrations and upsets. It is pretty much ingrained. Make an effort to acknowledge it and you will have more success overcoming cravings for good.
