This article is about food cravings but specifically the physical side to food cravings as opposed to the emotional side and how you can stop cravings for food.  For more information on the emotional side: emotional eating

When it comes to physical cravings for food, regardless of the food you crave, you can overcome them fairly easily. Most people just don’t eat properly. This is not to say that our bodies are searching for particular nutrients and we are depriving ourselves. Yes, there certainly could be some truth in that. We crave chocolate, carbs or whatever junk because that is what our body knows best. If it has been exposed to more fruits and vegetables you may search these out for specific nutrients as opposed to the junk, but your body doesn’t know about these so goes with what it knows first.

Anyway, the main reason it is important to eat properly is that by doing so you can diminish substantially, if not completely, the nasty side effects of eating junk. Junk foods put your body out of balance, but your body being the super powerhouse it is works around this and creats homeostasis despite the addiction you have created to the junk food. However as a result to keep homeostasis you have to keep eating the food. When you provide your body with the nutritious food, your body will start to come back into true balance and your cravings will diminish completely.

When your body has a sufficient and continuously flow of nutrients from easily digestible foods such as fruits ans greens, it will no longer crave.

Here are 3 tips to ensure you don’t crave again:

1. Make sure you eat breakfast

Breakfast sets you up nicely for the day. I know for me, if I don’t have my large fruit smoothie in the morning, I have major cravings by the afternoon that I find difficult to control. Your breakfast needs to be full of fiber and have plenty of nutrients to satisfy and satiate you. A large fruit smoothie works great for me.

2. Don’t skip meals.

No matter how busy you get, don’t skip meals. When you do you leave yourself opento major craving episodes and potentially bingeing.

3. Incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet.

Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and you will crave less. One tip is to eat as much fruit as you desire before each meal. Not only will you be providing more nutrients to your body quickly and easily but this will also make it less likely for you to want that extra something something after your meal. Think of it as having your dessert first

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Many people, especially women are addicted to chocolate. Some even prefer it to sex. But what exactly is chocolate’s appeal?Well first of all chocolate is an addictive substance. Chocolate targets the same area of your brain as heroin, and although not to the same degree as heroin still have a powerful hold over many people. I know that I would go out especially, even at 1am, to get my chocolate fix. Those few moments of pleasure seemed worth it to me.

Eventually though, we can all become sick of our lives evolving around chocolate. It might not seem so bad having chocolate once in a while, but then it turns into everyday, several times a day and you wonder why you want it so much.

You can overcome chocolate cravings, I did. It was easier than I initially thought. Once I knew how to eat properly and eat a TRULY healthy diet I managed to completely eliminate my physical cravings for good. The book Combat Your Cravings helped me in my battle and it can help you too.

However, physical cravings were only half the battle for me. It was easy to give it up once I ate properly, but there were the moments of emotional distress that lured me back to chocolate. I used it to comfort me; I used it to soothe me. Instead of working out and focusing on what I really needed, I just numbed myself with a big ol’ chocolate bar!

So I started to observe myself and started noting down what feelings triggered my cravings. I then started to work through my feelings – allowing myself to feel and also getting support. A great book that helped me was Shrink Yourself. It really opened my eyes up to why I was so reliant on chocolate. The guy who wrote Shrink Yourself (Roger Gould) also has an online 12 week intensive program to help people overcome emotional eating, if one struggles to do it alone. The website also has some great resources as well and a great selection of useful articles on the subject.

Anyway once I was able to overcome my emotional needs for chocolate and start really addressing my true underlying needs and desires. I managed to quit chocolate for good. I don’t miss it. I don’t feel deprived. Chocolate tasted great and I love it, but it didn’t love me back. It just made me moody, irritable and miserable. I am so glad that part of my life is over with!

Stop Chocolate Cravings

Everyone has a sweet tooth – we all love sugar and crave it, but the refined empty-calorie junk food sugar that is in all the advertised junk foods we have grown to love is not the real sugar we crave.

When we eat refined sugary foods it is our body simply going for the foods it knows and searching out the nutrients it requires (despite the fact the food rarely contains any nutrition benefit).  If it knew better and was used to an abundance of fruit then these would be the first foods it would search for.

On top of this our cravings are usually emotional cravings.  No one really reaches for junk foods for their nutritional benefit do they?  And this is where the idea of what society sees food as goes wrong.

Food has a purpose, a function.  It isn’t to entertain us (although you may disagree), it is to provide us with fuel, with nutrition so we can keep going.  When we look to food for more than this, then we have a problem.  Many of you probably know this, if you crave sugar, cheese, chocolate etc.

So what can you do to kick your food cravings in the butt?

First start adding in NUTRITIOUS foods.  Make sure you eat plenty of whole raw foods.  This will help keep physical cravings to a minimum.

Second, if this isn’t enough for you to stop craving and give up the junk, observe yourself and see what triggers yourself.  Work on your emotional eating issues.  This can be tough so use a program liek Roger Gould’s Shrink Yourself, to really get to the root cause of your proble,

Third – go cold turkey.  The first bite is the EASIEST to resist.  Once you go past that you will most likely end up bingeing.  It’s inevitable.  Just give up your prized junk food and start treating your body the way you should and deserve to.  It can take some time to muorn the loss of your emotion comfort but it isn’t doing you any favors (and most likely leaves you moody and depressed the next day).

Lastly, believe you can do this because you can.  You can give up your favorite junk foods, you will give up your favorite junk foods andy ou DESERVE to be free from food addiction for good.

Stop Food Cravings

Emotional Eating help:  ShrinkYourself.com

Previous Post: Overcoming Overeating: Creating The Right Mindset

Overcoming cravings can be as simple as erasing the physical causes (poor nutrition) of the cravings.  But usually there is an emotional craving attached also.  Emotional cravings are when an emotion triggers you to crave a food or feel hungry (Roger Gould calls this phantom hunger).

When we experience emotional cravings that are out of control, we need to start observing ourselves and seeing exactly what emotions are causing the triggers.  Maybe we eat out of boredom.  Maybe we eat because we are dissatisfied about our relationship.  Cravings – emotional cravings – are telling you something.  Instead of eating you need to listen.

A good start pointing when tackling this issue is to tackle our mindset first.  Negativity is something many people habitually part take in.  Our inner critic tells us we are not good enough and we constantly play the worse case scenario in any situation instead of weighing up all the facts.

Your weight loss outcomes can depend on many things but at the core of it all you need to believe in 3 things in order to successfully lose the battle with the bulge.

You need to believe:

1. POSSIBILITY: It is possible for you to overcome cravings.
2. ACHIEVEMENT: You are able to stop craving.
3. WORTHINESS: You deserve to stop craving and lose weight.

Possibility

Possibility is almost always mistaken for competence. We think that something isn’t possible, that we aren’t able to give up our favorite junk foods or stop craving when really we don’t know how to do it – we don’t have the knowledge or resources to be able to stop craving.

It is possible though, regardless of your situation. You can’t prove that it isn’t possible – you can only say that you haven’t achieved it yet.

Beliefs are not fact.

Beliefs are just our best guess at something and we often sell ourselves short. Do you think you have put a mental ceiling on your achievements? Do you think you have hindered your ability to stop craving through your beliefs about yourself?

Ability

Most of us tend to make others aware of our short comings, when we can’t do something. If you take a day out and observe people and what they say, you should notice how often people say they can’t do this or they can’t do that. We all think this is being modest, when in fact its not. Modesty is not boasting about what we can do, it isn’t boasting about what we can’t!

Once you become aware of yourself voicing your inability to give up chocolate/junk/sugar, you can stop yourself voicing it. If you continue to voice your inability to give it up, it will hold you back from achieving your lifestyle/weight loss goals. If you find it difficult to stop voicing your inability, a good alternative is to add the word “yet” to the end of your statements.

“I haven’t been able to give up chocolate…yet”

“I can’t stop craving…yet”.

It is also important not to make excuses for your craving failures. If you do not have the knowledge to prevent cravings, go out and get it.  Set tasks that you need to do in order to achieve your slimmer figure.

A general belief that you should try to hold is:

You have not yet reached the limit of what you are capable of.

Keeping this in mind will help you to achieve your craving and weight loss goals.

Worthiness

Do you deserve to give up junk food/lose weight? Does it make you feel uncomfortable to say you deserve to? If it does, this should help you figure out any obstacles that are in your way to achieving your goal. List them and work out how you can overcome them.

e.g. I don’t have the correct knowledge to stop my sugar addiction – to overcome this I am going to do some research and find a suitable diet program or expert to help me.

Allow yourself to believe these 3 things and you will be on the right path to a positive mindset to help yourself overcome cravings.

Overcome Overeating

Click here for help with emotional eating

Previous Post: Binge Eating Disorder – What is Binge Eating Disorder?

Many people believe that cravings are a result of nutrition deficiencies. While this may be true on some level, for the most part it isn’t. Some foods are physically addictive and most cravings can be pinpointed to emotional eating.Physical addiction to food is quite common because everyday foods that we eat are full of addictive ingredients. Most foods that are craved contain wheat, dairy, chocolate and sometimes many of us crave meat. For example let us have a quick look at chocolate and milk:

Chocolate contains caffeine, theobromine (a stimulant similar to caffeine), phenylethylamine (an amphetamine-like substance), traces of compounds similar to THC (the active ingredient in Marijuana) and targets the same part of the brain that heroin does.

In 1981, Eli Hazum et al discovered that cows milk contains morphine. Morphine is a highly addictive opiate and cows’ produce this in their bodies, to keep their young calm for bonding and nutritional purposes.

In order to overcome the physical addictiveness of foods, we can cut the food out completely or make sure that our body is getting plenty of nutrient rich foods. Most people do not get enough whole ripe foods into their bodies and this leaves them over to severe cravings as well as poor health!

So here are 2 tips to help your overcome physical cravings to food:

1. Eat a wholesome breakfast. This is key to prevent cravings later on in the day. A good breakfast can really make a difference. Make sure the breakfast is high in fiber. In one study, volunteers snacked 75% less during the day when eating a high-fibre diet compared to eating eggs and bacon. You could start your breakfast with a large fruit smoothie. I sometimes have a smoothie of 5-10 bananas and this keeps me sustained until lunch and longer. You could eat a few pieces of fruit at the start of your breakfast thought.

2. Eat fruit before every meal – as much as you desire. This is like eating your dessert first. Most of the time people search for that extra something at the end of the meal – this is your body wanting fruit (the sweetness!). So give it just that to begin with. Your meals should then leave you feeling more satisfied and less likely to crave.

Another aspect to cravings is emotional cravings. These are when an emotion triggers you to crave. It has also been called phantom hunger or emotional hunger because you aren’t really hungry but your body is using food to suppress feelings. Usually with emotional hunger you tend to overeat and want more even when you are stuffed. Below are two tips to help your recognize emotional hunger and to overcome it.

1. Observe yourself throughout a day. Observe your eating patterns and what triggers it. If an emotion does write it down. When you can see clearly what exactly is triggering your cravings, you can overcome them.

2. Write a list of things you can do instead of eat to overcome cravings. This can be as simple as sitting alone and allowing yourself to feel the feeling you would normally suppress with food, going for a walk or having a relaxing bath. Write a large list of alternatives to eating. Getting support is also important when first tackling our emotions head on.

Stop Food Cravings

Craving Fatty Foods

Previous Post: Cravings For Junk Food

Craving for junk food and fast food are a common problem in the Western world. Not only are there advertisements everywhere and popular chain stores around every corner, junk food meals target our very instinctual, primal diet – our sweet and meat tooths, making it that much harder to resist.

Giving up junk foods can be tough and to stop craving them can be tougher but it is possible. To stop eating junk foods you need to know firstly what to put into your body to nourish it enough not to crave these empty calories and to satisfy these cravings for sweet or junky foods. You then need to address your craving triggers and learn to avoid or to use something else instead of food as the solution.

Now, I am not saying that you need to diet. In fact you probably tried that and that just made you crave junk foods even more. Diets simply don’t work because even the word diet implies restriction. This can send one into a panic, and then into a junk food binge. I know I have been there. The best approach is to introduce good nutrient rich foods at the beginning of meals and at the beginning of your day. The beginning of the day is the easiest time in terms of cravings. Cravings usually appear as the day goes on. If you introduce nutrient rich foods at the beginning of meals you will find cravings diminish also. Instead of completely changing your diet, making a small change like this is something one is able to stick to because you know you will be getting your usual food afterwards.

Once you have successfully added in good foods to your diet, you should find you cravings diminish dramatically if not altogether. If they disappear and you are able to continue life without any problems that is great. Of course though for many physical cravings is only half the battle and they must deal with emotional or phantom hunger.

Emotional hunger is when one experiences a sudden urge to eat as though they are hungry, after emotions. For example some people find that spending the evening in front of the TV bores them. This feeling of boredom triggers them to want to eat – and eat they do! Others find that stress at work can trigger a sudden urge.

The best way to find out your triggers is to observe yourself throughout a day. When you know your triggers you will be better able to overcome them. Instead of eating, write a list of things you can do instead and carry it with you. Sometimes simply allowing yourself to feel the feeling is enough to get over the phantom hunger. If it isn’t eat some fruit (4-5 pieces).

Most people experience both physical cravings and emotional cravings so it is worth taking the time to work out your triggers. In a society where food is used to celebrate, to mourn and to enjoy ourselves, it is no wonder that most people eat due to emotions – so make sure you spend just as much time on this aspect of your eating as the physical cravings.

Stop Junk Food Cravings

Need a little guidance to get you going in the right direction with stopping your food cravings once and for all? Get 5 Steps to Overcome Cravings now:

Cravings can be so strong that it can be hard to overcome them – I know I have been at the end of quite a few and have given in, only to find myself a little more than miserable.

So I have put together a quick article here about what you should do when you are in the middle of a strong craving and are very VERY tempted to give in and feel like you are quickly losing the battle!

First of all you need to prepare for this in advanced. Don’t have junk food or your craving items in the house. Don’t buy them! This is an important step in overcoming cravings because you need to make it as difficult as possible for your to be able to get a hold of what you are craving.

The harder and longer it takes you to get that craved item, the more chance the craving has of resolving itself before you can give in.

If a craving comes on and you have the craved food in the house (or even if you have managed to stop yourself buying it) – eat fruit. I find the quickest solution to my problem is to blend 4-5 bananas together with a little water and drink. This is usually enough to take the intense craving away. For me, it was never enough to simply let it pass. I know it is very hard to just find something to distract you sometimes as well, so eating fruit can really take the edge off if you eat enough.

Now you may feel like you don’t want to eat fruit (if you don’t want fruit this is a true sign of craving as opposed to true hunger) and want to go get the item you crave. You find yourself in the car on the way to the store just so you can indulge. I would suggest that you eat fruit on the way and as much as you can and desire.

You can talk yourself into eating the fruit by saying “If I eat this fruit, then I will allow myself the craved food” (I also use this logic for when the craved food has been in the house). Make sure you eat plenty of fruit though, because if you just have 1 piece of fruit, it will not be enough to satisfy you and you will most likely (if not definitely) give in to the craved items.

Hopefully by the time you have gotten to the store, the craving(s) you had would have diminished at least mostly if not completely. This would have happened because:

1. You provided your body with a nutritious food and plenty of it.
2. Enough time had passed for it to wear off and disappear.

At this point you are then able to reassess the situation rationally. Whether you choose to indulge or not now becomes a choice as opposed to a craving ruling you.

So to summarize:

* Make it as hard as possible to get a hold of the craved item(s)

* Don’t stock craved items in the house.

* Eat 4-5 (or more) pieces of fruit before allowing yourself the craved item. It is best that you eat one type of fruit, as this is easier on your digestion and some fruits do not mix well.

* Reassess the situation once you have eaten the fruit/arrived at the store and consider whether you really want the craved item anymore. If you do, have a small portion and enjoy without feeling guilty; if you don’t, then go home or get on with your day knowing you have successfully combated an intense craving!

Kelly Aziz is an expert in the field of nutrition and addiction psychology. She is the author of the acclaimed “Free to Eat” Combat Your Cravings Ebook that helps you eat well and combat cravings for good. For more information please visit: http://www.CombatYourCravings.com

Stop Cravings

Food cravings are one of the subtle, cultured forms of addiction and compulsive behavior that are very difficult to discern. It is pretty much acceptable to have an addiction when it comes to food. We all have them and we all treat people with this particular addiction (addiction to food) entirely different to someone who is addicted to alcohol or other drugs.

Whereas someone who craves alcohol would be encouraged to seek help, those of us who crave sugary snacks are often – if not all the time – encouraged to indulge in our addictions. And if we don’t indulge we will often hear the retort “Why deprive yourself?”

“One isn’t going to hurt your diet”.

Most foods that are craved have no nutritional benefit to you and can cause and contribute to a number of different health conditions like excess weight and diabetes. Why would you want to eat those foods other than for comfort and pleasure?

You wouldn’t! It is your addiction to them that makes you eat them.

Food has the power to control you in this way. Sugar, salt and foods laced with fat are emotionally and physically addictive.

In order to rid yourself of these substances from your life, the first step is to admit there is a problem. This is one of the hardest things to do, especially when you think you are eating that sandwich out of hunger.

Control has been established on the inside of you. Even if there is an intense desire to lose weight or a bad habit, there is often failure and discouragement.

So as stated you must admit the issue. Now, once you have admitted it and reached a decision that these cravings are not good for you and you DEFINITELY want to give them up for good, you need to COMPLETELY REFUSE to consider them for even a second longer from that moment on.

Once you know what you must avoid (sugar, chocolate, coffee whatever it is) and what you must do to improve your health, you should start observing and be attentive to the thoughts that pass through your mind. Just as soon as you become aware that you desire some chocolate or any other food which you have chosen not to eat anymore, as that very moment dismiss it. Completely refuse to give it another second’s thought.

You must be alert here though because quickly the thought can arouse emotion in you and this can result in you becoming weak or inattentive to your decisions. You will find you start trying to rationalize having that desire food and get caught up in your feelings.

Don’t play with this desire! But don’t struggle with it. If you try to use willpower to force it out of the mind it will just accentuate it and make it stronger. You become frustrated and risk caving or you do cave. Just simply drop the thought from your attention – get on with a chore, distract yourself essentially. Give this other subject/activity your FULL attention and stay fully immersed in it until you have calmed down.

Emotions are much stronger than reason – we tend to rationalize the irrational when we are caught up in then and can talk ourselves into anything. This is dangerous, so don’t play with them just divert your attention.

This is one of the first and most crucial steps to being free – Your Fat Freedom is possible but you must have self-awareness if you want to be rid of cravings for good.

Kelly Aziz is an expert in the field of diet, nutrition and addiction, having spent numerous years researching and experimenting with different dieting programs and studying addiction. For more information on the key points made in this post please visit http://www.CombatYourCravings.com

Stop Food Cravings

Do you feel utterly helpless around food and just don’t know how to stop yourself from eating or even buying your favorite junk foods? Do you eat too much or simply overindulge in the evenings and are desperate to get your overeating resolved?

It is possible to overcome overeating. You do not have to suffer constantly with food addiction. You can gain back control with the right nutrition and emotional healing.

There is a 2-step cure for overeating:

The first step to stop over eating is to eat the right foods. When you know what to eat to supply your body with all the nutrients you need, any physical cravings will disappear. Most people do not know how to supply this nutrition though.

The second step is to overcome emotional eating. To do this you have to observe yourself through the day and see if you eat when you are stressed, bored or on the brink of an emotional problem. Emotional eating is a tough cookie to crack but it can be done if you can become aware of your triggers, what emotion you are running from and what needs are going unmet and that you are trying to meet with the food.

To help you get started here are 3 tips on how to stop yourself from eating junk food and overeating on food.

1. Eat fruit before eating your meal.

If you want to stop yourself from overeating or reaching for junk food, eat a large portion of fruit before each meal. Eat as much as you desire and then a little more. Fruits will supple yourself with the nutrients it needs and also quick fuel. Usually the sweet part of your meal is dessert and comes last (it’s the extra something your body needs to feel satiated, but here you are giving your body exactly what it needs at the beginning of the meal ,but nutritious sugar as opposed to refined).

2. Keep a journal.

Note down how you feel before, during and after any binges or meals. Note down whether they were triggered by emotions or not. You can also use the journal as a way to let yourself feel the emotion. If you feel stressed or angry, simply write how you feel down and hopefully this will help diminish the feelings and help you avoid reaching for food as a comforter/number.

3. Don’t diet.

When we hear the word diet, most of us think of restriction. If you are going to choose to eat healthier foods, choose that. Do not refer to it as a diet or that you are dieting. This gives you the mentality that you are depriving yourself of things you like. Ease yourself into a healthier way of eating to and whenever you choose not to eat a junk food don’t say its because you are on a diet or because you aren’t allowed, instead say you are CHOOSING not to eat it. Give yourself the power and you will find resisting temptations to be a lot easier and more rewarding.

For more information on how to overcome food cravings Cure for Overeating