Most people on a campaign to shed some kilos will tell you that diet is by far the biggest obstacle. The one aspect that usually causes dieting failure is the inability to deal with cravings.

What are cravings?

There are many physiological factors within the body that cause cravings for certain foods, but research suggests that social factors play a large role in when and why certain people get strong cravings.

Cravings often come late in the day when we are tired and the brain is low on mood enhancing chemicals. This is why many people need a ‘sugar hit’ around 3pm, a time when blood sugar levels may be low.

Research suggests when and what we ate as a child may be a major factor in cravings we get as an adult. Do you remember your parents telling you “if you eat your vegetables, you can have dessert”?  The trade-off only works for a short time as this message suggests there is something wrong with the food we had to finish, causing us to dislike vegetables in the long term.

Another factor is the amounts of food we were forced to eat as a child. Do you remember being told that you can’t leave the table until the plate is clean? Forcing a child to eat more than he/she needs distances them from their natural internal cues for hunger.

Eating times as a child also dictates eating patterns as an adult. Many parents have set eating times for their children and ignore requests for food at an earlier time. “We are serving dinner in 30 minutes, I don’t want you to ruin your appetite”. Not allowing a child to eat when he/she is hungry or forcing them to eat when they are full causes them to look for outside cues to indicate when to eat as an adult. Again, this disengages a child from natural instincts of hunger and often causes weight issues as an adult.

How can I combat my cravings?

Cravings are a natural part of dieting and are more intense in the first 2-3 weeks of a new diet. Cravings generally become less intense after this time as the body begins to get used to the diet, and we can better control and deal with them.

Cravings can often come as a result of a monotonous diet. A well balanced diet with an array of healthy foods is less likely to cause cravings due to the variation factor.Here are some tips help you kill your cravings:

1)      Use substitute foods: Have an alternate food on hand when the craving comes along such as soy nuts, weight watchers bar, low fat banana/skim milk smoothie, sugar free gum etc. Drinking a bottle of water also works.

2)      Drink water: Cravings can often come as a result of being dehydrated. Drinking plenty of water also keeps the stomach feeling full, and minimizes the need for sugar.

3)      Exercise: Exercising releases endorphins which satisfy our physical cravings. A walk around the block when a craving comes along is a very effective method of combating it.

4)      Don’t keep junk food in the house: Keeping bad food in the house makes it much easier to submit to the craving. Keep healthy alternatives in the pantry and the craving becomes much easier to deal with

5)      Fight the craving: Similar to anything else in life, the more you do something, the easier it becomes. Fighting the craving when it comes along increases your resistance and makes future cravings easier to deal with. After 10-15 minutes most cravings disappear or become considerably less potent.

6) Clean your teeth: As weird as it may sound, cleaning your teeth when craving

            actually works for many people. Food doesn’t taste as good with the taste of

            toothpaste still present in the mouth.

A very important aspect of dieting allowing yourself to have a treat on occasions. It makes it easier if there is light at the end of the tunnel. Balance and moderation is the key to lifelong dieting success. Too many people are extreme with their diet and this is the reason so many people burn out after a couple of weeks and actually become fatter.

References: “ What’s for dinner” Daniel Coleman, New York Times July 11 1989