Cravings are every dieter's worst nightmare. They are the magnet leading us into the mouth of diet disaster. Fortunately, there are strategies for surviving cravings; knowing where cravings come from improves your chances for success.
When Food is the Cause:
Your insulin response can be a major cause of your cravings. The highs and lows associated with simple carbohydrates are a problem for junk food eaters as well as those who only eat healthy foods. Metabolized as simple sugars, starchy carbohydrates in breads, cereals, and pasta, can cause a rapid rise in blood sugar followed by an equally quick fall. Plunging blood sugar levels cause a decrease in energy interpreted by the body as the need for more food.
To prevent rapid energy depletion and the subsequent food cravings, replace refined grains with whole grain products. Digested more slowly, whole grains do not cause the blood sugar surges associated with refined carbs or simple sugars. The fiber content of food is the best indication of the amount of whole grain contained in a product. Good fiber content is between 2.5 and 4.9 grams per serving.
When Emotions Get You Down:
Mood is another major cause of food cravings. Feeling low or always being tired can indicate a low level of seratonin in the blood stream. Cravings for sugar or carbohydrates are the body's way of correcting this imbalance. If this is a persistent problem, a visit to a physician will rule out any medical problems. In the absence of any health issues, getting more rest is a proven and medically accepted remedy.
Call or visit friends or family, take a walk or go running with a companion-they are both excellent mood elevators. Exercise of any kind boosts the spirits; it is highly recommended for alleviating the symptoms of depression.
When Health is the Cause:
Dieting, eating on the run, and skipping meals can have a disastrous effect upon the body because they can result in a nutritional imbalance. Physicians can order a simple blood test to determine if this is the cause of cravings. Positive findings signal the requirement of an immediate change in diet to incorporate foods containing higher amounts of the depleted nutrients to correct the imbalance.
Craving or Addiction:
Food addictions are often mistaken for cravings. Some of the "popular" addictions are to caffeine, cheese, meat, chocolate, and sugar. First, determine if the cravings stem from an addiction to a specific food. If, for example, the desire for chocolate is overwhelming and uncontrollable, it is more likely to be an addiction.
Food addictions can be broken with a little patience and determination. After a few weeks of abstinence, the cravings should begin to dissipate. Having a substitute food to ease the transition is advisable; eat more fruit and vegetables, include low-fat pudding or any healthy diet snack eaten in moderation, drink more water. Food addictions may never be completely defeated. If the desire to eat this food resurfaces again, eat it, but do so in moderation.
Abstinence is not always possible, however. Another method for eliminating a food addiction is controlling behavior with self-hypnosis. This process works for smoking cessation, weight control, performance enhancement, improving study habits, and memory. By making an undesirable habit less appealing to the subconscious and replacing it with a less harmful or a more appealing behavior pattern, the addiction diminishes.
Conclusion:
It is not always necessary to eat when a craving hits. Anyone can compile a list of at least ten or twenty things to do as a diversion:
Drink a glass of water or a warm cup of tea
Go for a walk
Exercise
Catch up on email
Call a friend or relative
Write those overdue thank you notes
Clean out the closet
Remove the pins and mend a fallen hem or open seam
Watch a movie
Do a crossword puzzle or Sudoku
Walk the dog
Play with the children or significant other
For more information on dealing with cravings, visit the following sites:
http://www.wellnessletter.com/html/fw/fwNut03C arbs.html
http://www.ific.org/publications/qa/sugarsc arbsfaq.cfm
Free self-hypnosis training: