by Mike Styles

Created on: April 18, 2009

To lose weight one must first understand the nature of hunger. It seems simple when it is said like that, but the task is not an easy one. Hunger is the stomach telling the brain that it needs fuel, unfortunately a myriad of things has the brain muddled up into thinking the stomach needs feeding when the problem is a matter of cravings. Cravings occur when the brain fools itself into thinking it needs a certain kind of fuel, be it sugar for a burst energy or carbs

to last the day. This happens because of moods and chemical imbalances, diet, or even how a person eats. Cravings can be powerful, and it is difficult to beat a craving, so why not simply keep the craving from happening? Believe it or not, there are many ways to do this.

Method 1: Drink lots and lots of water!All the chemicals and junk being consumed nowadays floods the body with things that shouldn't be there, causing problems ranging from small headaches to full out mood swings. Trying to stop eating and drinking the bad stuff, while definitely a good choice, tends to be hard for many people to do. To start, drink all the water available. Its cheap and highly effective in neutralizing many of the chemicals that don't belong in the body and discarding them in the urine. Bottled water in gallon form(less than a dollar at the local supermarket) or water from a well(for those that have one) are recommended over tap water which has even more chemicals in it, kindly added to it by local state and federal facilities. This also prevents dehydration which is a legitimate need of fuel and often provokes food cravings as well.

Method 2: Take it slowIts a fact that eating slowly gives the brain time to realize the stomach is full. Try actually chewing each bite 30 times like grandma says, it will give that full feeling long before the end of that double
uber angry burger and cancer fries.

Method 3: Sit down to eatSitting down has the same effect as eating slowly but it takes effect sooner. The brain better recognizes when the body starts eating if sitting down, its classical conditioning. It also increases the appreciation of the food. Try taking time and cooking meals as well. If it becomes more meaningful eating won't be taken for granted as much as it is, and impulsive eating won't be as prevalent.

Method 4: MeditateIf the mind becomes more in tune with the body it will better recognize what it is feeling. Meditation helps not only self control but can help anxiety which causes many of the emotional causes of eating when not hungry.

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