10 Ways to Control Your
Cravings
You can lose weight by overcoming your
cravings now. Here are the latest tricks of the trade from
researchers and experts:
Avoid your Triggers
“You crave what you eat, so if you
switch what you’re eating, you can weaken your old cravings
and strengthen new ones,” says Marcia Pelchat, PHD, of the
Monell Center. This can happen pretty fast. For five days,
her study volunteers drank bland dietary7-supplement
beverages. During that time, they craved fewer of their
trigger foods. By the end of the study, the volunteers
actually wanted the supplements instead The first few days
are always the hardest, and you probably can’t completely
eliminate your old cravings. But the longer you avoid your
trigger foods, the less likely you may be to want them. In
fact, you’ll probably begin to crave the foods you eat, a
real bonus if you’ve switched to fresh fruit.
Destroy Temptation
If you’ve succumbed to a craving and
bought a box of cookies or some other trigger food and start
to feel bad while eating it, destroy it. “Don’t just throw
it away, run water over it, ruin it. You’ll feel a
sense of accomplishment that you’ve licked your binge,” says
Caroline Apovian, MD, director, Nutrition and Weight
Management Center at Boston Medical Center. Don’t think
about the money you’re wasting. If the cookies don’t go into
the garbage, they’re going straight to your hips or gut.
Go Nuts
Drink two glasses of water and eat an
ounce of nuts (6 walnuts, 12 almonds, or 20 peanuts). Within
20 minutes, this can extinguish your craving and dampen your
appetite by changing your body chemistry, says RD’s “Health
IQ” columnist Michael F. Roizen, MD.
Quench your Appetite
Instead of reaching for a candy bar try
a diet soda. Sure, carbonation may not be the best thing for
you; however, the calories you save by quenching your
appetite can make a lot of difference.
Let it Go
Since stress is a huge trigger
for cravings, learning to deal with it could potentially
save you hundreds of calories a day. This will take some
practice. You can try deep breathing or visualizing a serene
scene on your own, or you can speed things up by buying one
of the many CDs that teach progressive muscle relaxation. A
good one is Relaxation/Affirmation Techniques by Nancy Hopps
(available at rd.com/relax).
Take a Power Nap
Cravings sneak up when we’re tired.
Focus on the fatigue. Shut the door, close your eyes,
re-energize.
Get Minty Fresh
Brush your teeth; gargle with
mouthwash. “When you have a fresh, clean mouth, you don’t
want to mess it up,” says Molly Gee, RD, of Baylor College
of Medicine in Houston.
Distract Yourself
If only ice cream will do, it’s a
craving, not hunger. “Cravings typically last ten minutes,”
says John Foreyt, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine.
Recognize that and divert your mind: Call someone, listen to
music, run an errand, meditate or exercise.
Indulge Yourself-Within Limits
Once in a while, it’s OK to go ahead
and have that ice cream. But, buy a small cone, not a pint.
Try 100-calorie CocoaVia chocolate bars and 100-calorie
snack packs of cookies, peanuts or pretzel sticks. The trick
is to buy only one pack at a time so you won’t be tempted to
reach for more. And since even 100 extra calories can
sabotage weight loss if you indulge daily, strike a bargain
with yourself to work off the excess calories. A brisk
15-minute walk will burn 100 calories or so.
Plan or Avoid
Vary your usual routine to avoid
passing the bakery or pizzeria. If you know you’ll be
face-to-face with irresistible birthday cake, allocate
enough calories to fit it into your diet.
Resource:
Readers Digest, July 2006, 96-97.
Related
Links:
■
|
