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cravings

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Dieting would be oh so easy if it weren’t for those pesky cravings! Luckily, there are many things you can do to make cravings a thing of the past. Put down your fork, step away from the snacks and check out these 10 tips for beating your cravings.

Address any deficiencies

If you experience regular, intense cravings for particular foods, it may be that you are suffering from a nutritional deficiency which your body is trying to address. It is believed that chocolate cravings can stem from a magnesium deficiency, while a lack of chromium in the diet can lead to sugar cravings. Maintaining healthy levels of zinc can also help to regulate your appetite. Make sure you are eating a wide variety of nutritious foods to address any deficiencies in your diet.

Eat a little of what you fancy

Ever found that your cravings got worse the harder you tried to ignore them? A study published in the journal Appetite has suggested that many people crave the foods that they most attempt to resist. Rather than going cold turkey on your junk food addiction, having a little of what you fancy should help to reduce the temptation to binge on your favourite treats. You could try following the 80/20 rule; eating healthily 80 per cent of the time and being less strict for the other 20 per cent.

Get active

Whether your cravings stem from hunger, boredom or lack of motivation, heading out for a run or hitting the gym could help you not to give in. Exercise is not only a great distraction from your cravings, a study led by a researcher at Loughborough University has also found that aerobic exercise can help to suppress your appetite. Furthermore, getting active will help you to feel great about your body, and you wouldn’t want to ruin all that hard work with a junk food binge now would you?

Try healthier alternatives

Just because you’ve decided to eat healthily, that doesn’t mean you can never snack again. Rather than giving in to your junk food cravings, try experimenting with healthier alternatives, such as frozen yoghurt or sorbet instead of ice cream, seasoned popcorn rather than crisps and sweet potato wedges instead of fries.

Buy some vanilla scented products

If you’re struggling to resist sugar cravings, try investing in a vanilla scented candle or air freshener for your home or wearing a vanilla scented perfume to curb cravings while on the go. A study at St George’s hospital, south London, found that using vanilla-scented patches on the back of participants’ hands significantly reduced their appetite for sweet foods and drinks.  It is believed that this is because the smell of vanilla can help to suppress sweet cravings.

Give yourself a happiness boost

Research has found that eating carbohydrates such as pasta, bread and potatoes stimulates the production of the ‘happy hormone’ serotonin in the brain. This may explain why many of us crave these ‘comfort’ foods when we’re feeling down. To cut your cravings, try to find healthier ways to give your serotonin levels a boost, such as meeting up with a friend, watching a comedy movie, taking part in an exercise session or smelling some uplifting essential oils such as neroli or lemon.

Relax

Just as many of us indulge in comfort eating when we’re feeling down, stress can also be a powerful trigger for cravings. Research from the University of Cincinnati has shown that sodium in salt inhibits the body’s stress hormones, meaning that cravings for salty foods could be your body’s attempt to deal with stress. To overcome these cravings, try to avoid the things that cause you stress as much as you can and make relaxation a regular part of your routine. Find a healthier way to deal with stress when it occurs, such as working out, meditating or talking through your problems with a friend.

Change your habits

According to research results published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, your environment can be a powerful trigger for food cravings. Maybe you associate going to the cinema with eating popcorn, for example, or watching your favourite TV show makes you reach for a snack. To banish habit-formed cravings, try to avoid the environments that trigger them. Take up a hobby that reduces your TV time, or walk a different route to work so as not to pass by your favourite coffee shop. By avoiding certain places or activities, you can help to kill those cravings.

Start your day with a treat

While it may sound counterproductive, if your cravings are really getting on top of you, breakfast could be the perfect time to indulge.  Researchers from Tel Aviv University found that participants who ate a 2500-kilojoule breakfast which included dessert lost an average of 40lbs more than those who had a smaller 1250-kilojoule one. This is thought to be because the metabolism is more efficient in the morning, and also because giving into cravings first thing can help to banish them for the rest of the day.

Get enough sleep

Researchers at the University of Chicago have found that not getting enough sleep affects our appetite-regulating hormones, meaning that we feel hungrier the next day and are also more likely to crave kilojoule-rich, high-carbohydrate foods. Not only that, lack of sleep decreases willpower, meaning that you are less likely to resist those cravings. To help reduce your cravings, make sure you get a minimum of seven hours of sleep a night.

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We know how hard it can be to stop yourself from reaching for the candy but these battle-tested strategies will help you crush cravings and avoid weight gain.

Keep the enemy out of the house

Know your enemy, and even if it’s healthy, if you are likely to overeat it, keep it out of your cupboard, office, car, glove compartment, desk, or anywhere it will be a temptation.

Eat by the plate

Make breakfast a crave-crushing protein shake, and for your meals combine clean, lean protein with healthy fats, tons of leafy and cruciferous veggies, and slow-release high-fibre carbohydrates

Eat by the clock

Eat within an hour of waking up to get your metabolism going for the day. Then eat every four to six hours. Stop eating three hours before bed. Let’s face it, when you skip meals or space meals too far apart, you are going to reach for something easy and quick — which usually means it isn’t healthy.

Write it down

One study found that people who wrote down everything they ate lost twice as much weight as those who didn’t. If a supplement made that claim, you would be all over it. The nice thing about journaling is this: Let’s say at 4 p.m. you have this crazy craving. You can go back and review, “What did I do at lunch? What happened to create this craving?”

Beware of snacking

When you eat every four to six hours, you stabilise your blood sugar and you shouldn’t be hungry. Between meals, you should be drinking filtered water and crave-busting green tea.

If you are hungry, look at your journal and determine whether you ate enough. If you’re doing everything correctly yet still get between-meal munchies, reach for some slow-roasted or dehydrated almonds, or maybe a protein shake. First, just determine whether you’re really hungry or just succumbing to a bad habit.

Create accountability

Commit to yourself. Write down your goal, have a bathroom talk with yourself if you feel tempted at your next social gathering, and remember that little black dress (or maybe skinny jeans) that awaits you for that big New Year’s Eve party.