MANAGING FOOD CRAVINGS

Eating healthily is important for any nutrition and weight management programme but it can be quite a challenge. Remember the 80/20 rule, perfection is not required! Cravings are very common, some of the time you will want to take the less healthy option of chocolate (that's me!), cake, biscuits, crisps etc. But if its happening too often then action is required. Most of our cravings will be habitual, they ambush us after every meal, halfway through the afternoon, or when you're particularly low on energy after a night out! Here a few ideas for trying to break old habits and curb those cravings.

FIND YOUR TRIGGER

Keep a craving diary (if you are keeping a food diary for weight loss then just incorporate) - note when the craving arises and what the trigger is.
The trigger maybe emotional, boredom or just habit. Whatever it is try pre-empting those feelings and consider doing something you enjoy, distract yourself with eg exercise, read a book, plan a holiday or social occasion to help keep the mind busy and help release those feel good hormones.

MANAGE INTERNAL CONFLICT

Try and eliminate the constant battle. You have a choice to eat whatever you want, so tell yourself that. Your choice is all good so long as you are happy with the consequences.

Make deals with yourself:

Accept the craving but make yourself wait 20 minutes by which time the urgency of the need to have something is likely to have passed.
Compromise, find something you know is more healthy but helps satisfy the craving, eg swapping milk for dark chocolate with higher cocoa percentage content, or limit yourself to a smaller portion of what you would usually have.

HEALTHY, WELL BALANCED, REGULAR EATING

Make sure your meal planning is adequate - eat regular meals to control hunger ensuring you are more likely to be satisfied with a smaller portion of the food you are craving. Adding more protein helps fill you up, reducing temptation to eat more and in turn reduces your cravings.
Drink more water. Not only does this fill the stomach to make you feel fuller, it also helps neutralise the taste buds which helps prevent cravings.

VISUALISATION

This one takes a bit of imagination but if you can get the right image then its a powerful option! Visualise your ‘favourite’ junk foods not being quite how you like them. Eg, you can only have the chocolate that is buried in the mouldy food bin, or if you get it out of the dogs mouth or its been rolled in a lovely country cow pat! The more unpleasant the image the more you can switch off those cravings!