Curbing your food cravings

Cravings. Most of us get them at one time or another. Sometimes it happens at certain times of the months (girls, you know what I mean!) but for some of us it seems these cravings seems to linger for a few weeks and remains a constant force in our life.

We can't concentrate and we seem to think about it all the time and can't seem to get it out of our minds.

These cravings can be for ice-cream, chocolate bars, custard squares, pizza or even jam sandwiches. Whatever satisfies you at the time. The taste of the food you crave may change from week to week but the cause of your cravings are usually emotional ones.

Before we get too deep and meaningful, let's look at the difference between your emotional and physical hunger. Obviously we know when we are physically hungry. The sure signs include stomach rumbling, we get light headed and start to get irritable.

Emotional hunger is when you eat because you're sad, happy, anxious or bored. Basically any reason to comfort yourself with food. And it is in the understanding of why you need the food that will help you identify your emotional needs.

Emotional Cravings If you are currently craving foods, ask yourself why. You need to have an honestly look at your currently state of mind and see what factors are creating your cravings. Some factors may include: * Stresses at work * Your exercise routine (if you are in one or not in one) * Your home life * If you have body image or dieting issues
Once you have admitted that your craving may be a result of an emotional issue, you'll feel a huge burden lifted as your mind is thinking clearer and as if a miracle happened, you won't feel the urge to eat. Go Figure that.

Physical Cravings
Sometimes physical cravings for food stems from the fact that we're not getting enough good quality nutrients into our system. This can happen through the stress we place on our bodies at work.

Stress can rob the body of energy and nutrients which can in turn lead to cravings as the body tries to recover what it has lost through your tensions. In this situation we tend to reach for convenient junk foods for a quick fix. However as junk food contains empty calories and low nutrients we become nutrient deficient, and so we're contiually hungry because we're not satisfying our bodies with good nutrition practices.

Lack of exercise is also a major factor. If you don't exercise you generally feel sluggish but instead of exercise many people tend to eat to get more energy but it just perpetuates the problem and you crave more food.

Alcohol. If you tend to have alcohol after work to ease the stresses of your day, then you could be inviting cravings for carbohydrates. Alcohol lowers seratonin, a chemical which is assoociated with carbohydrate regulation. When seratonin level is low, you tend to crave carbohydrate food such as bread and pasta. Too much of these foods and you will
experience weight gain!

In summary, cravings are your body's way of telling you you're missing something in your diet. It's OK to go with your craving, whether it be for an ice cream, chocolate biscuit or a piece of pizza. Because if you hold off having your craving you'll go overboard and instead of having just one biscuit you'll have the whole packet - I know this happens!.

However, cravings become an issue when you eat emotionally. It's important to sort out your issues early before it takes hold and affects your psyche forever.

Perhaps your cravings are due to a lack of nutrients in your current diet so I would recommend you consult with your instructor, dietitian or personal trainer to see if you can sort out your cravings by modifying your current nutrition regime.

Lisa, Go Figure
2 Dec 09

Curbing your food cravings

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