Tips to Help Control Food Cravings

Food cravings can be triggered by various things including low blood sugar, stress, and other emotional triggers. The best way to take control is to understand how to balance your meals and snacks to avoid the traps that trigger food cravings.

Don't skip meals. Skipping meals can lead to low blood sugar and extreme hunger. Eat three meals a day and include snacks when needed. Try to eat every 4-5 hours. This will help keep your blood sugar stable and avoid getting to the place where you are extremely hungry. Low blood sugar and extreme hunger can be a dangerous combination and almost always leads to overeating. Plan ahead and keep healthy snacks around.

Balance Your Meals . Balancing your meals and snacks is important to keep your blood sugar stable. Always balance carbohydrates with protein and fat to help keep your blood sugar stable. For example, Instead of bringing a piece of fruit for a snack, try having a few grapes with an ounce of nuts or a slice of cheese.

Watch the Caffeine. Drinking caffeine (especially large amounts) can lead to low blood sugar which can result in stimulating your appetite and making you feel an urgency to eat. Keep caffeine to 1-2 cups per day or less to avoid low blood sugar responses.

Keep food records. Food records are invaluable to help identify your eating patterns. For example, you may experience sugar cravings every afternoon at 11 a.m. This could mean that you need to eat an appropriate snack at this time or it could mean that what you ate for breakfast may not have been balanced appropriately. It also could indicate a high stress or emotional time for you where a quick break might be in order. Detailed food records can help you to sort through this to see what might be happening at this time.

Avoid very low calorie diets. Most diet plans are around 1200 calories but this may be too low for many people and can become a starvation diet. There are few people who need to be on this low of a calorie level and studies show people who go on very low calorie diets have increased food cravings and can become preoccupied with food. If you are unsure what calorie level is right for you, contact a Registered Dietitian in your area  or to to www.healthetech.com to find out who can run a metabolism measurement for you in your area.

Avoid refined carbohydrates. Refined carbohdyrates, or the white stuff (white bread, pasta, rice, etc) can end up stimulating your appetite. Instead, choose their whole grain counterparts. The fiber content of these foods helps to keep blood sugar levels stable to avoid any blood sugar drops which can lead to food cravings. Look for 3 grams fiber or more per serving on the nutrition label.

Clean up your environment! If you know that you have certain trigger foods then it is important to keep them out of your home. It will be hard to choose healthy snacks when tempting foods are lingering on your shelf. The less temptation you have, especially during vulnerable times, the better.

Don’t be too rigid! Enjoy your favorite desserts and snacks once in a while. If you completely eliminate them, you will become focused on these foods and end up eating too much. Enjoy your favorite treats once in awhile.

Once you have the craving, try to wait 15 minutes before eating. Try to engage in another activity such as journaling, or taking a walk. This is not meant as a distraction, instead it gives you time to look into your craving a little more and ask questions. Am I really hungry right now? Why am I feeling these cravings? Often taking 15 minutes before giving into the craving can help you to avoid it.

If you do give into a craving then learn from it, and let it go. Beating yourself up will only make things worse. We are all human. It is important to be patient with ourselves and to allow ourselves learning curves.

© Meri Raffetto, 2005