Losing Weight: How to Handle Your Cravings

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Article Title:

Losing Weight: How to Handle Your Cravings

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Article Description:

An overactive appetite isn't easily ignored. It can be

distracting and irritating until it's satisfied and so many

people give in 'just the once,' only to eventually form

craving-oriented habits that sabotage their efforts to eat

well and maintain a healthy weight.

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814 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line

Distribution Date and Time: 2010-01-12 09:30:00

Written By: J. Price

Copyright: 2010

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Losing Weight: How to Handle Your Cravings

Copyright © 2010 J. Price

Habit Changer

http://www.HabitChanger.com/

You shouldn't be hungry. You've just had lunch an hour ago, and

it was a substantial meal. You had good portions and you ate

until you were almost full, but you're definitely feeling like

having something more. Maybe nothing big, a snack or a bowl of

cereal, but you definitely want to eat something. This is a

classic case of having a craving, and it's one of the most

frustrating challenges people have to battle while trying to lose

weight.

An overactive appetite isn't easily ignored. It can be

distracting and irritating until it's satisfied and so many

people give in 'just the once,' only to eventually form

craving-oriented habits that sabotage their efforts to eat well

and maintain a healthy weight.

I'm Hungry!

Well, are you really? Food cravings often are not the same as

genuine hunger. There are a number of factors that determine

whether you actually feel hungry or just desire a certain taste

or boost. The key lies in determining the difference between

physical hunger and a mental craving.

Hunger is marked by physical symptoms. Your body is telling you

it needs something to keep your system running properly. These

symptoms include:

* Emptiness or tightness in the stomach, frequently accompanied

by growling.

* Dizziness or trouble focusing.

* Exhaustion.

These symptoms do not respond to waiting or distraction, but

continue to intensify until you have eaten sufficient food to

correct the imbalance.

By contrast, cravings are marked by primarily emotional and

psychological criteria, such as:

* Desire to eat something with a specific taste.

* Wanting to eat something to unwind, as a reward, or for

comfort.

Causes of Cravings

Genuine hunger is caused by genuine need - your body lacks vital

nutrients, and will continue to tell you so until these needs are

met and it can continue to function. Cravings, on the other hand,

tend to be caused by a number of non-vital but nonetheless

important stimuli.

For example, hormone imbalances can lead to hunger cravings. The

body's primary boosting hormone is serotonin, which is part of

what leads to feelings of happiness and satisfaction. If the body

is low on this hormone for any reason, including exhaustion,

depression, pre-menstrual syndrome, or menopause, it could look

for a substitute in sugar, which tends to provide a quick energy

boost. Cravings also grow out of (and into!) habits. If you're

used to having a late night dish of ice cream and then stop in an

attempt to control your weight or blood sugar, your body will be

used to the routine and may trigger a craving for the snack at

your usual time.

Craving Control

First, you need to understand that having cravings does not mean

you have poor willpower. In many cases, they're not about

willpower at all. They're often just an emotional response to

factors influencing your mental state. So don't start with

personal recriminations, instead focus on ways you can make

things easier for yourself.

As with any effort to gain self-control, it is more efficient to

replace bad habits with good habits than to simply try to drop

the old habit. Consider that late night bowl of ice cream we

mentioned earlier. This is a case of habitual cravings and

snacking, and maybe it would be hard to just cut it out. Consider

instead having a warm mug of a sweet herbal tea with a little bit

of honey. This gives your body the 'sweet' taste it wants, as

well as filling your belly with something to tide you over, but

without the concentrated calories of the ice cream.

This substitution principle can work out well in general - keep

healthy snacking alternatives on hand, and try to reduce

portions. Instead of munching through a bag of chips, try eating

a small serving of healthy nuts with a tall glass of water, then

waiting and seeing if the craving abates.

Consider these other craving-taming techniques:

* Incorporate additional healthy habits into the rest of your

routine, so that cravings will become less pronounced.

* Eat high fiber foods, because these add bulk and a sense of

fullness for a longer period of time.

* Make sure your body is getting good nutrition in general, as a

healthy body is less likely to mix up signals and send false

cravings.

* Exercise and socialize, to make sure your mental state is kept

up and you don't feel as stressed. Many cravings are a stress

reaction, and keeping a healthy mental balance can certainly

help.

Taking control of cravings is an important step in changing from

unhealthy habits to healthy ones, and it can be daunting.

However, it is a challenge that can be met one step at a time, in

small degrees. Don't beat yourself up for the cravings; instead,

look at them for what they are, and know that you can take

positive steps to keep them under YOUR control, where they

belong.

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J. Price is Director of Weight Management at

http://www.HabitChanger.com/ offering effective

and empowering solutions for losing weight.

Try our 42-day weight loss program at:

http://www.habitchanger.com/losingweight