How Do I Manage Food Cravings?

Cravings are information, telling us that a need is not being met.

Cravings are intense desires for specific foods or flavors, often driven by psychological or physiological factors. To satisfy cravings for sweets, you can opt for healthier alternatives like dried fruit, dark chocolate, or high protein plain yogurt with honey and granola. Additionally, practicing moderation and mindful eating can help manage cravings without overindulging.

It is important to drink sufficient water (carry around a 1 L water bottle, and aim for 2-4 L/day), balance macronutrients (protein, fat, and complex carbohydrates at each meal 1/3, 1/3, 1/3), and have sufficient protein intake (aim for 25-30 grams at each meal). If you don’t eat enough complex carbohydrates at each meal, you may find yourself craving sugar more, as most people need carbohydrates to function well, and sugar is the quickest form.

As Charles Duhigg wrote in his book, “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life And Business”, there is a habit loop, made up of a cue, a routine and a reward.

Habits can be ignored, changed or replaced. When a habit is formed, the brain stops fully participating in decision making, so unless you consciously fight a habit, aka find a new routine, the pattern will continue.

Cues can range from a visual trigger such as viewing a box of cookies, to a particular place like driving by an ice cream shop, a time of day – often evening, as willpower diminishes throughout the day, an emotion (HALT- hungry, angry, lonely, tired), a sequence of thoughts, or the the presence of certain people.

Routines are the actual habit, the thing that you do to get the perceived reward. Rewards can range from foods or drugs that cause physical sensations, to emotional payoffs.

For example, the cue might be that you have just finished dinner, the routine is that you eat sweets for dessert, and the reward is that you get a temporary dopamine and serotonin hit from eating sugary foods.

By learning to consciously observe the cues and rewards, you can change the routines. To change a habit, you must keep the old cue, and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine. For example, you may crave sugar/alcohol because it offers a perceived escape, relaxation, blunts anxiety and an opportunity for emotional release. You can satisfy that craving with a combination of replacing the food with a smaller portion, a healthier version, a Zevia drink instead of a glass of wine, but true relief also requires connection to self and others, and stress reducing techniques, such as going for a walk in nature while talking to a friend, doing a yoga class/workout, meditation connecting to your body and breath etc. aka healthy methods of releasing oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine.

Curiosity and awareness are powerful in habit change, and learning to associate a behaviour with more pain than pleasure will help to kick it to the curb. i.e consuming too much sugar/alcohol makes you feel bloated, puffy, irritable; drinking alcohol takes your brain offline, makes you lazy and unproductive, leads to a crappy sleep, and makes you wake up the next morning feeling like you robbed from it the night before. I haven’t drank alcohol in over a year because of this reframing of it as a distraction to my vitality.

As I wrote in my blog post “The Pendulum”, restriction can lead to overconsumption once control is released so eliminating certain foods is not helpful for many people. Your body is the best experimentation lab in existence, so you have to do what works best for you!

Easy Dessert Ideas:

–Chapmans Frozen Yogurt with Nature Source Maple Almonds or Salted Hot Cocoa Nuts sprinkled on top. (Adding protein and fat reduces blood sugar spike)

-Homemade nice cream: frozen banana, nut butter, dash of milk, cocoa powder, dates – blend in Vitamix. Top with cacao nibs, nuts

–Siggy’s plain yogurt, top with honey and granola

-Ziplock snack size bag for portion control of Nosugar Company Keto Krax and a handful of salted nuts, or cut up dried mango

-Hot Chocolate made with milk, cocoa powder, stevia

–HOLOS Overnight Oats Muesli topped with maple syrup, berries and nuts

Every symptom, craving or behaviour around food has a POSITIVE INTENTION; therefore symptoms, cravings and behaviours are not the problem, they are the just the best SOLUTION you have come up with so far.