7 Ways to Beat Food Cravings

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Food cravings can be extremely overpowering, no matter how sure you are that you want to stick to your weight loss plan.

Here are seven ways to help overcome them.

1) Don’t skip meals

Skipping a meal is a bad idea when trying to lose weight.

Even if you do it in an attempt to lower your daily caloric intake, the point is, you’re going to be hungry and probably end up eating all the wrong stuff.

Instead of filling up on snacks and junk food, eat a healthy meal that will deliver solid nutritional content to your body.

In doing so, you’ll be able to keep cravings at bay.

2) Be honest with yourself

Before you go to reach for a snack, ask yourself:

Am I really hungry? If you are really hungry, you should be able to make a healthy choice.

If it’s just a craving, you will probably try to reach for something sweet or sugary.

When you identify it as a craving, do something else to get your mind off food.

If you aren’t sure, you should get in the habit of doing something else for the next ten minutes (or more) and then, if the hunger comes back, go and eat something.

3) Drink water

Sometimes when we think we’re hungry, we’re really just thirsty.

When that’s the case, it’s usually best to drink a glass of water and wait a few minutes.

See if your hunger is still there.

Oftentimes, it will disappear and you’ll end up going to do something else.

In the case that it doesn’t go away, go and find something healthy to eat to fill yourself up before it turns into a binge where you eat something unhealthy.

4) Get outside

While on the topic of distracting yourself from food cravings, one thing you can do to get your mind off your stomach is to get outside and go for a walk.

This is ideal because, not only will you get fresh air and some physical activity, you’ll also get to get away from the kitchen all together.

While on your walk, you’ll be able to recenter your mind and focus.

Remind yourself of why you’re trying to lose weight and think about the healthy food choices you can make in case you really are hungry.

How to Tell if You’re Really Hungry (or Just Emotional Eating)

Have you ever stopped yourself from reaching for a snack because you realized you weren’t actually hungry?

Oftentimes, we forget to check with our stomach before grabbing a bite and we instead let our mind, emotions, or the clock control us.

Intuitive eating is taking off, and for good reason.

Intuitive eating is all about listening to your body and only eating when you are hungry.

In other words, no more snacking because you’re bored and no more running to the kitchen for comfort.

With intuitive eating, you will learn to put your fork down when you are full even when you piled extra onto your plate.

This trend is very important for your weight loss journey because it teaches a very important less:

Don’t eat if you aren’t hungry!

There is no reason to eat when you feel full or when you aren’t actually in need of food.

Many times, when you begin to get in the habit of asking yourself whether or not you’re really hungry when you’re experiencing a craving, you’ll find that the answer is a big fat no.

Instead, you might be emotionally eating.

What is emotional eating?

You have probably heard of emotional eating before. Many people do it, and it sprouts from finding comfort in food.

Think about it:

Society associates food with just about everything.

Enjoying a good movie? Eat popcorn. Going on a date? Have dinner. Joining a get-together?

Gather around the table.

Food is used to comfort, to cheer up, to celebrate, and to pretty much mark every big milestone in our lives.

It’s really no wonder why people have emotional eating problems.

How can you stop emotional eating?

The trick to overcoming emotional eating, which is likely a big contributing factor to your weight gain and struggle to lose weight, is to learn to identify when you are emotionally eating.

Rather than using food as a pacifier, learn to take your emotions and turn them into something positive.

When you’re upset, get in the habit of going to the gym or going on a walk rather than going into the kitchen.

The fresh air and exercise will actually do your brain and body good.

You can also learn to stop emotionally eating by practicing intermittent fasting or another trick that won’t allow you into the kitchen on a whim.

By restricting when and what you can eat, you can help stop yourself from taking comfort in food.