With the colder weather upon us I wanted to share with you a couple handy things you can do to help BEAT JUNK FOOD CRAVINGS. I personally know all to well how addictive junk food eating can be when the sugar of chocolate gets into your system for me it was like I wanted more and more. I once was a emotional eater and I used eating to help comfort me, ease my emotional stress and pain and I really did struggle to break the unhealthy eating cycle and I ended up putting on an extra 25kilos which then put my own health and wellbeing at risk.
I have now done so much inward work to overcome my emotional eating addiction, and changed my whole life round through choosing to nourish myself with healthy, fresh, nutrient, plant based, unprocessed foods. I also learnt to take time to sit in silence and to get to the core of what was going on inside when it came to my emotions and to use things like practicing yoga, meditation, exercise to deal with stress and to help get rid of any tension and stress that I was holding inside. So coming from a place of being a once emotional eater I wanted to share 8 things you can do to help beat junk food cravings when they start to kick in and then try and take over your life and wellbeing:
1.Prevent It
Eat when you’re hungry. If your stomach is growling, it’s not a craving; it’s hunger. Feed it with quality fat and protein. Eating enough fat and protein at every meal can help prevent cravings from starting in the first place. And in fact, if you’re already having a craving, eating some quality fat and protein can sometimes get rid of it just like that.
Don’t ditch the carbs. Many people find that when they add in more Paleo-friendly starch to their diet on a regular basis, they stop craving carry junk food like pretzels and crackers. Cravings are often born of calorie, carb, or fat restriction – you can nip them in the bud by not doing that to yourself.
2. Distract Yourself
If you can get your craving out of your head for just a few minutes, you can break its hold on you by distracting yourself and your mind, why not try to:
- Read a book.
- Watch an episode of your favorite TV show.
- Look through old photos that make you smile.
- Call a friend – and talk about anything but food.
- Stretch or do gentle yoga.
- Write down your health goals.
- Knit, crochet, sew, paint, draw, or do something else to keep your hands busy.
- Clean your house or car.
- Organize a folder on your computer (you know it needs it!)
- Find someone who needs your help and do something to make their day.
- Take a nap.
Any random thing will work; the point is just to focus on something else for a while. If you can interrupt the craving, the desire to eat whatever it is becomes much less urgent, and it’s easier to make a better choice.
3. Make Yourself Happy
Some times your food cravings have nothing to do with feeling hungry but more that you are experiencing a negative mood. People crave sugar when they’re bored, anxious, lonely, or stressed, and it’s not just your imagination: in the short term, eating junk food does actually make you feel less bad, but in the long term it can cause serious health issues, try to make yourself happy by:
- Being Active
Being Mindful and practicing yoga and meditation to help ease the stress - Go somewhere new and interesting, even if it’s just a park you’ve never been before.
- Pencil in an hour of guilt-free “me time” to do whatever you feel like no matter how “unproductive” it is.
- Plan a surprise for someone else.
- Choose to sing, dance, get your hair done, book in for a massage do something that makes you feel happy
4. Sit With It
This one isn’t for the faint of heart, but sometimes it does help just to sit quietly and let yourself feel the craving without judgment or shame. Often, being upset about the craving is more upsetting than the craving itself; if you can stay calm and accept that it’s happening, suddenly it becomes much more manageable.
Look at the craving with detachment, and remind yourself that the craving isn’t you; it’s just a passing emotion that you happen to be experiencing right now. It doesn’t make you weak or inadequate; it just makes you human. Acknowledge it, don’t try to fight it, and then let it go.
5. (Maybe) Replace It
A very common response to craving some junk food is having it, but if you feel like a piece of chocolate cake then replace it with a creation that is a more healthier alternative like a sugar free, gluten free, lactose free cake instead, or some paleo bannna break there are so many alternatives out there now to still feel like you indulging and giving yourself a treat.
If you’re craving the food for its own sake, this can work. If you just really loved the taste of lemon cake, then a Paleo version of lemon cake can hit the craving spot. But if you’re craving the food because you’re bored, or lonely, or stressed, then the Paleo imitation food won’t fill the hole any more than the original unreconstructed junk would.
Before you go to the effort to trying to replace your junk food craving with an alternative healthy version of it ask yourself a couple of questions, am I craving it for emotional reason if so what other things can I do to try help was this emotional food craving? perhaps a walk in the fresh air to help with stress, focussing on your breathe for 5 minutes, journalling your feelings getting to the core and spending time to focus inwards and working out what is going on inside with your mind, body, emotions is key to overcoming junk food cravings and addictions.
6. Visualize
One of the tricks that athletes use to get ready for an event is to visualize themselves winning. You can use the same technique to give yourself a little boost: just play a video in your head of yourself the way you would like to be in the face of this craving (strong and committed, completely capable of resisting), and concentrate on what that version of you would do.
7. Remove Yourself
It helps to get up and physically remove yourself from the food you’re craving. Go somewhere else – ideally somewhere “safe” with no unhealthy food to prey on the edges of your mind, and then sit down to do something else. This helps by removing the need to keep fighting that “I-want-to/I-shouldn’t” battle. It’s not even an issue any longer, since the food you’re craving is physically unavailable anyway. Now you can use your mental energy on other things, and reassess the situation from a calmer point of view. It’s funny how much easier it is to turn down pizza when you don’t have to smell it.
8. Work it Out
A surprisingly effective trick is to promise yourself that you don’t have to make a decision about whether or not you’re going to eat this food right now – you’ll do it when you get back from the gym. Don’t worry about resisting forever; just make a deal that you’ll put it off for an hour or so while you work out. Then go get sweaty.
While you’re at the gym…
- You’re distracted. If you’re thinking about your deadlift, you’re not thinking about food (if you are thinking about food, you need to add more weight to that bar!).
- You’re releasing endorphins. Endorphins are feel-good chemicals that give you the same mental buzz that you were looking for from the junk food. Once you’re already feeling good, you won’t need chocolate to get you there.
- You’re setting up a “virtuous cycle” by acting the way you want to feel. Once you get on a roll, it’s easier to say “no” to foods that won’t help you feel good in the long run.
- It’s a triple whammy, perfect for those really stubborn cravings that just won’t leave.
Spa it girl xoxo “All you can do is try your best to eat fresh healthy nourishing foods” “When you are feeling stressed or going through a really tough emotional time turn to things like exercise, yoga, meditation to help work your way through it” – Yvette Le Blowitz @Spaitgirl
pic: vogue
source: {paleo life}