Food Cravings
Here are a few steps which will help you stop craving on unhealthy junky foods
Meals – Plan Them, Don’t Miss Them
Plan your meals according to your daily schedule so that you don’t skip on your meals often. Thumb rule is to have two big meals and three small meals. Eating the big meals at right times is necessary as they satisfy the major portion of the hunger. Plan your meals in a way such that your body doesn’t starve too hard at any hour of the day. Make it a habit to have heavy breakfast in the morning.
Drink Enough Water
When you feel an urge of crave on unhealthy junk, try drinking a glass full of water. Sometimes you are just thirsty but misunderstand it as hunger and head towards unhealthy food. Drinking water is also essential as it assists your body to carry out the metabolic activities of the system. Hence it is a good practice to drink sufficient water and maintain the hydrate content at normal levels.
Eat More Protein and Healthy Fat
Include sources of high protein and healthy fats in your daily meals. All the nuts and seeds such as almonds, walnuts, dates and fruits like avocadoes, coconuts and olives are sources of healthy fats. Dairy products, meat and sea food are explicitly comprehensive sources of protein. Meals comprising high protein and high fat are very heavy. Hence they mitigate your cravings and deal with your hunger demands satisfactorily, until it’s time for your next meal.
Sweets to Deal with Your Odd Hours’ Craving
Dark chocolate, berries and fruits (with yogurt if required), legumes, eggs, boiled vegetables like sweet potatoes, sweet corns and bacon along with other raw meats are some super killers of sweet craving and your savior for untimely hunger. If you are patient enough to make yourself a sweet treat, smoothies are a delicious option as well. Even with the sweet flavor, these foods are highly nutritious and filling.
Watch Your Sleeping Habits
The benefits of 6 to 8 hours sleep at night are irreplaceable. After food and water, sleep is the next important component required for smooth functioning of the system. The hormones that sense your hunger and food satisfaction are disturbed with changes in sleeping cycles. Decide a particular hour to get in bed at night and have set hours of sleep. This will help your body develop natural habit of achieving sound sleep without much effort. Also a small nap in the afternoon is effective as it helps the system to rejuvenate and reduce mental and physical stress.
Avoid Going Out with a Hungry Stomach
Most of the times we end up eating junk in the evenings while returning home before dinner or at times when we go shopping with an empty stomach. It is very convincing to eat outside at times like this. To avoid getting in such a situation, always eat something healthy and filling before going out for a movie or to the mall or especially to a supermarket where all the junkies are an easy access and irresistible to a starving stomach.
Brush Away the Junk in your Fridge
Fighting your craving becomes very challenging task if you encounter its presence in your vicinity every now and then. Keep away from all the unhealthy cravings so that the chances of it entering your body reduce. Avoid shopping for eleventh hour hunger solutions like fries chips, sweet cookies, ice creams, chocolates and other traditional sweets and snacks to practice a healthy eating habit.
Take Home Message
It is crucial to practice healthy eating habits and have a grip on your junk cravings from young age itself to avoid major health hazards in the later days of your life. Along with the nutritional benefits, eating right also helps you to maintain a good physique and stay fit.
Always remember, if you eat all things in right amounts now, you can enjoy them throughout your lifetime!
– Namita Patil
