Have you been craving a certain type of food? You’re not alone. According to the NCBI, approximately 90 percent of people experience food cravings. Although people experience food cravings differently, it is often a craving for processed food with high levels of salt, sugar, and unhealthy fats. These cravings can lead to eating unhealthy foods and disrupt your efforts to follow a healthy diet.
How to Fight Your Food Cravings
Drink water
The fastest way to conquer your cravings is to drink a lot of water and wait for a few minutes. Although your food craving won’t go away completely, you will feel full and make your cravings less intense. What’s more, staying hydrated has several health benefits.
Consume enough protein
A healthy diet should include lean sources of protein, which can help to reduce your food cravings. Additionally, protein helps to prevent the desire to eat at night and keeps you full longer. Therefore, ensure you include your diet with lean meat from Delta Trading Group.
Reduce stress
Stress eating can cause numerous health issues. When you feel stressed, you may seek comfort from food. According to a 2015 study, it was discovered that chronic stress was one of the main causes of food cravings. Keep in mind that stress can cause stress even when you don’t experience food cravings. This is because stress causes higher levels of cortisol, which increases abdominal fat.
Avoid starving yourself
Extreme hunger is one of the reasons why you may be experiencing cravings. Therefore, ensure that you eat regularly and avoid starving yourself. Also, always have a healthy snack nearby. Avoiding starving yourself will prevent your food cravings from showing up.
Get enough sleep
According to a 2013 study by the NCBI, it was discovered that not getting adequate amounts of sleep can affect the body’s hormonal balance. It is this imbalance that can cause overeating and eventually weight gain. Results from the research also revealed that getting adequate sleep can lead to weight loss, which means that sleep brings the hormones back to balance.
Plan for your meals
Starving yourself and failure to ingest essential nutrients can cause food cravings. Therefore, ensure that you plan for your meals. This way, your body will get all the nutrients it needs, and you won’t feel hungry right after eating. Additionally, when you do feel hungry, ensure that you only take a healthy snack. Ideally, you should consume whole foods, such as nuts, fruits, seeds, and vegetables.
Do some light workouts
Before you start exercising, remember that you shouldn’t engage in an intensive workout because it will make you hungrier. However, light workouts like brisk walking will cause the opposite effect. According to one study, light workouts will make you eat half the amount of food you were craving for. Therefore, the next time you feel your cravings kick in, try to walk backward or do some short bodyweight home workout.
Bottom Line
You will experience food cravings now and then. These cravings can cause you to snack unhealthy foods and lead to weight gain. However, you can use the above methods to reduce or even prevent your cravings. Adding superfoods like spinach to your diet can also help to fight your cravings.