How to avoid food temptation
Craving for food can happen to anyone.
First of all we have to be clear whether what we are experiencing is cravings or hunger.
So now let us look at what is craving?
If you had food and after a few minutes, if you tend to crave for snacks, then it is called as craving. Let us look at it in the form of a tabular form:
Difference between Hunger and cravings
| Hunger | Craving | |
| 1 | Tends to come gradually and even allows you to postpone eating | Feels sudden and instant, even after eating and less than an hour |
| 2 | Can be satisfied with any food | Makes you want to eat specific food (fried foods, ice cream, sweet, etc..) |
| 3 | Body shows symptoms when you are hungry (energy level becomes low, mood swings, headache, sounds in stomach, acid reflux etc..) |
More of an emotional need that needs to be satisfied |
| 4 | You won’t feel guilty after eating |
You tend to feel guilty after eating |
| 5 | You tend to control the amount of intake |
You tend to overeat |
Now let us look deeply each item to better understand the table listed above
- When you tend to get an urge eat something even after having good food within the last hour, then it is definitely CRAVING
- Let’s assume that you are confident that whatever your experience is actually hunger. Look at it deeply and see what exactly is your liking to eat - will you be happy eating a bowl of boiled broccoli or peas mixed in rice ? or do you crave to eat any kind of junk food like chips or milk sweets or ice-cream. If it is the latter, then definitely craving.
- The important factor to note is that, when you are really hungry, your body expresses in the form of headache, having mood swings, or you experience some kind of sound in the stomach… Whereas when it is craving, it is more of an emotional fulfillment.
- When you are hungry, you just want to eat proper food and you don’t feel guilty about what you ate. Whereas when you eat for the craving, you feel a lot guilty.
- When you are eating for hunger, once your hunger is satiated, you tend to stop eating, whereas when you are craving you tend to overeat.
Now that we looked at the difference between hunger and temptation, now let us look at how to prevent temptation.
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Eat healthy food at the right time:
Eat food at the right time is very critical. Creating a discipline of eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at the right times makes your body look for food only at those times. It does not create unnecessary craving. This may take a while to get used to this discipline but eventually pays off.
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Eating right quality and quantity of food:
Your food should ideally contain right amount of carbs, proteins and other necessary fats for your body to fully obtain the necessary minerals and vitamins from your food. Just a basic understanding of food and its properties will help you decide on what foods provide you the right nutrition for your body. Knowing this is also critical as you will naturally tend to eat only the required quantity of food and avoid overeating.
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Eat more veggies for every meal:
There is a particular enzyme in our stomach known as Leptin. This enzyme tells us when the stomach is full. This enzyme has to be activated for it to function. This functions only on low calorie food which is the natural quality of vegetables. Since veggies are high in fiber, high in water content and low in calories. So when you start to eat, make sure your plate is 50% veggies, 30% protein, 10% fat and 10% carbs. This will give you a balanced diet.
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Sleep:
It is very important to sleep atleast 7-8 hours a day. So how is craving related to sleep ? There is a lot of connection. If you do not get adequate sleep, the stress hormones get into action and release Cortizole. When this is released, craving is caused. This in turn makes us eat junk food which results in unnecessary weight gain. So under any circumstances do not compromise on sleep.
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Don't eat food atleast 2 hours before going to food:
As much as possible try to finish your dinner atleast 2 hours before you go to sleep. This gives the body enough time to digest the food. Undigested food in the intestine can cause high bacterial activity inside the body which can cause acid reflux and constipation.
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Eat mindfully. Eat slowly so that you are aware of the amount of food intake:
Of all the points discussed above, this one is the most important one. Watching television, using smartphones while eating and engaging in conversations will lead to overeating.
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Keep a journal:
If you are on a strict weight watch, it will help you to maintain a journal where you can keep on logging your progress and help you to support your weight loss process. Also it will help you to make changes in your process.
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