October SHRED #19: Don’t Deny a Craving

October 31, 2010
By Bill

Now, yesterday I told you to watch out for trigger foods.  And while we need to do that, sometimes we get a craving that just will NOT be satisfied by anything else.

No that that craving, Mominatrix.

Sometimes we NEED to have a specific food, and our brains won’t let the idea go.  The title of this is a bit misleading, because we all have cravings for food.  But I’m talking about when you can’t control it.  Smetimes you just get the idea that you want something, like a bit of candy, and you can distract yourself, drink water, or have another snack that will satisfy you.

And sometimes you can’t.

You start off drinking water, then have some fruit, then some popcorn, then some more fruit, and after a while you’ve eaten several hundred calories worth of food – healthy, but it’s still calories – just to try and avoid a bit of candy that you still want anyway after all that food.

When you’ve got one of those situations, you need to realize if it’s a craving that can be satisfied with something else or not.  If not, you might as well go ahead and have a reasonable portion of the food to satisfy it.  When you’re done, drink a bunch of water and walk away.  Give your brain a chance to realize that yes, you ate it, you don’t need more, and move along, there’s nothing to see here.

Now, this is hard because those cravings tend to be for our trigger foods.  That’s when you need to have a measured serving (no grazing out of the big container), and then get away from the food for a while.

What’s that you say?  It’s Halloween and you have a craving for candy?  ME TOO!  Remember that it’s okay, and that the key in this situation is to limit the damage (unless you can ignore the craving, in which case phooey on youey).

Sit down, get however many pieces you’ve decided to allow yourself and put them in a bag with your name on them.  Those are yours, and the rest are for the kids.  Then decide when will be the best time to eat them.  Maybe before you go trick or treating, so you can get some walking in after you’ve eaten them.  Maybe right before bed, since eating while you’re asleep is difficult.  Maybe it’ll be the next day, right before you give your candy to all your coworkers.

And remember, NO GUILT if you slip.  Starting over is definitely allowed.  :)

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Previous Super Healthy Recommendations for Excellent Diets

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