Why am I craving…
Understanding the reasoning behind why we crave may help us exercise control when it comes to any cravings.
Craving culprit # 1: It’s a habit, not hunger
Less than 40 per cent of cravers say they’re actually hungry when a craving strikes. On the habit side of things, researchers from Philadelphia, US have discovered when food cravings take place, they activate a part of the brain called the caudate nucleus, which is also instrumental in habit formation. What that means is that we learn to associate certain foods with certain situations, which explains why we may crave popcorn as soon as we step into a movie theatre – even if we’re stuffed from just eating dinner. It’s a habit.
“People completely under-estimate how much their environment impacts on their behaviour, and particularly eating behaviour,” explains Dr Leah Brennan, a clinical and health psychologist who specialises in weight and eating behaviour. “We’re very influenced by our environment,” she says, and also by foods which evoke happy memories. Researchers from the University of Illinois found that the foods we crave are often those that trigger happy past associations, or feelings that a person wants to recapture.
How to beat it: Dr Brennan’s tip is to start recognising your triggers. “Keeping a food diary, noting down what you eat, in which situations, with which people, and how you were feeling at the time is a good start.
“It’ll help you develop an awareness of the fact that, for example, you tend to eat chocolate whenever you’re in front of the TV, and awareness is the first step to making a change.” This theory is backed up by British research, which found that consciousness of eating habits, encouraged by diary keeping, is associated with lower consumption of high-fat snacks.
Once you’ve figured out your craving triggers, don’t rely on willpower to overcome them or you may be setting yourself up for failure. Instead, you may need to change your routine.
The need for this was shown by American researchers who found that physical locations are some of the most powerful cues to behaviour. Actually changing the environment is a better tactic than just relying on willpower alone to overcome a craving.
Craving culprit # 2: You’re under stress
Stressed?
Research has shown we’ll choose M&Ms over grapes when in a stressful situation. Sick of reaching for the choccie? Research suggests exercise will help.
Most of us know how it feels – craving chocolate (or anything) as a result of stress. And researchers from Leeds University have proved that stressful situations can indeed make people opt for high-fat, high-sugar snacks, rather than healthier food choices. Their study showed how stress caused by events such as arguing with a colleague or friend, a meeting with the boss, missing a deadline or even something like losing keys, was enough to cause people to eat more in-between-meal snacks.
But stress isn’t the only emotion capable of causing cravings. When another group of researchers in the US monitored two groups of people – one watching a happy, feel-good movie and the other watching a sad flick – they found those in the sad flick group consumed 36 per cent more popcorn as a result. Even your gender can influence which emotions spark a craving. While women are more likely to crave a particular food when they are depressed or sad, it’s when men are happy that their cravings usually escalate.
How to beat it: Find other ways to deal with your emotions. Dr Brennan explains: “Once you’ve recognised which emotions might be triggering your cravings with the help of a food diary, try to add some other coping mechanisms to your repertoire, so you’ve got things to turn to other than food when you experience the emotions which typically cause you to eat.”
So what’s the best coping mechanism to choose? Exercise, say British scientists, who found that a simple 15-minute walk was sufficient to significantly reduce food cravings for chocolate, even when people were tempted by being asked to unwrap a sweet treat.
Researchers have found that chocolate cravers show signs of having different bacteria in their digestive system than people who are immune to chocolate’s allure. They hope to use the findings to influence weight-loss.
Craving culprit # 3: You’re dieting
It seems that old saying about wanting what you can’t have is true. Canadian researchers have found people deprived of chocolate experience more food cravings than unrestrained eaters and they are more likely to subsequently eat the craved food when they’re finally exposed to it. It gets even worse for those people cutting carbohydrates in an effort to lose weight. Women who were asked to cut carbohydrates for three days reported stronger food cravings, which then translated into them eating 44 per cent more kilojoules from carbohydrate-rich foods on the fourth day.
How to beat it: Do two things. First, says Accredited Practising Dietitian Emma Stirling, work out how to incorporate your food of choice into your diet, without letting it get out of control.
“So practise portion control,” she says. “Allow yourself to have a little piece of chocolate each day, enough to satisfy your craving – in terms of long-term success, it’s much better than trying to go cold turkey.”
Don’t just try to turn a blind eye to your cravings. At least two studies have shown how people who try to quit thinking about chocolate wind up eating more – sometimes 50 per cent more – than those who verbalise and acknowledge their desire.
A sweet trick to ward off that after-lunch snack attack is to chew gum. Two recent studies have shown how chewing sugar-free gum can suppress appetite and reduce afternoon kilojoule intake.
Craving culprit # 4: You think too much
And mainly about the food in question. Research from Adelaide has confirmed that even when environmental or emotional cues aren’t present, just thinking about the food you love is enough to spark a craving. The Flinders University study asked participants to recall and rate a previous food-craving experience and then to imagine themselves eating the food they typically crave. Not only did the researchers discover that mental imagery is a key element in sparking a food craving, but the better your ability to recall and imagine a food, the stronger the urge to eat it in real life.
How to beat it: Think about something else. It sounds simple, and it works.
The same Flinders University team asked study participants who were craving chocolate to imagine smelling something non-food-related, such as freshly mown grass or clean, tumble-dried clothes. Just this simple act reduced their cravings by about 30 per cent. If that doesn’t work, try sniffing some peppermint. US research found people who were regularly exposed to a peppermint aroma were better able to ward off those daily ‘slumps’ that cause us to seek out a sugar hit. Avoiding these cravings equated to eating at least 11,500 less kilojoules a week! Reason enough to keep some peppermint close by.
Article courtesy of Healthy Food Guide.
(2) Comments • Permalink
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I am going to go get some peppermint tea ASAP!!! Thank you for that! Posted by Rachel H "on" 10/19 "at"03:58 PM |
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Wow! I loved this article… clarified so many things to me  Thank you!!!! Posted by Pri Shartener "on" 10/08 "at"12:35 PM |
Best of the rest
