Food cravings

Last night was the first time I experienced really serious food cravings. What was strange is that it wasn't for junk food or sweets, it was for a thick juicy steak and crisp fluffy chips. What makes this craving more unusual is that although I like steak, it's not a favourite. But at 10 pm last night I was ready to get in the car and head out to hunt down the steak. I managed to survive the cravings and luckily this morning they have passed.

What a lot of people don't understand about food cravings is that they are all consuming. The thoughts are not just 'oh I fancy a bit of food now', they are constant, distracting and at times debilitating. You don't want the food you need it, you know you will feel better after eating the food you are craving. The problem come from the fact that you know once you succumb, you will over eat, you will probably eat blindly too. By that I mean you will eat quickly and not take the time to savour the taste and texture of the food, you won't appreciate the food you are eating. You probably won't stop eating until you feel ill. All of this then usually leads to feelings of shame or guilt after your binge, this in turn lowers your mood, counteracting the brain's feel good chemicals such as dopamine, which were released while you were indulging. It becomes a vicious cycle.

As I mentioned in a previous post food addiction has not been taken seriously by scientists until recently and there are unfortunately, as far as I am aware, no magical fixes for this yet. I am always on the look out for different ways to try to fight the cravings, listed below are the few that sometimes work for me.

Distraction
For me this method works about 50% of the time. Cravings and the obsessive thoughts they provoke are difficult to shake off. Watching TV, playing on the computer going for a walk are all mentally quite passive activities. To distract yourself successfully you need to find something that will involve both physical and mental activity.  

Drink
Get up off your bum and go make yourself a drink. This is partly distraction and partly biology, the act of changing your location, getting active will sometimes provide enough of a distraction to get over minor cravings. From the biology point of view the human body cannot always distinguish thirst from hunger, and when you are dehydrated your body demands water. One way the body knows it can obtain moisture is through food, so it sends out hunger signals. Diet gurus will tell you to go drink a glass of water to beat the cravings, but who wants to be chugging 2 litres of water a day.
The 2 litres or 8 glasses a day myth, is just that, a myth stemming from a piece of information that was wrongly quoted and has now become something of a staple in the world of misinformed diet gurus based on the 1945 recommendation by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council. The report goes on to mention that we get most of our water from our food. 
If you are craving foods, have a drink of what you like (not full fat pop / soda though).

Exercise
Ok, I admit this is not a favourite of mine, but I'm the first to admit I need to haul my ass off the sofa more often. Exercise has been proven to release endorphins and dopamine into your system the during and after exercise. The same feel good chemicals you get from your addiction. So you get your fix of feel good and it is also a good distraction technique.

Sex
Whether you have a an accommodating partner or spend a little time alone, sex is a great distraction and if performed with a partner, also qualifies as exercise. It takes you out of the situation where you were consumed with thoughts of food and makes you focus your attention elsewhere. You also get the feel good brain chemical hit at the end.

Eat an alternative
This is somewhat of a last resort for me, as it can be hazardous to enter the kitchen with the aim of eating. I also feel that you are reinforcing the bad habit you are trying to break by submitting to a food reward. So if I am genuinely hungry after having a drink 15-20 minutes ago, then I'll go and eat something. We always have healthy snacks to hand so its easier to grab them than cook up food that isn't such a good option.

There are other methods you can employ, but these work for me. Good luck with your own cravings and try to remember that if alcoholics, drug addicts and smokers can beat their addiction, then with hard work and dedication we can beat ours too.