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Dietician Sheela Seharawat

Craving are all too common to all of us – its urgent and insisting inner call that instigates us to forget all the good that we have done to our healthy by eating healthy and get indulge in food and lots of foods. When we crave for some kind of food, it does not ever means that we are hungry, it’s all there in our head. A part of our brain has the responsibility of controlling our memory and it recalls one of the many pleasurable time that we had enjoyed eating a particular dish or a delicious snacks. The issue here is, that each time our brain propagates such feelings and we succumb to its urges, we could land ourselves into serious weight and health issues.
To stay healthy and in good shape, we have to gain control of your cravings. It is very important to know, how we could control these cravings even if the feeling is nearly unstoppable.

In order to control cravings, it is of paramount importance to under the reasons that’s triggering these cravings. If the craving is for a particular food, it may be a mean your body is actually letting you know that it is in need or one or more nutrients that’s lacking.
Listed below are the most common food cravings and ways how we can control them:

Fatty Foods: it could be a possibility that the body is deprived of adequate calcium supply. Opt for calcium enriched healthy foods like milk, cheese, broccoli, bok choy and almonds.
Salty Snacks: resort to eating tomatoes, rye, olives and lettuce more often as you may be running out of chlorides in the body.
Simple Carbohydrates: it may be a self-propagating reason for having cravings for foods with simple sugars like refined flour, sugary foods, pastas and rice.
Chocolates: it may be because of the reasons that the body needs more magnesium than it is getting. Instead chocolate get some healthy food s like spinach, cashews, pumpkin seeds and quinoa.

Natural means and ways to control cravings
Fruits:
Eating fruits can help control food cravings. Fruits are great aid in cleaning the palate and restoring normal functioning of the area of the brain that gives us the feeling of satiety. It is important to eat whole fruits and remember fruit juices do not control cravings, instead they worsens the craving conditions.
Whole fruits are enriched with the goodness of dietary fibers that gives you a feeling of fullness and reduces the urge for refined carbs and sugar.

Eat regularly and drink plenty of water:
In a weight loss regime, the foremost thing that one should keep in mind is to not allowing the body to be hungry. In order to control cravings throughout the day, eat smaller meals in every 2 to 3 hours gap. This will not only help control cravings but also protect you from overeating.
Drinking plenty of water also helps food cravings, as it keeps you full and allows you to overcome false hunger pranks. Drink at least 8 to 10 glasses or water in a day and the quantity should increase in summers.

Change of place or activity:
When you experience some food urge beckoning you, try to change the place or indulge in some other activity than the previous. It might be the fact that the environment may be a contributing factor in sending signals to the brain that might trigger certain food cravings. At times sight and smell of foods reminds you of a dish that entices you and you could start getting these craving signals.

Cravings are very common many experience it regularly. Craving becomes more harmful when we handle it improperly. They play a major role in weight gain, food addiction and binge eating. When we give into them, we are giving in to an impulse and we act impulsively and lose some control; that means losing control of how much to eat too. Being aware of your cravings and their triggers makes them much easier to avoid. That is why it becomes important to try putting mindful eating techniques. It also makes it a lot easier to eat healthy and lose weight.