Craving Killers: Stop Food Cravings with these Simple Tricks

When you have 24/7 access to food, and images of food everywhere, it can be difficult to deal with food cravings. Here are some simple tricks to handle food cravings mindfully and without binging.

What is a food craving? A food craving is typically defined as frequent, intense desires to consume a particular type of food. According to one nutrition study, 97% of women and 68% of men report having them. (Men, what’s your secret?)

In this scientific research, it has been proven that exposure and reactivity to food cues, including craving, increase eating and weight, and thus may contribute to rising and persistent rates of obesity. In general, food cravings are associated with a 7-11% variance in body weight, and positively associated with higher BMI.

The best way to determine if what you are feeling is a food craving or hunger is if you are fixated on a bag of Doritos as opposed to whatever other food you have on hand.

What Causes Food Cravings

There are two sources of cravings- psychological and physiological. Let’s talk about psychological first.

Psychological cravings could be tied to emotional eating, boredom or deprivation. If you are stressed, angry, or sad, you might find yourself reaching for that tub of ice cream or deep-fried chimichanga.

Boredom works the same way, especially if you are also distracted. A study in the journal Physiology and Behavior found that “dietary monotony,” even when it meets all nutritional needs, triggers cravings. While your grandpa might have been ok eating a donut every day for breakfast, that same monotony may not be serving you well when it comes to your cravings, especially if you find yourself going deep into your fridge outside of meal time.

Deprivation is one I see a lot with clients, and why I do not align with any particular way of eating, such as Whole30 or keto. If you consistently tell yourself you cannot eat something, that particular food becomes front and center in your mind, which makes it harder to resist. I am also a big fan of enjoying foods that have positive memories. The saddest thing of all is when a coaching client feels “forced” to abandon their favorite family foods because they aren’t “healthy” enough.

Watch this quick video on “good, bad, and ugly” foods to see what I mean.

It is also important to understand the physical processes that could impact specific cravings, such as for sugar. The hunger hormone, ghrelin, naturally goes up and down after a meal. Yet, ghrelin also drives what researchers call “hedonic food consumption,” and eating simply for pleasure could decrease levels of this hormone. You can read more on hedonic hunger here.

You may think that cravings are entirely psychological, but research suggests that some persistent, intense cravings could point to physiological needs, such as nutritional deficiencies. A need for salty foods can mean you’re anemic or dehydrated, while an excessive, unquenchable thirst could be an early sign of diabetes.

Kill your Cravings

Now that we understand that cravings could impact your body weight and be triggered from both psychological and physiological needs, how do we handle cravings mindfully? We can do so using the acronym PRIDE.

Pause

Pausing is such a simple technique, yet one that can be extremely hard in the throes of an intense craving. If you have a craving for a food that is readily available to you, then this pause can allow you to flee. For example, if you are in your kitchen and the cookie jar is in front of you, simply leave the kitchen. If you are driving past the McDonald’s and you find yourself turning to the drive through, park instead.

If someone is offering you a second helping of food at a meal, or you eat family-style, put your napkin on your plate or put the food in the fridge.

A craving is unique in that it often goes away if not indulged. Therefore, pausing gives you the chance to ignore it, flee it or even forget it.

Ritualize

I’m a big fan of rituals,and one of my most requested wellness presentations is 5 Morning Rituals for a Healthier Day. Rituals create a special meaning around everyday activities. In a 2013 study from the University of Minnesota, something as small as opening a chocolate bar in a specific way made the participants savor the chocolate longer, rate it more highly, and pay more for it. 

Think of how you can create a ritual around your food cravings. Can you put the food on a plate with a fancy napkin, light some candles, or even play calming music? Can you follow your consumption of this food with a fist pump or hip shake? These techniques help maximize the experience. They also free you of the potential for feeling guilty about eating that food.

Indulge it

I can’t tell you how irritating it is to hear a health guru tell you to substitute a piece of chocolate with a healthy smoothie. Excuse me?

While there may be circumstances under which a food substitute is appropriate (for example, eating a handful of roasted chickpeas to appease your salty food craving instead of potato chips), that doesn’t mean you HAVE to always find a healthier substitute.

In some cases, trying to “trick” your mind or body into accepting a substitute is not very helpful, and could cause you to overindulge your food craving later that day.

However, be open to a smaller portion of that food. Many foods are available in snack or child-size portions. If it is not a packaged item, do your best to indulge your craving up to 3 bites. You may not have total control over your cravings, but you DO have control over how much food you put into your mouth!

Distract

Distraction is similar to the Pause, with a notable exception. Instead of pausing and fleeing, you take a specific action that addresses any emotional needs that might be triggering your craving.

In this study from Bergouignan et al., walking 5 minutes out of every hour reduced food cravings before lunch compared to the continuous sitting intervention. Also, 12 weeks of supervised aerobic exercise decreased total cravings, and cravings of high-fat foods, fast food fats, and carbohydrates/starches. Finally, more resistance training is associated with an overall reduced likelihood to eat.

It is clear that distracting yourself with some sort of movement, be it walking, cardio or weight training can reduce your cravings.

However, if you are struggling with exercise, you can also distract yourself with activities that keep your hands busy. For example, you can paint your nails, knit a scarf or even clean something.

Examine

After your craving has passed, it may be helpful to examine what happened for you JUST BEFORE you felt the craving.

Had it been hours since you last ate? Were you angry? Was there a stressful incident that made you feel upset?

You can note your observations down in a journal, and see if you can find patterns around your cravings. I find my cravings come strongest between 3-5 pm (the afternoon slump when I’m tired), or between 9-11 pm (changes in bedtime routine and emotions). Since I understand that these times of day are traditionally harder for my cravings, I can be mindful of my reactions and strategies the next day.

If you find this process of examining your patterns overwhelming, then coaching or additional accountability in a group may be a helpful tool for you. We are so close to our behaviors that we might struggle with being objective around them.

Which part of PRIDE feels most helpful for you to kill your food cravings? Let me know in the comments. If you found this article helpful, please share using the social media buttons.