Real hunger or cravings?

I often get asked how I stay on track with healthy eating and don't give in to cravings for certain foods. We all get cravings but what is important is to distinguish between real hunger or a craving for a food. There are a few things that I do personally that I would like to share in this post.

1) Don't under eat.

So when sticking to a diet, whether it be a cutting diet, maintaining diet or bulking diet I always eat my calculated macros and no less. You may think it's beneficial on say a cutting diet to under eat, but not only will dramatically under eating reduce your metabolic rate, it will leave you more prone to over eating due to hunger. Stick to your calculated macros, not only is it good to keep track of your intake so you can see exactly how your body responds to it, it will ensure your body is getting enough food and prevent dreaded hangriness.

2) Veggie it up

This is just something I do in general, I tend to add lots of fibrous veggie to my meals in order to fill me up and prevent hunger later on. If skipping brocoli to reduce carbs causes you to eat a whole jar of peanut butter in the evening due to cravings maybe upping your veggies is for you. There is no harm in a little extra veg, for lower carb options stick to greens.

3) Protein is important

Low protein diets can make a person VERY hungry. Protein is amazing, it has a higher thermic effect than carbs or fats and increases the metabolism. It provides the building blocks for muscle growth and therefore is ESSENTIAL in the growth or just maintenance of muscle mass. When I'm hungry, I often vouch for protein as it's usually what my body is looking for. The body turns over 200g of protein daily, make sure you're getting enough. When you're bulking, protein surplus is essential more so than carbs or fat. The role of fats and carbs is simply to provide calories to prevnt protein breakdown, protein is required for building new muscle. So if you're trying to gain, the main difference should come from protein. When cutting down, protein should also remain high in order to preserve muscle, carbs and fat are where you want to be adjusting.


4) Ask yourelf..am I actually hungry?

There are various signs of physical hunger. The obvious being the feeling of an empty stomach or hunger pains. For me though, this is accompanied by a feeling of light-headedness, and a lack of concentration and energy. When this happens I think to myself, what does my body NEED? and I eat that. What my body needs is dependent on what I am lacking that day or I feel will be beneficial to my body.

I know when I'm not actually hungry when I'm craving a certain food. Real hunger is satisfied by any beneficial food. Fake hunger or cravings are really only satisfied by the food you crave. How do I deal with this? When I know I'm not really hungry at all? I drink some green tea, distract myself or wait until it passes as these things pass. If I'm still craving I'll eat some fruit or veggies. Don't get me wrong, I do treat myself from time to time!

I hope this post was helpful! I would love to hear your feedback/suggestions.