When it comes to dieting, cravings can be a huge hinderance. Especially when you first begin, when your body is used to sugar, the body will crave it. Aaaand when your body is depleted of energy, it will also fight you with cravings and hunger cues. Dieting can be difficult, so here are my top tips for staying on track.
1) Using your will power
So they say, that there are two parts to a person's brain. The animal brain and the human brain or pre frontal cortex. The animal brain is all about survival. You diet, it'll send out the survival cravings. You cut out sugar? THE ANIMAL BRAIN NEEDS ALL THE CAKE IN THE WORLD. But the human brain, the part of your brain that reasons with you, tells you what you should do, that is what controls your decisions ultimately. Now, once you disassociate the two. You are a very powerful person indeed. Once you learn that you are in control of you cravings, that this part of the brain that focuses on survival can't make you eat that cookie.. that you can decide for yourself, that's when you're able to succeed in dieting. Your cravings are not you, your animal brain is not you. You have full control over your progress.
Another thing to think about is the long term, what are your goals? If you want to look good in that bikini on holiday, that's cool, think about it. Go check out Victoria secret bikinis, perhaps even buy one. If you want to compete, think about the feeling of accomplishment on stage after all the hard work. If you're doing this just for a healthier, happier you..think about that, think about why you're doing it and why you owe this to yourself. However, I think it's best to be at peace with you and your body even if you are far away from your end goal. Train to improve yourself, both mentally and physically. If you're fighting your body throughout, hating yourself and punishing yourself this is an unhealthy attitude to have and it won't get you anywhere in the long term. Have the mindset that 'I am beautiful now but I want to achieve these goals for me, because they matter to me and I'm on the right track, trying my best. This is far more than what most are doing and I'm proud of myself for it.'
2) Break the habit - Emotional eating
We, as humans are a lot of the time controlled by pain and pleasure. And often enough, we make the association between unhealthy foods and a feeling of pleasure, perhaps a way of coping with stress or even just fighting boredom. One way of fighting the urge is to dissociate these two things. Instead, associate your happiness with something else, something productive. Healthy foods, reading a book, hitting the gym. Ultimately, this positive association we have with over eating is just a pattern or a habit. For instance, watching a movie or sitting on the sofa we may associate with over eating, when we repeat this TV watching..couch sitting notion and pair it with excessive amounts of food we're going to expect this every time. It becomes normal; like a necessity. But it's about breaking this pattern, again you are in control of it. You may want to think about the consequences of over eating say in the long term or that short term feeling of just being uncomfortable, visualise it, act on it.
I found this to be an interesting exercise..
Think of that food you crave to eat in excess, think about eating it, the taste..the texture..the smell of your favourite food. Think about the pleasure you may get from it. Feeling hungry? Now..imagine a big ass dog comes over, this dog is not a friendly looking thing and he's angry. He starts to excrete smelly goodness all over your food, then uses his paws to mix it altogether and he's real happy with his work so he winks at you. Now visualise it, eating the food..the new taste and texture. The smell of dog poo and your favourite cookie. Feeling disgusted? now, this is a bit extreme, but it's about breaking the association, this is a helpful technique if you're prone to overeating or binge eating.
3) Eat your greens
Green veg is very low in carbs, fat and protein but full of fibre. Add some greens to each meal. They're full of nutrients and will help you keep fuller for longer. Don't stress about the macros, if its gonna stop you eating that jar of peanut butter later on..who the hell cares? Wholegrains, seeds and bran are a great source of insoluble fibre. This means that it is not fermented by the bacteria in your gut. nor is it soluble (DUH) this gives the feeling of fullness. Soluble fibres found in as oats, bananas and nuts are broken down by bacteria which then produce short chain fatty acids, to the human brain this releases a feeling of satiety and as it is soluble it produces a sort of 'gel' in the gut that limits the absorption of other macronutrients. So eating veggies with your carbs..it all makes sense now right?
4) Have a calorie maintenance day
Being in a calorie deficit can be difficult. You may be lacking in energy, you may be feeling a little low and hangry. So add in a day where you eat a little more, give your body a break to perform optimally in the gym, to release leptin (a hormone that stops the cravings) and to potentially prevent a binge. You shouldn't need to eat too much here, maybe just at your maintenance calories. In the long term, this may give you a better relationship with food, a more efficient metabolism and improve your progress.
5) The carrot test
A test I invented myself. So you've got a craving..it won't go away. You're thinking about a certain food and how damn hungry you are for it. Would you replace this food with a carrot and that end your hunger? if not, this is simply a craving and you're not actually hungry. Actual hunger should be satisfied by almost anything you enjoy. If you're hungry for the carrot still, go eat the carrot. (talk about yolo) or go eat something else that's good for ya, just not the pack of Oreos. If you're looking for something sweet that won't jeopardise your macros I'd highly recommend harley's sugar free jelly. It's around 9 kcal for a large pot..now that's sheer volume for calories. I often snack on them when I know I'm not actually hungry just craving something sweet. You may seem me in Tesco holding 6-10 pots wishing I'd picked up a basket.
6) Occupy yourself with other things
Food is often something we turn to when we're bored. The craving can usually be subsided by doing something else. Even something as simple as taking a shower, painting your nails, watching a motivational youtube video or hitting the gym. Again, we need to associate food not as something to fight boredom (there are plenty of other things) but as something we need to nourish us, to perform, as fuel. Drinking lots of water helps a lot too, often when we think are hungry it is just that we need a drink. Water is essential to everyones diet, not just if you're trying to cut down. Don't let yourself go dehydrated. Every cell in your body will thank you for it.
7) EAT
If you're real hungry, then eat. Don't starve yourself, this will leave you feeling grumpy, tired and unhappy. Those fitness competitors that towards the end of their cut eat very little. Notice how they slowly decline to that low level of calories and post competition work their way back up. That's because it's not healthy, and it's not maintainable especially if you want to progress in the gym. Eating is good, but think about why you're hungry. What are you lacking? Vitamins? Eat some veggies. Protein? add a scoop of whey in your yogurt. Don't just go the thing you crave, think logically about what you NEED, you body does not NEED sugary foods but a lot of the time that is what we associate with lots of energy..immediately, so we crave it. However, what your body actually needs is a different story. Work with your body, not against it. And also, remember this, no food is terrible for you in moderation. Of course, no foods are created equally in terms of the way our body utilises them. Processed sugary foods nutritionally are not as optimal, but if you fancy a treat..then go for it, but in moderation, eat it, satisfy the craving and move on. No guilt and no excessive consumption.
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