Cravings often have a bad reputation for causing us to over-indulge, or reach for unhealthy food. The reality is that cravings are often a signal indicative of your body lacking something. It may be certain vitamins, minerals, macronutrients, water or sleep. Eating a diverse diet that is rich with fruit, vegetables, lean protein and good fats will help eliminate or curb most of the nutritional related cravings you experience.
Finding an effective way to stop sugar cravings is perhaps the most prevalent concern in regards to cravings. The key is finding balance in your diet. Restricting or depriving yourself completely of sugar is likely to make cravings worse. Let yourself consume it occasionally in small amounts.
In addition, you may experience cravings as your body’s way of coping with anxiety, stress, depression or lack of sleep. This could also be reffered to as emotional eating. Taking note of when you experience these cravings can help you determine what is causing them. Then, you can take measures to solve those issues. Some examples of this include implementing meditation to reduce stress & anxiety, or schedule more sleep into your day to insure adequate rest.
Luckily, there are several natural ways to stop the majority of cravings from happening on a regular basis. Integrating this plan of attack will leave you feeling more able to control your cravings when you do have them, as well as improve your overall state of health and balance.
1. The oh-so-redundant phrase, “drink plenty of water”
You’ve heard it many times, but are you doing this every day? Your body is comprised of mostly water. Thus, we need to take in plenty of it throughout the day to feel lively and replenished. It makes sense that your body craves something when your water intake is low. Your body is not recieving the hydration it needs, so it feels that you’re lacking. Thus, it searches for satiability.
Water deficiency is often the one big thing to keep in mind when addressing how to stop cravings. Drinking more water is a simple change that will improve every facet of your health as well as combat cravings.
2. Load up on nutrient-dense foods
Doing this will target nutritional cravings at your core. With an adequate amount of nutrients, your brain won’t need to send your body signals that you’re missing vital vitamins and minerals.
Shop for whole, real foods like fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts, beans, wild-caught fish, cage-free eggs and free-range beef. Frequently try new foods and mix it up to insure that your diet will provide you with all of the nutrients your body requires to function optimally.
Stay away from processed foods that contain preservatives, added sugar and artificial flavors. Seek organic, non-gmo options when possible.
3. Drink Kombucha
This sweet, healthy, digestive booster helps curb cravings because its effervescent nature gives your stomach the illusion that you’re full. Created using the fermented product of cane sugar, black tea and fruit juice, kombucha tea is an excellent replacement for those mid-day soda cravings.
The reason that soda only temporarily satisfies your cravings is because it only gives your body a jolt of sugar–no nutrients. Soda is an empty-calorie drink, meaning it provides sugar but has no positive nutritional value. On the other hand, Kombucha provides you with nutrients from raw fruit and probiotics from the symbiotic culture of bacteria & yeast that kombucha contains. That might sound like a scary combination. But, think of this way: your stomach needs good bacteria in order to properly digest and absorb food. Thus, the culture in kombucha is help keeping the good bacteria level in your stomach maintained. By choosing a natural drink to help curb cravings, you’re truly addressing the craving and not just satisfying your desire for sugar.
Starting a habit of of regularly consuming a kombucha a day will help you effectively stop sugar cravings and improve digestion in the process.
4. Don’t skip meals
When you take on a healthier approach to eating, don’t develop a fear of food. Getting into a routine where you eat very little is ultimately not an effective way to improve your health. In fact, your body needs a sufficient amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fat to keep the metabolism up–which is responsible for energy levels, weight management & elimination.
If you are skipping meals, be it a time constriction, busy schedule or a purposeful attempt to cut back on calories, stop doing it. That is one of the quickest routes to develop frequent cravings. When you skip meals, your metabolism slows and often so does your energy. Being in a state in which you lack energy is the prime time for cravings to hit you. Eating several healthy meals (3-5) throughout the day will revitalize you, replenish your energy, and reduce the prevalence of cravings.
Aim to eat a lot of nutrient dense, organic foods. This will help your body to feel full and complete with the foods it needs to function its best. When your body is satisfied in this way, your cravings will diminish.
5. Make sleep a priority
Some lean on food when tired or fatigued. This is mainly because your body is looking for a quick fix of energy. Refined sugar will do the trick and that’s perhaps why you look to it.
Take inventory of your sleeping habits and determine if that could be a contributor. Pay notice to your sleep patterns and see if you can improve upon them. Go to bed an hour earlier or take a nap during the day (if possible) to get an extra bit of sleep every day.
Know that sleep can also impact your stress levels and mental state. Getting enough rest will help alleviate stress and emotional eating. Eating when you’re overwhelmed, sad, emotionally taxed or stressed can happen more frequently if you allow yourself to be sleep deprived. Collectively, those struggles can activate your cravings and steer you down a unhealthy path of impulsive eating. That’s not to say that the occasional splurge is unhealthy. Rather, the goal is to be eating for health and balance, not to mask a lack of sleep or a stressed mindframe.
It’s also important to realize that lacking motivation, being depressed, or enduring a recent trauma or stressful event could perhaps be the cause of your emotional eating. These cravings are your brain and body’s way of leaning on something reliabale and satisfying to cope with this mental strife. Thus, tackling these types of cravings might mean you need to address the deeper physchological issues beneath them.
Getting enough sleep every night will decrease the chances that your eating is due to energy deprivation. Combined with drinking plenty of water, eating nutritious foods, incorporating kombucha, and eating meals every few hours, you will be equipped with how to stop cravings the natural way.
Written by Jesica Salyer
Read the published article here.
