September 9, 2018 Wiggy Saunders

4 Proven Ways To Kill Food Cravings

Whenever I’m meeting with a patient who has weight loss as a listed goal, I often hear them complain that while they know how to lose weight…

They don’t know how to keep their appetite under control.

Basically, they give in to the cravings.

My patients aren’t alone in this either.

Research shows one of the leading reasons people desperate to lose weight end up failing with weight loss goals comes from a failure to manage cravings.

And it’s easy to see why.

Many times when you’re trying to lose weight, you’re either modifying the kinds of foods you eat, or you’re in a caloric deficit.

These leave your body screaming for food it loves, and you’re likely depriving yourself of.

So when a cupcake, cookie, or even a bagel comes by…

You pounce on it like a lioness devours an antelope.

Fortunately, I know a few proven strategies that help keep hunger at bay. These aren’t “weight loss secrets.” They’re just smart ways to use your body’s biology to deaden appetite.

And when your appetite is under control, fat will start to melt off of your body for good.

4 Easy Ways To Crush Food Cravings

1 - Chew On Sugar-Free Gum:

If you’re feeling hungry and think you might slip up and eat food you know you shouldn’t eat…

Chewing on some sugar-free gum can help you fight cravings.

A note about sugar-free gum: Don’t chew gum loaded with preservatives or artificial sweeteners as they’re linked to other health concerns. Instead, chew gum made with natural, low-calorie sweeteners.

When you chew gum it plays a trick on your mind. Signals are sent to your brain indicating you’re eating, and this will make your brain send signals elsewhere in your body that you’re being fed. Which will eventually help quell cravings.

A 2011 study showed chewing gum for 45 minutes curbed appetite and suppressed food intake.

So, if you want to combat cravings, chewing sugar-free gum is proven to help.

Chewing sugar-free gum is a wonderful alternative to high-calorie foods which often lead to weight gain.

2 - Drink H2O:

Chances are you’ve heard about this advice.

If you have, and you don’t follow it, might I suggest buying a water bottle that velcros to your clothes?

What many people interpret as hunger is usually thirst in disguise. And low-level dehydration can easily lead to overeating.

There are a number of studies showing how drinking just a little bit of water will suppress appetite.

In 2014 scientists published a study that found overweight individuals who drank water when they were hungry (as opposed to eating a snack) lost weight and reduced body fat percentage.

By drinking an extra 1.5 liters of water over the course of the day these subjects lowered their body-fat percentage and also reported their typical food cravings were less frequent than before.

3 - Get Involved in Some Simple Exercise Routines:

Exercise is important for weight loss, everyone knows that.

And while most people believe exercise is only good at burning calories (which leads to weight loss) what they don’t know is working out can actually reduce hunger cravings.

In 2015, researchers asked people to try two different activities out to test how their hunger progressed.

The first was to sit in a lab, without any distractions for 15 minutes.

Another time they were asked to walk briskly for 15 minutes.

They repeated this several times over.

At the conclusion of each activity, they were asked to rate their hunger.

Every time they walked their appetite was severely lower than when they sat in the lab.

The conclusion of the study read:

“Short bouts of physical activity may reduce the craving for sugary snacks in overweight people. Concurrent positive changes in affect suggest that further research is needed to examine the possible mediating role of affect (valence and activation) in the effects of physical activity on cravings.

When snacking has become habitual and poorly regulated by overweight people the promotion of short bouts of physical activity could be valuable for reducing the urge to consume at times when the person may be particularly vulnerable such as during stress and when snack foods are available.”

4 - Eat More Fat (Eat a Ketogenic Diet):

Eating more fat is one of the key ways to help overcome hunger cravings.

When your diet is made up of 65-75% fat, you spend more time digesting fat than carbs.

Since fat is a complex molecule, and carbohydrates are very simple molecules it takes longer to break fat down.

This leads to you feeling fuller, longer.

And this means you don’t get nasty cravings that lead to overeating.

The scientific term for this is satiation (say-she-A-shun).

Satiation is the reason patients of mine who were 100 pounds overweight and struggled with blood sugar for years could switch to ketosis and lose weight without issue.

If you’re not always hungry, it’s almost impossible to overeat.

And if you don’t overeat - You Don’t Gain Weight.

It’s simple science, and it’s why the ketogenic diet is growing in popularity.