Learn how to curb food cravings to lose weight without trying too hard at gym
Controlling the food craving is an effective way to maintain weight and live a healthy life. If you are struggling to do so then this guide you will help you.
To change or cure something we must first need to understand it. Where do cravings come from? Cravings are the body/minds way of indicating that need is unmet.
The human body is smart. It knows just what it needs to function. In many cases, it can even produce what it needs on its own.
For example, it produces bile and enzymes to help us break down food, synovial fluid to keep our joints lubricated, white blood cells to keep our immune system strong, hormones to keep our moods balanced, anti-inflammatory to keep us ache free and so on.
The body-mind communicates through neuropeptides and cellular communication.The body-mind relationship as an interconnected system. For example, you see a commercial for a warm blueberry muffin and all of a sudden your have a sudden hunger for a blueberry muffin.
You walk past a cafe and smell the coffee and in an instant, you have a strong urge to grab a coffee. You have thought that makes you miss you mom, and now you’re craving creamy macaroni and cheese like the one she used to make.
So many of the things our body wants are initiated in the mind and so many things the mind desires are signaled from a physical cue. Learning to watch your thoughts and listen to your body is the first step in learning to understand and manage cravings.
Table of Contents
1: Listen To Your Body
Just as the body is smart. Food is quick. Whole foods, meaning foods that come from nature like whole grains, nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruits and beans contain natural intelligence.
The body, mind, and whole foods speak the same language. They understand what is needed. Where to serve and how to compensate.
By eating whole foods, you tap into an innate intelligence that keeps all systems running. It’s only by interference that the communication gets glitchy, needs are left unmet, and cravings ensue. Imagine talking on your cell phone.
You’re having a pleasant conversation with your partner, telling them exactly what you need from the grocery store, but then the cell service drops and you can’t hear each other anymore. Now your partner is left to his own devices at the store.
There’s a slim chance he’ll guess correctly and get just what you need, but there’s a likelihood that without the specific information he’ll buy the wrong stuff or come home empty handed. Now you are hungry and unsatisfied.
This is what happens when we eat processed, artificial and junk food. We drop the call and break communication. Processed foods have no intelligence. In fact, artificial foods create mass confusion.
2: Eat Whole Foods
Overfed and Undernourished. Many of us can eat and eat and never feel satisfied. This is because foods that have been processed are stripped and devoid of nutrients. Chemicals and additives found in packaged convenience foods rob our bodies of the nutrients we need.
It’s like going to the bank to withdraw cash but picking up debt instead. You can carry around tons of debt, but that won’t make you richer. You can eat plenty of quick, cheap, easy, tasty food but if it’s nutrient deficient you still won’t feel satisfied. You should replace bad carbohydrates with food.
3: Move Away From Processed Foods
Portions matter when you’re eating heavy foods like grains, meat, dairy, and sugar. The portion control police back off when you’re eating fresh vegetables and fruits. Over indulgence can stretch your tummy so each time you eat you’ll feel like you need more and more to get full. Much of the processed food contains genetically modified organisms that give rise to the growth of tumors. So, it should be avoided.
But restriction can lead to deprivation and when you get sick and tired of feeling deprived you might swing the other direction and overindulge again. So the happy is the happy medium. Fill your plate with La generous portion of light foods like veggies and beans then add the heavier items like meat or grain as a side item.
4: When You Eat Healthy, You Can Eat More
Tastes. There are six tastes; sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. Each flavor satisfies a particular needs a fills a specialized role. We need all six flavors satisfy our taste buds and feel balanced both physically and emotionally.
Sweet, sour and salty are anabolic tastes; meaning they help us build tissues. Pungent, bitter and astringent are catabolic; meaning they assist us in burn and break down what we don’t need. Too much of any one taste can lead to an imbalance; too much building or too much deconstruction.
Every meal should include all six tastes so that our internal programming receives what it was designed for. Sweet foods include; grains, root vegetables, fruits and dairy. Sour foods include fermented foods, yogurt, citrus and lemon. Salty foods include nuts, seeds, seaweed, seafood, olives, capers and salt. Pungent foods include chili, peppers, onions, garlic, radish and Tabasco.
Bitter foods include; bitter melon, arugula, kale, and coffee. Astringent foods include beans, leafy greens, and herbal teas. The Standard American Diet (SAD) is weighted with sweet, sour and salty and lacks the tastes pungent, bitter and astringent.
You can follow Indian Diet and food recipes for Weight Loss.
5: Eat All Six Tastes
Cooking with spices helps curb cravings because spices amp up our ability to digest and assimilate nutrients; and as we’ve learned more nutrients equal fewer cravings. Spices also provide a quick and easy way to access a wider variety of tastes.
Take a bowl of rice for example. It’s just sweet. Now add a pinch of ginger, turmeric, salt and black pepper and all of a sudden the same bowl of rice is now sweet, salty, bitter and pungent. A quick dash of spice allowed us to meet four of our six tastes which means we’ll feel way more satisfied.
You could pair that rice with a cup of beans (astringent) and a cup of hot water with lemon (sour) and bingo; all six tastes are met! Consider a bowl of oatmeal. It’s just sweet. Add a dash of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and salt and serve it with herbal tea.
Again, quick, easy, tasty and you’ve met the requests of each taste bud. Fill your cabinet with ginger, turmeric, cumin, fennel, oregano, thyme, basil, black pepper, Himalayan salt, cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Explore, create, savor, enjoy.
6: Cook With Spices
Emotions. So often we eat out of stress, anxiety, boredom, sorrow, guilt, reward, the list goes on and on. The valid question is, What are we famished for? Acknowledging how you feel and allowing yourself to feel it is enough. Be with it.
The feeling is part of the human experience. Just because something is uncomfortable or unpleasant doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. Masking it with quick treats or burying it in pastries won’t make it disappear. Sometimes the things that irk us most only irk us until they’re acknowledged.
It’s kind of like being scared of the dark. No one gets rid of darkness by ignoring it or slapping it away. We get rid of darkness by turning on the light. Take a deep breath. Recognize how you feel. Remind yourself that that’s okay. Drink a glass of warm water.
Step outside. Read or look at something inspiring. Repeat. Take a deep breath. Recognize how you feel. Remind yourself that it’s ok. Move forward from there. If you’re legitimately hungry, eat a sensible meal.
If your ravenous reach was stemming from an emotional state, it has likely softened thanks to your new awareness which means your reach will come from a quiet place of understanding.
If your ravenous reach was stemming from an emotional state, it has likely softened thanks to your new awareness which means your reach will come from a gentle place of understanding.
7: Acknowledge What You’re Hungry For
Herbs. Ayurveda (Indian Medicine) uses herbs to help curb cravings. Triphala detoxifies the gastrointestinal tract and satisfies five of the six tastes. Take two capsules with hot water before bed. Bitter Melon is a bitter herb that helps control blood sugar, insulin response and detoxifies the liver.
Bitter melon has more potassium, beta-carotene, manganese, zinc, folic acid, vitamins C, B1, B2, and B3 than most other fruits and vegetables.Take 2 capsules daily.
8: Supplement With Herbal Remedies
a. Date Milk Shake
Ingredients
a pinch of cinnamon
4-5 whole dates
1 cup almond milk
Instructions
Put along milk, cinnamon and dates in the automatic blender.
Blend until dates are ground fine.
b. Rice Pudding
Ingredients
1 cup water
½ cup basmati rice
4 cups almond milk
One tsp. chopped dates
Two tsp. cashews or pistachios
Three small pieces green cardamom crushed
One tsp. sugar (or to taste)
Directions
Soak rice in water for 2 hours. Boil almond milk. Add rice and all other ingredients. Boil slowly for 30 minutes or more until the mixture reaches a slightly thick consistency, but you can stir it easily. It will thicken a little more when you let it cool.
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