How to manage food cravings

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How to manage food cravings

Canada AM Published Wednesday, August 22, 2007 6:25AM EDT

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Everyone has food cravings from time to time. But if you're trying to lose weight, giving into food cravings can sabotage your efforts. According to a recent study from Tufts University, successful weight loss depends on accepting -- not suppressing -- food cravings and keeping them in check. Our nutritionist, Leslie Beck has some tips on managing food cravings.

Q: How can you tell if you're having a food craving or if you're just hungry?

Food cravings are defined as an intense desire to eat a specific food even when you are not hungry. Most people crave foods that contain carbohydrate plus fat and sometimes protein. Women tend to crave chocolate, ice cream, and cookies while men are more likely to yearn for French fries, burgers, and potato chips. Food cravings are pretty normal too. Studies show that 52 to 97 per cent of people report food cravings, women more often than men.

Q: What causes food cravings?

The exact cause of food cravings in unknown, but there have been a number of theories. While not yet proven, food cravings may arise in an attempt to feed your body a nutrient it lacks. Food cravings may also be a way to increase levels of "feel good" brain chemicals such as serotonin and endorphins. That 4 p.m. craving for sweets may also be your body's response to a low blood sugar and hunger; it's your body's way of telling you it needs fuel. The fact that you crave cookies or candy may have to do with what you're accustomed to eating or what's readily available. Others contend that food cravings are a psychological response to boredom, stress, depression, anxiety. Craving a food becomes a way to soothe away negative emotions.

The deprivation of dieting is also believed to trigger food cravings by prohibiting rich, high calorie foods. Eliminating favourite foods has often been cited as the reason for breaking a diet and overindulging. While some studies suggest dieting increases cravings, others report monotonous diets reduce food cravings.

Q: How do food cravings impact your ability follow a weight loss diet?

This study was a six month study from Tufts University. Participants were 32 overweight but otherwise healthy women, aged 20 to 42, who had been assigned to one of two diets that differed in glycemic load, a measure of how quickly carbohydrates in the diet are converted to blood sugar. Over six months, women completed food craving questionnaires that assessed foods craved, frequency and strength of food cravings, and how often cravings led to eating the desired food.

Cravings didn't go away during dieting. At the beginning of the study and after six months of dieting, more than 90 per cent of women reported cravings. The types of foods craved also did not change after six months of calorie restriction. Chocolate was the most commonly reported "strongest craved" food, followed by salty snacks, ice cream and cookies and cakes.

Interestingly, participants who lost the most weight craved foods that were higher in calories compared to people who shed fewer pounds. Despite craving more calorie-dense foods, successful weight losers reported giving in to food cravings less frequently.

So when it comes to losing weight, it seems it's not how often you crave foods that matters, but instead how you manage them. Monitoring the portion size of craved foods, and controlling how often you succumb to cravings, can help predict long term weight loss.

Q: What are your tips for combating food cravings?

Don't go hungry. Eat every three to four hours - three meals plus snacks - to prevent your blood sugar from dropping too low. Meals should contain carbohydrate, protein and healthy fats. For longer lasting energy, choose snacks that also provide carbohydrate plus protein such as yogurt, fruit and nuts, a soy milk smoothie, carrot sticks and hummus, or an energy bar.

Don't deny yourself. If you're dieting, include your favourite food once per week to prevent feeling deprived. If your food craving is persistent, give in sometimes to prevent your urge becoming more intense.

Distract yourself. Understand that cravings pass. Remove yourself from the situation for 30 minutes to see if the crave subsides. If you decide to indulge, eating will be a conscious rather than impulsive action.

Downsize portions. Aim for moderation rather than abstinence. Try satisfying your food craving with a spoonful or two of ice cream, rather than a whole bowlful. If it's potato chips you crave, portion out a small amount instead of eating right out of the bag.

Choose lower calorie stand-ins. Try frozen yogurt instead of ice cream, air popped popcorn instead of potato chips, hot chocolate instead of a chocolate bar, ginger snaps instead of cookies.