How do I control cravings and stop eating to wrong food?
One of the hardest things to control when you are on a diet are food cravings. Because you are already denying yourself some foods you automatically start longing for them. Have you noticed that you always crave the foods you are not allowed to eat. So how do I control cravings for these foods when I am on a diet.
The initial tactic is to avoid contact with the wrong foods and only have good food in the house. I clear the food cupboard and fridge of anything that is going to tempt me into a food binge. This makes it difficult for the family person but the diet will be a team effort anyway so they will understand.
The second thing to do is surround yourself with permitted foods that you can freely snack. For low fat type diets you can use fruit and vegetables to help you. On a low carb diet like Atkins you can have small pieces of sliced ham in the fridge to munch.
The issue will be that you will not your bad cravings for the wrong food. You might be eating a fresh carrot to stop your craving but you mind is thinking about a bar of chocolate. What you have to do is train your mind to crave the good foods instead of the bad ones.
The way to do this is first of all choose your favourite fruit. Take the humble apple. Now I like apples and I eat a lot of them but they are what you would call an ordinary food to eat. What I do is say to myself that It is not just an apple. I picture it as a crunchy fresh apple with a glossy red skin that has a bright sweet tangy flavour. You can almost taste it now. By envisioning your food like this repeatedly you will begin to desire and crave good foods.
To try this with another fruit imagine a mandarin. But look at it this way. This mandarin just falls out of its peel and smells of the juice that it contains. When you bite into it the mandarin juice floods your taste buds with fantastic flavour. If you really cannot stop eating the wrong food you should start training your mind in this way.
