Reduce your cravings
Did you ever find yourself willing to give your left arm for that decadent pastry from your favorite hometown bakery? Or think you wouldn’t make it through the night without a piece of chocolate or potato chips? If so, you have likely given into food cravings. A food craving is defined as a frequent, intense, & irresistible desire for a particular food (1). But what causes us to act irrationally at times for these desires?
The hypothalamus is the appetite center in our brains. There are different types of neurons in our acruate nucleus that express chemical signals which either increase or decrease our appetites (2). After we eat food, our gastrointestinal tract transmits sensory information to our central nervous system. This is what controls our physical hunger. However, in our culture where highly palatable foods are ubiquitous, we often eat for a psychological food reward instead of physical hunger. Cravings likely involve a reward-based conditioned response. In other words, we are willing to work to get the desired response (or reward) that food has given us based on past experiences, even if it is ultimately harming us.
There are 2 theories on cravings. One suggests that a craving is due to some sort of nutrient or energy deficit. In reality, this is rarely the case & weight loss studies in overweight shows that consistent caloric restriction actually leads to a decrease in food cravings. (3, 4). Another study showed that a lower carbohydrate diet promoted weight loss over a 4-week time frame & significantly reduced specific & total food cravings, hunger, & increased dietary restraint (5). The second theory suggests that cue-induced cravings are responsible for our cravings. This means that we are conditioned to respond to food related cues in our environment, like sight, smell, taste, or location (like an amusement park, holiday gathering, or baseball game). Food cues can also be stress, hormone fluctuations, & negative influences. For some, just imagining their favorite food can initiate this strong desire to eat a certain food. Men tend to crave savory foods, while women gravitate towards high fat, sweet foods (making chocolate a perfect fix, by the way). The reward centers in our brains keeps us coming back for more.
People often ask how they can “get control” of their cravings as if it would be easy to overcome these reward-based cues. My best advice is to determine which food cravings you are succumbing to that are damaging your health & wallet the most & start there. Cognitive behavioral therapy can be very helpful to reduce cravings using some of these approaches(1):
1. Decide which past experiences led to the undesired eating behavior or craving. For example, you determine that driving by your favorite coffee shop everyday has led you to an expensive daily habit that you would like to break.
2. Intercede to prevent consumption of the food. You decide to drive a different way to work to avoid making a stop for donuts and you start packing your own breakfast sandwich instead.
3. Reduce the food cues in your personal environment. You decide to quit watching TV in the evenings because you eat a quart of ice cream each night and instead you decide to take a nightly walk.
4. Regular meal planning will reduce your vulnerability to cues. You decide to plan your weekly menu of satisfying & nourishing meals which will help control your physical hunger.
Making changes is never easy, but the long-term reward translates to better health & often less financial stress. A Registered Dietitian can help you learn more about better food choices to control physical hunger & cravings. For more information on nutrition counseling visit https://newdirectionspgh.com/nutrition-counseling/.
1. Boswell, R. G., & Kober, H. (2015). Food cue reactivity and craving predict eating and weight gain: a meta-analytic review. Obesity Reviews, 17(2), 159–177. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12354
2. Rebello, C. J., & Greenway, F. L. (2016). Reward-Induced Eating: Therapeutic Approaches to Addressing Food Cravings. Advances in Therapy, 33(11), 1853–1866. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12325-016-0414-6
3. Meule, A. (2020). The Psychology of Food Cravings: the Role of Food Deprivation. Current Nutrition Reports, 9(3), 251–257. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13668-020-00326-0
4. Kahathuduwa, C. N., Binks, M., Martin, C. K., & Dawson, J. A. (2017). Extended calorie restriction suppresses overall and specific food cravings: a systematic review and a meta-analysis. Obesity Reviews, 18(10), 1122–1135. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12566
5. Anguah, K. O.-B., Syed-Abdul, M. M., Hu, Q., Jacome-Sosa, M., Heimowitz, C., Cox, V., & Parks, E. J. (2019). Changes in Food Cravings and Eating Behavior after a Dietary Carbohydrate Restriction Intervention Trial. Nutrients, 12(1), 52. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12010052