What do you do when your food cravings spiral out of control, and you feel the pressing need to satiate your desire for a slice of moist, chocolate fudge cake, or a juicy beef burger? Most people end up deviating from their diet plan, and regretting it afterwards! With a little bit of will power, and a series of other tips, you can control these cravings and shoo them away the second they surface.

Fending Off the Food Cravings

How to stop food cravings is a true dilemma. These food cravings have an annoying tendency to strike with full force when you’ve vowed to stick to your weight-loss diet plan come rain or shine. It could be something as trivial as a television commercial, a magazine advertisement, or even the person indulging in a slice of cheesy pizza across the street: anything can act as a trigger! Current weight watchers will wholeheartedly agree that these potent cravings are very difficult to fend off. While some manage to weather the storm, others succumb to the temptation and snack on fatty, sugary foods that unravel the weight-loss progress that they have accomplished so far. Cravings can be stimulated by physical needs, or by psychological needs. Both forms of food cravings can be successfully sidestepped by implementing the following tips on how to stop food cravings.

Cravings Control 101-

Protein Power

Including protein-rich foods in every meal will not only control your daily calorie count, but will also control your blood sugar levels and stimulate the production of an appetite suppressant substance known as cholecystokinin (CKK). Both these effects serve to control food cravings, and leave you feeling fuller for longer periods of time. Make it a point to have some protein source at every meal be it fish, eggs, skinless chicken or turkey.

Clock Yourself

Did you know that if your body goes without food for more than five hours, it will stimulate intense food cravings due to a drop in the blood sugar levels? To counter this source of food cravings, you simply need to keep an eye on the clock. Snack on low-fat, healthy foods such as fruits and fresh vegetables so that your blood sugar level does not fluctuate.

Distractions

If you just cannot stop yourself from imagining all the sugary pastries and salty potato chips that you could be snacking on at the moment, find a distraction to deviate your mind from the food cravings. Watch a movie, go window shopping, take a walk, spend time with a friend or use this time to exercise.

Drink Water

What you perceive to be food cravings may actually be your body’s way of signaling that it is dehydrated! Dehydration for some people can translate into a craving for salty foods. The solution for this is quite simple: drink more water! Keep a water bottle with you all day and keep sipping at regular intervals to keep your body hydrated at all times.

 Chew Gum

Who would have guessed that chewing gum could help stave off food cravings! That’s right, so the next time you sense a food craving creeping up on you, pop a sugarless chewing gum (with zero or minimal calories) and chew your cravings away.

Brush Your Teeth

Wondering how to stop food cravings in an eccentric manner? Well, are you eyeing that rich peanut butter and chocolate cupcake placed in front of you? Tempted to dip your hands into that bag of flaming red hot chips? Stop right there! Take a trip to the bathroom, brush your teeth with mint toothpaste (or any other flavor of your choice), swish with a bit of minty mouthwash, floss your teeth and apply a touch of flavored lip balm. With your mouth feeling so fresh and clean, there’s no way that you will want to ruin this fresh feeling with strongly flavored foods.