French fries. Ice cream. Bacon. Cheese. Chocolate. What do they have in common? We crave them – now! Find out what’s behind our food urges, and the best ways to tame them. Plus, our experts suggest smarter snacks to satisfy your worst cravings…
You’re having a rotten day. Suddenly, you’re jonesing for a chocolate bar. Or you're watching late-night TV and absolutely need a bowl of rocky road.
What’s up?
About 90% of women have insistent cravings for specific foods, says Susan B. Roberts, Ph.D., professor of nutrition at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Nutrition Center at Tufts University and author of The “I” Diet (Workman Publishing).
Only half of men, on the other hand, have snack attacks. Theirs are usually for hearty meals, while women want grab-and-go treats, according to Hwa Jung Oh, a researcher at the School of Sport and Health Sciences at Exeter University.
When do you give in to your decadent desires? And how can you make better snacking choices? Read on for advice from the experts.
What Causes Cravings?
"Often, it's as simple as the power of suggestion," says Bonnie Taub-Dix, national spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association and author of the forthcoming Read It Before You Eat It (Plume).
"Someone mentions apple strudel, and you think about your grandmother's until you have to buy it. It may not even taste like hers. You're just eating memories."
Many things can perk up the places in your brain that bring on food cravings. Technically, this takes place in the ventral striatum, a midbrain area considered a reward center. Researchers believe low levels of brain chemicals like dopamine and beta-endorphins – which control mental and emotional responses – bring on our need for feel-good foods.
Here are other top triggers:
1. Bad diet. What people really crave is calories, according to Tufts’ studies on dieters, conducted by Roberts.
Too-small meals leave significant nutritional gaps, making you more vulnerable to strong urges to eat. Fad diets or skipping meals "practically sends an invitation to a craving," Taub-Dix says.
2. Daily habits. If you associate doughnuts with morning coffee or hot dogs with baseball games, one can make you crave the other.
3. Negative emotions. Stress, anxiety and anger cause some people to grab a snack the way others might reach for cigarettes, drugs or alcohol, says Exeter’s Oh.
4. Raging hormones. “Many women have cravings when they’re menstruating or going through menopause because of hormonal changes,” Taub-Dix says.
When to Give In
Figuring out what’s behind your food frenzy can help you decide whether you really need to eat or if you can let that feeling pass.
With a true craving, your blood sugar level dips and you feel intense hunger, says Taub-Dix. If that’s the case, eat something.
Emotional cravings are triggered by anger, depression, stress, memories or exposure to a food you like. If you can trace a craving to one of these factors, it probably isn’t the real thing. So skip the snack if you can.
"A lot of people think if they crave something – say, pecan pie – they have to fulfill the craving, and that’s really not the case,” Taub-Dix says.
“Nothing bad is going to happen if you don't that pie."
Ignoring the Urge
How do you keep from making it a la mode?
Remember that you control what you eat. "Don't end up feeling bad about what you're eating. You're in charge," Taub-Dix says.
Here are 4 ways to help you stay strong. (And don’t worry; after this comes ideas for snacks that won’t blow your diet.)
1. Exercise.
Don’t want to trade sugar for sit-ups?
Consider this: A brisk 15-minute walk can zap intense chocolate cravings, according to a study in the journal Appetite by Adrian Taylor, Ph.D., who leads Oh's team at Exeter.
Working out has a mood-regulating effect, Oh says. It makes you feel good, decreases hunger and lowers blood pressure, among other benefits.
To break the habit of eating a rich dessert every night, take a stroll instead.
2. Avoid the sight and smell of tempting foods.
When you’re ready to cave, don't walk through the food court at the mall or past your favorite bakery. If you have to make that trek, breathe through your mouth to avoid aromas.
3. Distract yourself.
Read, play music, meditate or call a friend. Keep yourself busy for 15 minutes. When you're finished, the craving will be too.
Roberts recommends a forehead-tapping exercise developed in Australia: Spread the fingers of one hand over your forehead and tap each finger in turn at intervals of 1 second, watching each one as it taps, for about 1 minute.
Meanwhile, say to yourself, Not today or Hold on. This keeps your brain occupied, diverts short-term memory and lessens the craving.
For the next 15-20 minutes, keep your mouth busy by sipping water, brushing your teeth (which can make you reluctant to eat right away) or chewing sugar-free gum.
4. Keep a food journal.
Note what you crave, and the date and time you want it. Finding hourly and monthly patterns will ward off future urges or help you handle them better.
For example, if you hit the vending machine in the afternoons, eat a more filling lunch, switch up your schedule so you’re busier then or keep healthier snacks (like edamame) nearby.
Know Your Needs
Managing food urges doesn’t mean giving up your favorite foods. The key is how much you eat, and when.
For example, you’ll eat less of a treat if you have it in the middle of lunch or dinner.
“If you’re hungry at the beginning of a meal, it’s hard to control your portion,” Roberts explains. The same is true of the last thing you eat.
Concerned about calories? To keep cravings from wrecking your waistline, figure out what you really want to eat before you start gorging.
"Focus on what you feel like having before you go into the kitchen," Taub-Dix says. Is it crunchy or smooth, sweet or salty, hot or cold? Getting a sense of what will satisfy that craving keeps you from tasting indiscriminately and eating more than you would have.
Roberts also suggests what she calls "valuable" snacks – tasty bites with a satisfying combo of protein and complex carbohydrates. These include almond butter on crackers, low-fat cheese melted on a slice of whole-grain bread, and cereal with milk or yogurt.
"They keep your blood sugar level stable. That makes it less likely you’ll look for something else because they'll keep you more satiated," she says.
Smarter Snacking
The types of food people crave fall into specific categories: sweet, chocolatey, salty, creamy, starchy, crunchy and meaty.
Here are Taub-Dix’s suggestions for healthier substitutions:
Sweet: Trade cookies, cakes or ice cream for something lower in fat and calories. Rich, creamy, low-fat Greek yogurt sweetened with honey, for example, can satisfy an ice cream urge.
Even a handful of fresh or dried fruit quells a sweet tooth.
Chocolate: Yes, chocolate is sweet, but since it’s the flavor we crave most, it deserves its own category.
To control the need for a chocolate fix, buy bite-size candy bars. Allow yourself just one when you really need it.
Or, if your favorite bar comes in little squares, pop a few sections in a plastic bag and carry it in your purse for emergencies.
Sipping low-fat cocoa with skim milk can also tame that craving – and give you a calcium boost at the same time.
Salty: Mix unsalted and lightly salted nuts for a lower-sodium fix.
More of a chips-and-dipper? Crunch on colorful veggies instead – dip them into a mixture of plain Greek yogurt and some onion soup mix (not the whole pouch).
Creamy: Use carrots to scoop up guacamole. You’ll get the creamy texture you're craving with a satisfying crunch – plus, the fat in avocados is good for you.
Or try a kid-size portion of frozen yogurt.
Starchy: A baked sweet potato is Taub-Dix’s favorite. “It's 160 calories, loaded with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, and really satisfying," she says.
Crunchy: Low-fat crackers or popcorn (hold the butter) fit the bill, as does breakfast cereal.
Control calorie intake by measuring 1-cup portions into sealable bags and limiting yourself to one.
Meaty: This urge is usually for protein, not a specific kind of meat or poultry.
An exception to this, Roberts notes, is that people who donate blood often report an intense desire for red meat, though it’s not clear why.
To curb this craving, try chicken or turkey on whole-grain bread.
What’s Your Diet Downfall?
You already know if you're a junk food junkie or a sucker for bread and butter. You know if you've got a sweet tooth or a salty incisor. So what else is there to know about why your diet isn't working? Find out if you're unwittingly sabotaging your weight-loss plan and adding inches to your waistline with this diet quiz.
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