Cravings are a problem in one's weight loss journey. So, here are some ways how one can prevent and stop these cravings for sugar and unhealthy foods.
1. Meal planning: This eliminates all the unwanted foods from your diet and prevents cravings.
2. Avoid being hungry: Follow a good healthy eating schedule as being too hungry and skipping meals increase cravings.
3. Sleep: Our appetite is affected by our hormones and sleep deprivation leads to poor appetite regulation and increased cravings. So good sleep is very important to prevent cravings.
4. Eating a good proper meal: Lack of nutrients causes cravings, so eating your meals at proper times nourishes your body and prevents extreme hunger. Whole foods, nuts, veggies, fruits and seeds should be included as they prevent cravings.
5. Avoid shopping hungry: Eating before you shop especially at a supermarket can help one reduce the risk of impulsive buying and unwanted cravings.
6. Mindful eating: This builds a relationship between eating and our food as it develops awareness about emotions, hunger, cravings, physical sensations and eating habits. It helps us to find out if we are feeling hungry or craving something. It helps us to choose our response rather than acting impulsively.
7. Fruits: The natural sugar present in fruit comes along with fibre and antioxidants, that are great to build upon your immunity and health. You can add curd to your fruits along with some nuts to make it a great snack option.
8. Dates: They are a great source of fibre, iron and potassium along with being sweet. They provide amazing healthy nutrients along with a sweet taste which helps to fix our sugar cravings.
9. Prunes (dried plums): They are high in fibre and are very nutritious making them a great alternative to candy to satisfy any kind of sugar craving.
10. Fermented foods: Sauerkraut, curd, kimchi, kombucha, idli, dosa all of these foods are sources of good and beneficial bacteria required for your gut health and these good bacteria reduce the no. of disease-causing bacteria and help to prevent sugar cravings.
Cravings are very common, and almost everyone experiences it regularly. They play a major role in our food addiction, binge eating and weight gain. So being aware of our cravings helps us to eat healthily.