subject: Lose Weight Fast With These Craving Busting Tips [print this page] My father used to tell me when you crave certain types of food it is because your body needs something in it, and yes I did believe him (especially when I was reaching for that bar of chocolate) but the funny thing is that the more I read about cravings the more Im truly believing what he was telling me.
When we diet we tend to go a matter of days sometimes weeks before any true cravings come about and ten suddenly we are bombarded with them. If were good well have just a little of what we crave but more often than not the little becomes more and then a lot more until were back where we started from in my personal experience (as an experienced dieter and food craver) I have found that the craving I have been left with after a failed diet has been considerably stronger and harder to quench than it was before I went on the diet in the first place.
So how can we combat these cravings? Well we can start by learning what causes them in a sort of concur them before they start kind of way or we can try to deal with them whilst theyre staring us in the face.
So why do we have cravings as such? Food cravings are linked to blood sugar levels which is also surprise, surprise linked to mood swings (so in a nutshell we have the sweet cravings (chocolate, cake, ice cream etc), emotional cravings (when youre feeling lonely, bored, tired, stressed, and can also occur in a social environment, there are also many more of these) and also the hormonal cravings (emotional cravings that happen at certain times in the menstrual cycle and are generally a lot stronger).
All these cravings are linked to our blood sugar levels and this can be one the most important factors of weight loss and maintaining your healthy weight. If you suffer with low blood sugar you will crave sugary snacks and foods. To stabilise this we need to look at your nutritional diet. Sugar (glucose) is taken from food as it is digested and is absorbed into the blood stream. The body takes what it needs for energy and then produces insulin in an attempt to lower the levels of excess glucose, this excess glucose is then turned into glycogen and stored in the liver and muscles for later use. The blood sugar then returns to normal.
So when your blood sugar level gets low your body will automatically turn to your liver and encourage it to change some of its glycogen back into glucose to give us a quick burst of energy. However if the blood sugar stays to low for a period of time (hypoglycaemia) low blood sugar level can occur.
Symptoms of this include; tearful moments, lack of sex drive, irritability, aggressiveness, dizziness, confusion, forgetfulness, headaches, palpitations, anxiety, lack of concentration, insomnia, excess sweating, fatigue, muscle cramps and excessive thirst.
Although when the blood sugar level remains too high (hyperglycaemia) it can be just as harmful to our bodies and extreme cases can turn to diabetes which needs expert medical attention. Obese people are more prone to developing this condition.
Refined foods such as fast foods and over manufactured foods are very quickly digested and will give your sugar levels a quick boast giving you a high, but will often make you feel lower tired and drained very soon afterwards which is when you start craving the foods to give you a high again. This is all very well and it happens to us all but it is not good for our bodies as after a while your body will stop producing the high levels of insulin and will only produce low levels instead leaving a higher amount of sugar in your blood which will be the start of high blood sugar and could end up with diabetes.
So how do we stop this before it gets too serious? Well two of the most widely used refined foods are sugar and white flour, try cutting down on these and upping your consumption of natural whole foods which are unrefined and full of goodness. You could also try and change your eating habits. Instead of eating 3 large meals a day eat 5 smaller ones or graze on healthy snacks and have smaller size meals forget about the no snacking rule between meals as long as the snacks are healthy and nutritious snacking is better for your body and overall health.
Dont skip meals you are more lightly to over eat on the meals that you do have. I skipping meals you are causing your body to go into starvation mode (hording your food energy and turning it into fat) and causing yourself to have major blood sugar highs and lows.
Now all this is very well as a preventative to cravings but what can we do about them when they are staring us in the face? Well for this there are a couple of ways to help yourself walk away from these cravings and any others you find you may have on the way. These two methods that Im going to share with you may seem a bit strange at first, but they work, they have for me and for others too. The first method plays upon the way you see your craved food (be it chocolate, pizza, cake, ice cream or whatever) and the other is a finger tapping routine, they both use pressure points and are therefore totally natural (no pills or potions).
Method 1This exercise uses the mind to swap the association between foods, it may take a few goes but after a while should you fancy your craved food or treat youll be able to dispel the craving quickly and easily. You may find that youll want to do this in a quiet place to begin with. The more you do this the more resistance you will build to your cravings.
Step 1Think of your must have food or treat, the one you really crave. This is the one that we will be working on.
Step 2Close your eyes and think about something that you really dislike, something that really turns your stomach and makes you nauseas.
Step 3Press anywhere on your arm (but somewhere you will remember ie by your wrist or elbow, this is where you will be creating a pressure point or an anchor so you will want to pick a place that is not going to have constant pressure on it with everyday living). Whilst thinking of your nauseating image, keep the pressure on your chosen place. Bring your image closer to you, make it larger and then again let it grow smell the smell that goes with the image and make it stronger, see its texture.
Step 4Open your eyes release the pressure and take a couple of deep breathes. Then repeat steps 1 to 4.
Step 5Open your eyes and give yourself a minute to recover and then think of your craved food or treat.
Step 6Now close your eyes put pressure on your previous chosen point and think of the stomach turning image you had in step 2. Double the size of the picture so you can see every detail and bring the image closer to you, dont forget to add the smell. When the feeling on your stomach is so strong you feel physically sick change the picture to your must have food or treat but keep the pressure on your pressure point. The feeling of the sickness should still be with you whilst thinking of your craved food or treat. Bring the image and the smell closer and make it as large as you can. When you feel you cant stomach the feeling any longer open your eyes.
After doing this method you should be able to press your pressure point whenever you have a craving for this particular food or treat and have the craving disappear of course you may find like I have that you just no longer crave that kind of food or treat but it is very handy to have that stop button just in case.
The second method that Im going to share with you is the finger tapping method. You may wish to do this in a quiet area until you get used to doing it. This feels very strange at first but it does work and you may find that you can tap your cravings away very easily.
Step 1Think of the food or treat which you crave your must have treat and picture it strongly in your mind (this will be the one were working to dispel).
Step 2Using two fingers on one hand, tap a spot at the beginning of the eyebrow, just above the bridge of the nose. Tap this spot 5 times firmly.
Step 3Using the same fingers of the same hand tap 5 times firmly under the same eye about an inch below the bottom of the centre of the bony orbit high on the cheek.
Step 4Tap the collar bone point (to locate this take 2 fingers and run them down the throat to the top of the centre collarbone notch approximately where a man would knot his tie) from here move down on inch and then move to the shoulder one inch. Tap this point 5 times.
Step 5Tap solidly 5 times under the arm about 4 inches below the armpit.
Step 6Find the PR spot located on the outside edge of the hand between wrist and little finger and midway along this edge tap 15 times using 2 fingers of the opposite hand.
Step 7Locate the gamut spot on the back of the hand about an inch below the raised knuckles of the ring finger and the little finger when making a fist. Begin tapping the gamut spot with 2 fingers of the opposite hand about 3 to 5 times a second whilst performing the next 10 steps. Tap 5 or 6 times for each of the next 10 steps it is very important.
Step 8Close your eyes.
Step9Open your eyes and look down to the left.
Step 10Look down to the right.
Step 11Whirl your eyes around in a circle in one direction.
Step 12Whirl your eyes around in the other direction.
Step 13Count out loud from 1 to 5 (it doesnt have to be loud but just not in to yourself).
Step 14Hum a few bars of a tune loud.
Step 15Count aloud from 1 to 5 again.
Step 16Look at the floor.
Step 17 Look at the ceiling.
Step 18To ensure that the improvements youve made are complete, hold your head level and move your eyes down then begin tapping on your gamut point (back of your hand) as you move your eyes upwards.
Both of these techniques are available in a lot more detail in Ali Campbells The Slim Girls Box of Secrets, other references I have used for this article include Natural Alternative to Dieting by Marilyn Glenville.
