subject: Managing your food implorings: the game of suppression and indulgence [print this page] Almost everybody gets food cravings here and there. Science has proven this is a typical phenomenon and is not really something to be embarrassed of. What seems much less clear is what to do when you get one. Some people simply give in more often than not, while others feel guilty and not allow themselves the pleasure of greedily eating what ever non grata piece of cuisine they happened to desire. Which strategy is right? Should you choose fit in to the quite unexclusive club of cravers, what might you do the very next time you catch your self drifting toward the refrigerator?
As it usually is with severe and opposing views, the simple truth is somewhere in between. To begin with, the current understanding amongst dieticians is that a total suppression of cravings leads in fact to an elevated food consumption soon after. You construct a dam around your own cravings and at certain stage it can't hold any longer, which then leaves you at mercy of your desires. In scientific terms, the suppression of these types of feelings leads to their following hyperaccessiblity. This implies that trying to entirely disregard your food urges basically reinforces all of them, something that is called "the ironic cognitive process". This particular reinforcement is soon after transferred to the actual food intake, or "rebound eating". Therefore, contrary to what some women mags might be telling you diet-wise, giving in on occasion is fine, provided that this behaviour is retained in check. Will still be essential to not overindulge, but rather to manage your natural urges in a way that creates a healthy balance.
In brief, we can place the food craving coping mechanisms within a couple of specific strategy groups. The first group comprises "control-based" coping techniques. These techniques imply a cognitive control of unhealthy food behaviour, not only through suppressing the cravings, but furthermore by a variety of other tricks, such as not keeping undesirable foods both at home and work, removing your food triggers from sight and so on.
The 2nd group of coping strategies is called "acceptance based". Different to the former type, acceptance-based methods do not specifically aim to decrease the number of cravings or ease the sensation of shame caused by the actual food cravings. Instead, the idea is to stimulate the readiness to accept the experience that cannot be controlled, concurrently implementing behaviour which is advantageous with regards to ideal goals. Simpler put, one accepts his or her current state of mind, including nutritional dispositions; having established this as a strong starting point, one starts regularly working towards envisioned goals and values.
Apart from controlling your food cravings through a much more self-aware as well as calculated approach to food types high in fat and sugar, there are more strategies that may be necessary sometimes.
Positive thinking
When the Dalai Lama advises to refrain from negative thoughts and to cultivate and enhance positive states of mind, it is sometimes complicated to immediately link that advice to the wold of dieting. However, the leap might not be that great after all. Investigation shows that food urges are seriously mediated by our emotions, even on the level of neurological pathways in the brain. Specifically, it has been established that negative emotions such as anger, loneliness, boredom and depression cause increased food intake. While the exact mechanisms at work are not entirely clear, it has been suggested that happiness hormones released with the food consumption provides a short-term coping technique with the actual negative emotional state. Combined with the addictive nature of the food cravings, this is often quite problematic regarding overweight and individual health in general.
Luckily, there's a workaround, and the psychologists have been pointing it out all along. If negative emotions are a cause of bad dietary conduct, it is then possible to lower the effects of their particular mediation by working with them directly. Numerous techniques are available, ranging from breathing exercises, yoga exercises and meditation to more conventional psychological methods, such as cognitive therapy. Research shows that a mindful and savouring strategy to consuming helps control unhealthy dietary behaviours and results in weight decrease. In addition, good emotions might initiate other positive modifications in individual dispositions and behavior, thus resulting in an upward spiral of beneficial change, including dietary aspects, as another study claims.
Concluding this article you should add, that food cravings are the consequence of a complicated interplay between several aspects on both both mental and physical levels. This suggests that strategies of working with them should take this Janus-like character in consideration. The essential information is to maintain things in stability and have a positive frame-of-mind on your self and your life.
Managing your food implorings: the game of suppression and indulgence
