subject: Taking care of your food cravings: the game of suppression and indulgence [print this page] Nearly everybody gets food cravings on occasion. Science has proven it is a typical phenomenon and is not really something to be embarrassed of. Exactly what seems much less clear is what to do when you get one. Some people simply give in most likely, although others feel guilty and deny themselves the satisfaction of greedily eating whatever non grata piece of cuisine they happened to desire. Which strategy is right? Should you fit in to the quite unexclusive membership of cravers, what can you do next time you catch yourself moving towards the refrigerator?
As it usually is with extreme and opposing views, in reality somewhere in between. First of all, the current understanding between dieticians is that a complete suppression of cravings leads in fact to an elevated food ingestion later on. You build a dam around your own urges and at certain stage it can not hold any longer, which usually then leaves you at mercy of your desires. In scientific terms, the suppression of these types of ideas leads to their following hyperaccessiblity. This indicates that trying to entirely ignore your food urges basically reinforces them, a thing that is actually termed "the ironic cognitive process". This kind of reinforcement is later on shifted to the actual food intake, or "rebound eating". Consequently, contrary to just what several women mags might be telling you diet-wise, giving in on occasion is fine, providing this particular behaviour is retained in check. It is still important to not overindulge, but instead to handle your normal desires in a fashion that creates a healthy balance.
In short, we can place the food craving problem management systems within two unique strategy groups. The first group comprises "control-based" coping techniques. These techniques suggest a cognitive control of unhealthy food behaviour, not just through suppressing the cravings, but also by a variety of additional methods, such as not keeping undesirable foods at home or work, getting rid of your food triggers from sight and so forth.
The 2nd group of coping strategies is called "acceptance based". Unlike the former type, acceptance-based strategies do not specifically aim to decrease the amount of cravings or ease the feeling of shame triggered by the food cravings. Instead, the concept is to stimulate the actual readiness to accept the experience that cannot be controlled, at the same time implementing behaviour that is beneficial regarding desired goals. Simpler put, one accepts her or his current frame of mind, which includes dietary dispositions; having established this as a solid departure point, one starts consistently working in the direction of envisioned goals and values.
Apart from controlling your food cravings through a much more self-aware and calculated approach to food kinds high in fat and sugar, there are other strategies that may be necessary sometimes.
Positive thinking
When the Dalai Lama advises to stay away from damaging thoughts and to develop and enhance good states of mind, it is sometimes complicated to instantly link that advice to the wold of dieting. However, the leap is probably not that great after all. Investigation shows that food yearnings are heavily mediated by our emotions, even on the level of neurological pathways in the brain. Specifically, it's 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 intake provides a short-term coping strategy with the actual negative emotional state. Coupled with the addicting nature of the food cravings, this is often quite problematic with regards to overweight and individual health in general.
Fortunately, there's a workaround, and the psychologists have been pointing it out all along. If negative emotions are a trigger of harmful dietary conduct, it is then possible to reduce the results of their mediation by operating with them directly. Numerous techniques are available, ranging from breathing exercises, yoga exercise and meditation to more conventional psychological methods, such as cognitive therapy. Research shows that a conscious and savouring strategy to eating helps handle bad dietary behaviours and results in weight decrease. In addition, good emotions might initiate other positive changes in personal dispositions and habits, thus resulting in an upward spiral of helpful change, including dietary aspects, as another study claims.
Concluding this article we should add, that foods cravings are the effect of a complex interplay between several aspects on both physical and mental levels. This implies that strategies of working with them should take this Janus-like nature in consideration. The essential message is to maintain things in stability and have a positive frame-of-mind on yourself and your life.
Taking care of your food cravings: the game of suppression and indulgence
