CRAVINGS! They’re a pain in the arse right? I know the feeling. You’ve got your heart set on some big goals for yourself to loose weight and you have the best intention to give it your absolute all. You’ve psyched yourself up, ready to hit the gym, nail your nutrition habits, and hope to make linear progress, hope that everything runs smoothly for you. You can almost picture how you’ll look and feel once you’ve reached your goals. Out of nowhere comes these cravings. Sometimes they’re mild and you have the willpower not to give in. Sometimes they’re intense as f*** and you feel like you’ve crumbled by giving in. You feel like all your progress has gone down the drain and you think “what’s the point in carrying on?”.
Let me tell you, it doesn’t have to be that way. I’m here to be your coach, your guru, your guide to combating your cravings for good.
Let’s start by talking about what a craving actually is and how it is different to hunger.
A craving is a state of heightened eating motivation that is directed at a specific food. Hunger is a non-specific motivation for calorie containing food.
It’s just our luck that cravings are non conscious, meaning we cannot control when or how we experience them. The good news is that we can learn to control our behavioural response to cravings.
So how exactly to we get cravings?
As with a lot topics in the scientific world there may not be a definitive answer, however lets take an evolutionary perspective from Dr. Stephan Guyenet that gave me a few light bulb moments.
Us humans are like bio-computers. We have an intrinsic motivation for carbohydrates, fat and protein and the ability to learn which foods supply them. When you’re chowing down on meals throughout the day, the food we eat goes through a process of digestion and part of that process means our food eventually ends up in our small intestine. In the small intestine are receptors that respond to sugar, starch, fat, protein, salt; these receptors send signals to the brain about what you’ve just eaten and a response is created.
An area in your brain is activated which produces dopamine. Dopamine is a key neurotransmitter involved in cravings, but it is not the only one.
Over time we’ve got really good at extracting fats, sugar, salts etc. cheaply and combined these to create foods high in fat and sugar (chocolate, cakes, cookies). Exposure to these over time means that new neuro-adaptations are created that activate a reward response. Throughout our whole lives, we become motivated by the sensory stimuli from food. Dopamine spikes happen for all foods but certain foods drive this cycle more than others. We have the ability to tune motivation levels to match the value of an item because the amount of dopamine released is proportional to the concentration of nutrients being detected in the gut.
Which foods trigger cravings the most?
Foods that trigger the most dopamine release should trigger cravings the most. These foods have a high concentration of sugar, starch, fat, protein and salt, especially when combined. For example, chocolate, cake, cookies, pizza burgers, ice cream. These can be compared to foods that aren’t commonly craved such as apples, carrots, bread, beans, rice cakes.
Foods that are commonly craved are generally high fat and savoury (crisps, meat, cheese) or high fat and sweet (cake, chocolate, cookies). The foods we crave less often are low fat and sweet such as dried fruit or low fat and savoury such as vegetables, bread, rice cakes.
Tips for combating cravings for good!
1)Limit cue exposure. You’re going to be less likely to give into your cravings and more likely to control your behaviour if you don’t go down the sweet isle at the shops or if you avoid the junk food in the kitchen.
2) Eat whole, complete meals focusing on simple and unrefined foods. Most cravings are simply dopamine reinforced motivations from foods that have a high concentration and mixture of sugar, starch, salt, fat, protein. By continuing to eat foods like that you’re more likely to create and maintain cravings.
3)Let yourself forget. Cravings can be considered to be “learned” and therefore we can unlearn our response to certain food by eliminating that particular food from our diet. This way we somewhat forget the reward response we get from eating foods such as chocolate, cake, crisps etc.
4)Keep hydrated. Cravings as a result of severe hunger may be mistaken for dehydration.
5)Reintroduce desired food into diet. Yes this point contradicts my third tip, however we must remember there is never a one sized fits all approach to health and fitness. Some people find that gradually reintroducing the desired food(s) into their diet in a controlled manner helps eliminate/reduce their cravings for these foods because of the lack of restriction. This is because food restriction may increase reward sensitivity.
6)Practice mindfulness. What I mean by this, is that when you have a craving, don’t just jump straight into the desired food. Pause for a thought and ask yourself: do I really want to/need to eat this food? Am I actually hungry or is this just a craving that will pass? Is there a way I can get myself away from temptation? Similarly, when you are eating food, just take a few moments to enjoy what you’re eating. Enjoy the taste, texture, smell, the feeling of being fuelled with energy. Take time to actually appreciate what you are eating rather than just mindlessly eating.
7)Get enough sleep. Sleep deprivation starts as soon as you get less than 7 hours sleep. One example of how lack of sleep can affect cravings and hunger is because sleep deprivation changes the timing and release of hormones which control our appetite. When we’re sleep deprived, a hormone called ghrelin is released in larger amounts. This hormone tells your brain that you’re hungry. Our bodies also release a satiety hormone called leptin which tells our brain we are full. During sleep deprivation leptin gets released in smaller amounts. As a result of the changes in leptin and ghrelin, you may find yourself feeling hungrier, and when full your body may not recognise that its time to stop eating.
As always there we must always take an IT DEPENDS approach to our health and fitness questions.
Now you are armed and ready with heaps of information and tips, you now have a full proof tool kit to combat your cravings for good!
Zero Gravity Fitness 