When most people start on a new diet one of the first obstacles they face is the cravings they get for the unhealthy foods that they are accustomed to eating. This craving can be so strong that it undermines a person’s determination to stick to the diet plan that they have chosen. This is why so many people give up after a short time on a new diet. It just seems “too hard!” But it doesn’t really have to be that difficult. If you were able to minimize or even stop those cravings, handling a new healthy diet would be infinitely easier. So is it really possible to eliminate junk food cravings? Maybe not entirely at first, but there are a few ways you can overcome your junk food habit which will make eating healthy much less of a struggle.
(1) Don’t Buy It
This may sound overly simple, but it can be very difficult to cut junk food out of you life if it’s staring down at you from your kitchen cupboard. When you start your new healthy diet, you will probably still have vestiges of your unhealthy eating habits hidden – or not so hidden! – around your house.
Purging your food stocks will help you a lot because even if you don’t eat the unhealthy things in you kitchen, you may still be thinking of eating them. This craving can be really hard to ignore and if you do manage to stay away from the junk, you will inwardly be mad at the new diet for depriving you of your lovely comfort food.
(2) Get Your Family In On It
The above tip can be pretty hard to follow if you are the only one in your household that is putting a ban on junk. If others around you are enjoying your favorite “noms” you will crave them all the more.
Try to work together as a family and make health a priority for everyone. Not everyone will be thrilled to get on the same diet as you, but at least they will know that they can help you by keeping their junk food consumption to a minimum while you’re around and in time they may even come around and start eating healthier as well.
(3) Break Down Your Goals
Long term goals are important when you start a new diet or fitness program. But it can be tempting to think “Ah, well, I’ll be eating healthy for the next whole year. What’s one bag of crisps going to hurt?” but before you know it, you’re making excuses for yourself more and more often.
It’s much better to make a short goal that you know you can manage. Say, for instance, you decide you will not eat junk food for 3 days. That seems simple right? And when you are done your three days, congratulate yourself on your success and make a new goal. These small successes will keep you motivated much better than one big fat away goal.
(4) Think Before You Snack
Eating healthy regular meals should greatly cut down your body’s need for extra calories between meals. However, you may still find yourself thinking about junk an hour after a meal. So what’s happening? Is your body hungry, or is your brain craving?
Well just think about it. Say you feel like eating an entire tub of cookie dough ice cream, your mouth waters at the thought and your stomach starts grumbling. Now think about eating another perfectly healthy meal. Does your body have the same reaction? Do you feel hungry for the healthy meal or only the unhealthy one?
Pretty simple, right? If you’re really hungry – go eat something healthy! If you’re not and you’re just craving – ignore it!
(5) What Are You REALLY Craving?
While some cravings are just bad eating habits trying their damnedest to hold on to dear life, some cravings can actually be caused by a nutritional deficiency. Cravings for chocolate, for example, may be caused by a lack of magnesium. If your new diet is nutrient rich, you will probably not have this problem, but it is worth considering.
A lot of times there is also an emotional factor. Eating junk food can give you a temporary “high” and give you feelings of well-being. It’s not called ‘comfort food’ for nothing! But once this wears off, you will start to feel the bad effects of unhealthy eating.
One study suggested that the reason for these feeling of happiness and well-being were due to the saturated fat found in junk food. So if you’re craving junk food so you can “feel good” why not substitute some of the healthy sources of saturated fat, like salmon, coconut oil, eggs, dark chocolate and nuts in moderation?
(6) Don’t Worry – It DOES Get Easier!
These tips can help you to stave off junk food cravings and stick to your diet better. Of course, sometimes you may slip up, but don’t let that discourage you. I often make the mistake of feeling that, after I’ve yielded to temptation and eaten something unhealthy, I’ve just done my healthy eating habits in and I might as well forget it. However, this just leads me to more unhealthy eating because I figure, what the heck, right?
It’s better just to forget your slip up, not make a big deal of it, and continue eating healthy meals. Once you see your body and health changing, it will be easier to stick to the plan and achieve your goals. And once you have the new healthy diet in place and you’ve replaced your old bad eating habits with the new good ones, it will be much easier to avoid the junk and you’ll find yourself craving it less and less if you just stick it out a few weeks and give yourself a chance to break the habit.