And with the mind, it's mostly a matter of perception. Identify habitual perceptions and you'll have the key to success. Once identified, you can start nixing the ones that drive you away from your goals.
1. Remind yourself the food will always be there. Whatever you want to eat - the stores will always have it. You can eat it later. You have the rest of your life to eat it if you so wish, and you're just making the choice not to eat it now.
2. Drink plenty of water.
3. Keep low calorie, high nutrient foods in abundance. This is typically your fruits and veggies. This is probably the biggest saving grace for some of my clients who battle cravings. Before they cave in, I have them load up on cold veggies and some fruit. This typically blunts the craving and hunger without the large caloric hit.
4. Avoid not eating for hours on end. The hungrier you get, the more likely you are to binge.
5. I think a lot of people don't always find themselves eating in response to an out of control craving. They do so in the evenings or on weekends, out of boredom. Being aware of why you are craving really helps. If you know it's boredom, then you know you can beat it, and know how to beat it.
6. Obviously calories are important. My personal opinion is that you generally want to eat as much cals as possible while still losing or maintaining your weight, depending on which your goal is.
7. What comprises said calories is very important too... for instance protein. Higher protein intakes help blunt hunger... it's the most satiating macronutrient. There are other important reasons to eat adequate protein... such as muscle maintenance while dieting... but the hunger blunting effects are huge when it comes to cravings.
8. Eat adequate fiber.
9. Don't be too rigid. Rigidity in a diet can really screw with your mind. The more rules you set up for yourself, the harder it will be to adhere and the more you'll want to cheat. In my forum there are a number of stickies in the nutrition forum regarding setting up nutrition plans... I suggest you read them.
I could probably ramble on and on but these are the primary tools I use with clients.
Are there particular foods that set you off? If so, get them out of the house. Or if they're going to be in the house, pre-eat or pre-fill your belly with the low calorie veggies and fruits and maybe some lean protein too. I bet the craving will be drastically reduced.
i wish all you guys could be there
