Tips to eliminate cravings between meals
When you are trying to maintain a good diet or a healthy lifestyle, cravings between meals are usually your worst enemies.
Because they become intense or uncontrollable desires for junk food with high sugar content and bad fats, being stronger than normal hunger.
If you no longer want cravings between meals to be the rock on your healthy path, I invite you to continue reading.
The possible causes of cravings between meals
Types of cravings between meals: selective and non-selective
- Selective cravings: This is having a desire for specific foods, such as a chocolate bar, a hamburger, or a bag of chips of a certain flavor.
- Non-selective hunger: it is the desire to eat anything, it can be the result of real hunger or a sign of thirst.
11 tips to prevent or stop cravings between meals
Cravings for foods that are high in sugar, fat and carbohydrates can derail your efforts to control your weight, but to prevent that from happening, learn to control them with these tips.
Drinking water
Drinking water before meals can reduce binge eating and appetite; It also helps you lose weight.
Thirst is often confused with being hungry or with cravings between meals, if you feel a sudden urge to eat, try drinking plenty of water and wait a few minutes. You may feel that the desire to eat is gone, because you were actually thirsty.
In middle-aged and older people, drinking water before each meal reduces their appetite and brings many health benefits.
Eat more protein
By eating more protein, you reduce your appetite and avoid overeating; It will also help you feel full and satisfied for longer.
According to a study conducted on overweight adolescents, eating a protein-rich breakfast significantly reduced cravings.
Further research determined that increasing protein intake can reduce cravings by up to 60% and reduce the desire to snack at night by 50%.
One way to achieve sufficient protein is to use a sweet protein powder supplement.
At Evolution Advance we have Fit&Slim , a protein created especially for weight loss, which thanks to its ingredients allows you to manage hunger and cravings in the middle of the afternoon.
Its best kept secret is that it contains the fiber glucomannan, which expands in the stomach so that you don't fit as much food. Therefore, you remain satiated for up to 3 hours. You will eat your desserts and smoothies without regrets.
Put away the desire
When you feel a desire to snack after every meal, try to distance yourself from it. For example, you can go for a walk or take a shower to distract your mind.
A change in thinking and environment can help you stop cravings between meals.
Many recommend eating gum when these episodes appear, of course as long as it is without sugar or chemical sweeteners.
Unless you distance yourself from temptation, you will also fall short of eating junk food.
Plan meals
If possible, try to plan your meals for the day or the next week. By knowing what you are going to eat, you eliminate the factor of spontaneity and uncertainty.
This will help you not think about what you are going to eat next, you will give in to fewer temptations , and will probably help you experience fewer cravings between meals.
This article from our blog could help you “ Meal prep: plan your healthy meals for the week (includes downloadable) ” .
Avoid being very hungry
Hunger is one of the main reasons you experience cravings between meals.
A good idea to avoid this is to eat at the corresponding times.
Controlling stress
Stress can induce desire for certain foods and influence eating behaviors , especially in women. Additionally, it raises blood levels of cortisol .
It is proven that women under stress consume significantly more calories and experience more cravings than those who are not stressed.
As a tip, try to minimize stress in your environment by planning ahead and meditating.
Eat adequate meals
Did you know that we should consume at least 10 cups of fruits and vegetables per day?
The absence of key nutrients can be one of the factors that causes you to have cravings between meals. So, if you want to reverse this, eat plates full of colorful vegetables.
And if you feel like a mid-afternoon snack, make sure your options are vegetables, such as carrot sticks, celery, spinach, nuts, etc.
If you find it difficult to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables in your daily diet, Vitality Green's is for you, because it concentrates all the vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients of 42 fruits, vegetables and superfoods in each serving.
Get enough sleep
Your appetite is greatly affected by hormones that fluctuate throughout the day. And lack of sleep interrupts these fluctuations, which can cause appetite disorder and strong cravings.
Studies showed that sleep-deprived people are up to 55% more likely to become obese, compared to people who get enough sleep.
For this reason and many more, getting a good night's sleep can be one of the most powerful ways to prevent between-meal cravings.
Go to the supermarket without hunger
The worst places to go when you are hungry or want to snack are without a doubt supermarkets … Do you know why?
- They give you easy access to virtually any food you can imagine.
- They usually place the least healthy products at eye level, this way you take the first option.
To prevent this from happening again, when you go to the store to buy something, it is best that you have eaten recently.
Practice conscious eating
It is a type of meditation that relates food and eating. This practice teaches you to develop awareness of your eating habits, emotions, hunger, cravings, and physical sensations.
What does it mean to eat consciously? It involves being present while you eat, slowing down, and chewing well. It is also important that you avoid distractions, such as television or telephone.
It is highly recommended because it helps you choose your response, instead of acting thoughtlessly or impulsively.
Plus, it's backed up. A 6-week study of binge eaters found that mindful eating reduced binge eating episodes from 4 to 1.5 per week.
If you are aware of your anxiety about eating something and its triggers on your health, it will be much easier for you to avoid cravings between meals.
If you don't, you will also fall. Don't eat junk food.
Furthermore, if you follow the advice we proposed, the next time they attack you you will be able to control them much better.
If you need help, tell us.