Here’s How to Control your Cravings During Festive Season

The most basic step to controlling cravings during the festive season is knowing the difference between hunger and craving, hunger mostly occurs several hours after a meal, hunger is mostly accompanied by headaches, stomach grumbles, and a feeling of fatigue, it mostly goes away after eating a healthy snack, whereas cravings are mostly a desire to eat more food even after having a meal, or the need for food items like chocolates, salty snacks like potato chips, or high calorific value food, it mostly goes away with time or when a new “obsession” starts, and the desire to eat during periods of stress or when dieting. Craving is more likely to do with the mind, whereas the body has more to do with what your body needs.

Cravings are mostly not related to real hunger and are caused by biological and psychological factors, which mostly have to do with a person’s mood, or stress hormones, lack of sleep, or nutrient deficiencies, dehydration, etc, therefore here are some tips to control your cravings this festive season-

• Avoiding caffeine, and alcohol since both of them can cause major dehydration, and that dehydration can be mistaken as a sign of the body’s thirst and signal for hunger, caffeine mostly causes spikes of energy, and when that spike goes down, then to get back to the rush, people tend to rely on a sugary diet or other junk food.
• Recognizing your behavior, bad habits, or temptation, you can always ignore your temptations or distract yourself and try to replace your bad temptations with good habits
• Don’t starve yourself, always eat healthy snacks, and don’t starve for too long, therefore you won’t be tempted by the buffet tables or decide to eat a lot throughout the day
• Learning to incorporate more proteins and fiber into your diet, these types of food help you feel longer for a longer time, you can swap out all the snacks and junk food which mostly consist of fat or carbohydrates with a heavier and better food style, more the fruits and veggies in your holiday meals better control you have on your cravings and hunger
• Cravings are mostly just comfort foods and therefore realizing your behavior and knowing about your cravings can help you replace them with better food options, consuming fruits when craving for a sugary diet can always be helpful
• Replacing your liquid temptations is also important, rather than consuming aerated soft drinks or sweet juices and replacing them with water and herbal tonics, when at a party you can always ask for soda or sparkling water with lemon in it.

There is a lot you can do when you want to keep your calorie count in control during the festive season, therefore let’s try to be more aware.