Three Ways To Control Your Food Cravings

When it comes to dieting, cravings can often be almost unbearable. You may have spent the entire day dining on celery and grilled chicken, but if you come home and eat 200g of chocolate, all of that earlier effort would’ve been in vain.

That’s why here at Bodychef we’ve put together a few tips to help combat food cravings from the moment they first strike.

Get a good night’s sleep

Everybody knows that not getting enough sleep can leave you feeling tired, groggy, and miserable. And if that wasn’t bad enough, loss of sleep can also result in a bigger appetite and less will power when it comes to battling cravings.

A recent US study, for instance, found that just two nights of four hours’ sleep or less could reduce the hormone leptin (which is used to signal when you’re full up) by 18% and could also boost levels of ghrelin (the hormone which triggers an appetite) by up to 30%. As a result, cravings for starchy foods, such as biscuits and crisps, could jump by a whopping 45%. With this in mind, then, try to ensure you get enough sleep each night to minimise cravings.

Think back to your last meal

Surprisingly, one effective way of reducing your appetite and eating less could be to focus on your most recent meal. This was the conclusion reached by a UK study, which asked women to write down a detailed description of what they’d eaten earlier that day. It found that those who did this were far less likely to snack during the afternoon than those who didn’t.

Researchers have speculated that this is all down to the hippocampus—the part of the brain responsible for memories and decision-making—which is activated when recalling your last meal, thus giving you more control over your appetite.

So next time you’re feeling peckish, try to visualise your most recent meal. Doing so may make that bag of crisps far easier to resist.

Try meditation

Although not commonly associated with maintaining a healthy diet, research has shown that meditation can, in fact, boost production of serotonin which, in turn, can help to control cravings.

Get some balance back into your life by choosing a Bodychef Home Delivery diet.