What’s the Trick to Stopping Cravings?
Constant thoughts about food—what experts call “food noise”—aren’t a sign of weak willpower, according to leading health professionals. Food cravings can often feel impossible to resist. One moment you’re on track with healthy eating or maybe striving toward losing weight, and the next, all you can think about is potato chips, chocolate or cookies. But experts say understanding why cravings happen is the first step toward managing them. And the good news? We’ve rounded up how to quiet food noise fast using simple strategies that reduce the urge to overeat, from adjusting meal timing to choosing the right foods.
What causes cravings and food noise? Cravings and that ever-present food noise are more than a simple desire to eat. “Our brain has several reward centers,” explains Shelley Balls, MDA, RDN, LDN, a registered dietitian and nutritionist for Consumer Health Digest. “Among their many roles, these regions play a part in decision-making, habits and the association of particular foods with emotions.”
Excerpted from Woman’s World
