Do you find yourself in a constant battle against your hunger cravings? If so, don’t despair there is help! Below are five things you can do to help manage your cravings…..NOW!!

1. Don’t mindlessly eat – If you eat at the same time as watching tv, using your smart phone or being distracted by something other than your food, research shows that it can take almost twice as long for your brain to register being full and hence stop your hunger and food cravings.
2. Never let yourself get too hungry – If you skip meals or don’t eat frequently enough throughout the day, you are just asking for hunger cravings to get to the point of uncontrollable. Add to that, not having healthy food options readily available at that point and disaster is sure to follow!
3. Always have water and nuts on hand – Eating a small handful of nuts together with a glass or two of water is a great way to rid yourself of hunger cravings as they begin to set in. The healthy fats, protein and fiber in the nuts together with the volume of the water will help to not only fill up your stomach but also provide your body with slow-to-digest nutrients that will stop you from getting hungry in a hurry.
4. Avoid hormonal spikes by cutting sugar and processed Carbs – If you eat foods high in sugar and processed carbs, it spikes your hormones to abnormal levels making your cravings FAR stronger and much more frequent.
5. Eat Real Food – Believe it or not, but much of the packaged, processed foods you buy from the shop have actually had food scientists manipulate certain ingredients to make you crave more of their products and hence buy more of it. Real food is balanced by nature to give you what your body needs rather than to trick you (cravings) into eating more empty nutritionally deficient foods.

As with most things in life, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. So be prepared, have nuts and water on hand at all times, don’t skip meals, eat real food and take time out to eat distraction free. Once those cravings set in fully, it’s much harder to deal with them than if you nip them in the bud early on!