You don’t need to be having the munchies to have cravings. For many of us, just the sight of a hot samosa or fries is enough to get our mouths watering and our willpower caving. Before you know it, you’ve had two samosas, a batch of fries, and chocolate cake for dessert. And you feel terrible about the whole thing.
It doesn’t always have to be that way. There are small ways you can keep yourself from having too many cravings throughout the day. It just takes a bit of planning.
You can’t ignore cravings
First things first, you CANNOT ignore cravings. You may be able to do it for a while but you will cave one day and then feel like a complete loser. So, the best thing to do is acknowledge that cravings exist. Then, look for healthier alternatives.
If you’re craving something sweet post lunch, why not try eating a fruit like a green apple or some grapes? Invest in an airfryer and watch how your fries still taste yummy but with so much less oil. If you’re feeling particularly wary of regular potatoes, switch to sweet potatoes, they have more fibre in them, albeit a negligible difference. Stock up on baked soya chips. Go desi and eat makhana nuts (I personally love the tandoori flavoured ones). Invest in a good bar of dark chocolate (75% cocoa and above).
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Initially, it will feel strange but your tastebuds will eventually get used to the healthier snacks. You’ll feel less guilty about your cravings if you’re not stuffing yourself with junk food.
Focus on the good not the bad
Feeling guilty every time you eat an extra morsel of food is going to be terrible for your mental health. It will also spoil your relationship with food. As we know, no unhealthy relationship turns out well.
Focus on the good stuff you do with your diet instead of focusing on the bad. Basically, work on eating healthier instead of beating yourself up for eating one samosa. You don’t need that kind of negativity. The worse you feel about yourself, the more likely you will crave junk food to make yourself feel better. It’s a vicious circle.
Clean out your kitchen
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We all have a junk food cupboard where we stock all of our guilty pleasures–chips, chocolate, instant noodles… you get the drift. Clear it out. So the next time you have a late night craving, you actually don’t have anything right within reach.
As mentioned in point number one, stock healthier alternatives so you’ll end up eating dark chocolate instead of a truffle cake or baked soya chips instead of fried chips.
These three steps may seem small but they make a world of a difference. Once you acknowledge that cravings will always exist and work towards healthier alternatives, you will realise that all the negativity you have been putting yourself through when it comes to food is not worth it. Eat away!
