3 Tips on Dealing with Food Cravings

You’ve probably experienced it frequently. Maybe daily. The mid-afternoon urge to go find a snack. The late night craving for something sweet or salty and crunchy.

We talk quite a bit about cravings in Module 2: Why the body gets hungry (the psychological aspects).

One thing we emphasize, endorsed by many that have gone through The Academy, is the intensity of cravings seems to be related to how well you have eaten throughout the day. For example, most of our users report the mid-afternoon urge to visit the vending machine (or break room ) is harder to deal with after a lunch of Chicken Alfredo versus a grilled chicken breast salad.

This makes sense and we discuss why in Module 1: How the body gets hungry.

But if you know this and still eat the Chicken Alfredo, how should you deal with the cravings? In no particular order, here are three tips you can try:

Tip #1: Do something different!

If it’s the middle of the afternoon and you’ve been sitting at your desk since lunch, that’s too long to be sitting. Start doing something else. Follow up on phone calls. Do some filing. Get out of the chair and do something different.

Tip #2: Take a 10 minute walk!

If you ate the Chicken Alfredo for lunch, make it a 20 minute walk! As we discuss at several points in The Academy, walking does an excellent job of temporarily reducing hunger (for a bunch of metabolic reasons). Think you can’t afford a 10 minute walk? Think again. Nothing is so important that it can’t wait 10 minutes.

Tip #3: Drink some water!

You may be thirsty. You may not be thirsty. But get up and get a big glass of water. And drink it.

Sometimes you might have cravings because you are bored. That’s when you try something different. Sometimes you might really be thirsty, so drink some water.

No matter the craving, a good walk around the office building will be helpful.

And please…stop eating Chicken Alfredo for lunch!

Try any of these the next time you feel cravings coming on. Then let us know how they work for you.

PS. We are partial to the 10-minute walk!