In week six of her series on health and weight, Paula Mee says avoiding foods can make it worse
Most of us know what it's like to have a hankering or a longing for a food we love, and simply must have. Cravings appear to be inherently linked to feelings of deprivation.
For some, it's a growing and overwhelming desire for a particular brand of sausage or soda bread after a long break away from home. Overly restrictive diets often leave us feeling deprived too. Studies suggest that avoiding certain foods altogether often makes them irresistible.
Of course, it's sweet foods like ice-cream or salty foods like bread that we crave most. Needless to say, we don't end up craving porridge or tossed green salads.
Deep down, we think that if we satisfy our craving, that uncomfortable feeling of deprivation will go away. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work that way. To some extent that's because food cravings may be rooted in another underlying need, that has neither been acknowledged nor identified. We're back to emotional eating again.
Cravings may be psychological, physiological, or both. We just don't know yet. There are people who believe that their cravings are linked to an innate need to supply the body with specific nutrients it lacks, but the jury is still out on the true cause of food cravings.
Many experts, however, agree that cravings are indeed linked to brain chemistry and more often than not occur when you don't eat enough or you go too long without eating.
Bear that in mind when you're slimming. The hungrier you are, the more you have a yen for foods that you may not otherwise be craving.
To help prevent cravings, don't meal skip. Snack on low glycaemic index foods between meals, such as fruit, low fat yoghurt or a small handful of nuts.
If you still find yourself in the middle of a craving, you can take one of three approaches. Firstly, you can try to ignore or suppress the craving. Secondly, you can give in and succumb to the craving. And thirdly you can choose to neither suppress nor succumb to the craving. You can just acknowledge the craving, then distract yourself and watch it pass.
It's a bit like a wave. Visualise yourself up to your knees in water, watching a wave start to build out at sea. You can turn your back and try to ignore it but you won't stop that wave coming. It will simply knock you off balance as it catches you unawares.
Alternatively, you can submit to it, throw yourself into it and allow it to carry you off helplessly. Or you can observe the wave approaching, dig your feet firmly into the sand, take a bit of a jolt but remain standing as it passes.
Undoubtedly, it's not a magic bullet but it helps if you find a way to enjoy the foods you like in reasonable amounts as you slim. It's about giving yourself permission to eat what you want but not necessarily as much as you want.
If you're not satisfied with small amounts of your favourite high calorie foods and you know that you'll end up eating the entire packet of biscuits, then abstinence is your best policy.
Eat foods that are rich in natural sugars instead and distract yourself with sugar-free drinks, chewing gum and mints. Brush or gargle with an antiseptic mouthwash right after dinner. Sugary foods don't taste good right after you've gargled. Get absorbed in something and stop thinking about food. Eating sugar can raise your serotonin levels, which can elevate your mood, but taking exercise can have the same positive effect. So walk away.
Paula Mee is a dietitian and co-author of the Health Squad Guide to Health and Fitness. paula@dnc.ie