I’ve been reading a fantastic book from Judith Beck called the Beck Diet Solution. In the book she talks a lot about cravings and how you can outsmart them. According to Beck, if you can wait them out, they’ll disappear. And once you know that you can wait them out, you are in the driver seat on the highway to health. I boiled down her tips to come up with the ever-popular top five:
1. Label your feeling as “just a craving” and not an “emergency”. You won’t die if you don’t eat that cookie that’s bigger than your kid’s head. You just won’t.
2. Decide that you are not going to eat anything. No eating. Beck says that just making that decision will relieve you of the tension that builds when we debate whether or not to give in to our craving. She says it’s the not knowing that causes the angst, but that once we tell ourselves no the craving will diminish. So ladies, do not give yourself a choice.
3. Do something but don’t watch TV (even watching biggest loser contestants shed pounds and win extreme makeovers won’t make you not want to eat). Instead, take a shower, call or text a friend, catch up on US Weekly gossip, read a book (if your kids aren’t nagging you) or decide that today is the day you are going to organize all those pictures into an album. Finally. But don’t eat.
4. Drink water, tea, seltzer. You get the point – calorie free drinks. Thirst can mask as hunger.
5. Distance yourself from the food you crave. Either remove the food from your house or you from wherever the food is. If that means you have to run away from home for the night, do it. And if you have a new “nighttime treat”, toss it.
I’m sneaking in a sixth tip here just because I can. If you really really want something but it’s late at night and not the time to eat that huge bowl of granola, tell yourself you can have it tomorrow if you still really want it. Chances are you won’t.
