Simple Ways to Fight Food Cravings

 You strive to be on a diet, and you are always hungry, you have snacks on your mind all the time and you can’t hold on until the next meal? Try these few handy tips! It takes 5 days to for it to become a habit and you will be able to handle food cravings.

The Taste of Mint Defeats Hunger

  Several studies have shown that the taste of mint, peppermint, spearmint and eucalyptus temporarily stops food cravings. I tried it and, for now, it works for me.

• Sugar-Free Candy and Chewing Gum

  Many people chew gum all day, mostly because of bad breath. But this is not a good thing for your appetite and food cravings. First of all, without noticing, parts of the gum you are chewing end up in your body and add calories and simple sugars to your diet. Second, sugar-free candy and chewing gum contain the sugar aspartamin, a chemical that swells the stomach, making you feel inflated and, in large amounts, causing gases. And last, when you are chewing gum, you are sending signals the brain that you are eating, the brain sends signals to the stomach and prepares it for food digestion, but because there is no food, you get even stronger food cravings.

  Because of this, you should treat chewing gums like candy, and allow yourself up to 2 gums per day. Use it when you have food cravings, and you can hold on until your next meal. To cure bad breath, try natural options like a slice of lemon, fresh parsley, celery and dill. Frequent rinsing the mouth with water, prevents the creation of bad breath.

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• Toothpaste

Toothpastes often have a refreshing taste of mint or peppermint. When hunger attacks you, wash your teeth or rinse your mouth with a mouth wash. The taste of mint will trick the taste buds that you are not hungry and the cravings will go away. This can last up to one hour, but it helps in keeping you away for bad snacks.

• Fresh Mint

If you are able, chew fresh mint leaves when you feel hungry. Mint flavor is very strong when you chew fresh mint, or any other plant that has a similar flavor. This is a great natural way to fight food cravings, and it works for sure. 

How You Can Stop Food Cravings in 6 Simple Steps

• Mint Tea

Another way to consume mint is, of course, tea. Make yourself a concentrated mint tea, with a strong taste and drink it when you have food cravings. Of course, you can drink it hot and cold, but be careful when you add sweeteners – it can add calories, and adding lemon juice can cover the taste of mint which won’t work against food cravings.

Water

  By now you surely know that you should drink water throughout the day whether you're on a diet or not. Water is a great choice when you want to fight food cravings. It will help you feel full for a while. If you bored with drinking plain water, squeeze a slice of lemon or leave it over night in the fridge with some berries and add a few ice cubes - this will change the taste, and will refresh you.

 Tea

  Tea is always a good choice, at any time, in any situation you are. You can combine different flavors and effects of the herbs and use them according to your needs. As mentioned above, mint tea helps with its taste, but in addition helps with upset stomach. Green tea is good for speeding up the metabolism, which means faster you consume calories to stay awake and will improve brain function. Also green tea helps against bad breath. Lately, in health food stores and pharmacies can be found green tea extract, which is great for fighting food cravings. Explore more about the effects of tea, and combine them. You can drink it continuously without limit, and of course avoid white sugar for sweetening.

  If you cannot endure, and there is still plenty of time until your next meal, choose a healthy snack or something to nibble on.

  • When you have a craving to chew something sweet, instead of candy and caramels, take dried fruits. They are available at all supermarkets, or you can make them yourself and they have a variety of flavors.

  • When you really want to eat chocolate, choose dark chocolate with over 75% cocoa, and eat 25 g. (That's ¼ of the entire board chocolate).

  • When you have to have a bite of something salty instead of chips or fries, take salted almonds, pickles which are high in sodium or popcorn. Be careful with popcorn, put a little salt and a little oil, no butter. Avoid those microwave ready packages, because the bag contains a lot of saturated fat.

  • When you are dying to nibble something crunchy, grab a handful of wholegrain granola, cereal or cereal- bar. Also, you can use the packed seeds found in supermarkets. Most often they contain sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, soy beans and similar grains.

  • When you crave something creamy or whipped cream, take fat- free fruit yogurt.

  • Do your best not to eat before going to bed, but if it's a long night and you got to eat something, take bananas or grapes. You can also have a protein shake with skim milk or water – it will keep up full and won’t upset your stomach during the night.

Try these tips and write us a comment with your experience. If you have another idea, send it in a comment. Also, Click Here! for even more fun ways to defeat cravings. Greetings!