3 things your cravings are trying to tell you & simple tips to stop cravings

Are your crazy cravings making it virtually impossible to avoid cheat foods and ruining your best body results? The 3 things your weird or decadent cravings are trying to tell you plus 3 simple ways to stop cravings.   

As you’ve learned from previous ybff articles on 80/20 eating it’s o.k.to cheat on your healthy foods diet about 20% of the time and still get fit sexy body results (example in our anniversary dinner pic below).  The trouble for most women is when that 20% turns into 40% or even 50% cheat foods which basically cancels out all your super clean eating and hard workouts. 

So what’s the deal when you can’t seem to maintain a modest intake of cheat foods no matter how hard you try? Is it diet saboteurs, your pms diet issues or  female weight gain  triggers.  Is it just lack of will power and motivation? Regardless of reason let’s explore the 3 primary cravings most women experience regularly and 3 simple ways to gain control of your cravings...

stop cravings for sugary sweets

I always know that I am extremely sleep deprived and un-rested when I wake up and am craving a cinnamon donut, cherry cheese danish or a waffle with sugary syrup for breakfast.  This is my body telling me that I need to stop it with the 4 hour sleep nights. In the past I thought it was just old habits from my 150 lb days rearing their ugly head but the truth is if I do eat those foods I almost instantly feel sick to my stomach and my energy level plummet.

Over the years I’ve learned to ask myself why I’m craving that food which leads to me reviewing my past few days and the answer was always the same for me sleep deprivation. Now for you the sugar sweets cravings might mean that you’re over worked or really stressed because different bodies respond differently to the 9 forms of stress. The point is to review your lifestyle habits for a week each time this happens and to start looking for patterns. You will always find them if you pay close attention to every aspect of how you live your daily life.

stop cravings for fatty foods

This cravings has turned out to be a really interesting one for me because I eat plenty of healthy fats in my meals from avocado, nut bars or butters and especially chia in my daily smoothies which you can see on many of my fb and instagram pics. So for me it isn’t a low fat issue but that may be the reason for some women who eat low fat.

Quite often the fatty food cravings for thick juicy burgers or a slice of pepperoni sausage pizza (both fatty calorie dense foods) is a protein or healthy carb deficiency.  If you're skimping on either of those for any reason make sure you're not going crazy cutting back.  Your body needs some healthy carbs and lean protein to get leaner especially when you're training harder.  

stop cravings for crunchy and/or salty foods

When you have craving for something like chips, cheeses, olives, nuts, chocolate covered popcorn or other savory type things high in sodium and possibly with some crunch to them the issue is generally a hydration problem or an mineral imbalance.  I always notice this happens to me when I don't eat enough raw veggies and when I skimp on my electrolyte supplement for several days in a row. 

If you train hard and sweat like crazy (especially if it's hot as heck like it is here in the southwest desert) then you may need to increase hydration and minerals.  There is also a chance you might be over-hydrated and flushing important minerals out of your body.  The key with this is to get an adequate level of both water and minerals to maintain high energy and avoid cravings.

3 simple tips to stop cravings without making your diet a chore

So overall when you are craving decadent foods or just strange things you don't normally eat it's your body is trying to tell you that you may be fatigued beyond normal, have a serious nutrient or mineral deficient or are possibly over or under hydrated.  Some tips that can help:  

1. Try tracking nutrient intake in a journal for a while.  Not calories but just what foods and liquids go into your body.  
2. Research the things you crave to find out why you may be craving them.  This has helped me to understand a lot about my body.  
3. Look for patterns between cravings and what's going on in your life and focus on self care solutions that help not stressful dieting tactics.

Learning to understanding your body is key to eating healthy foods more consistently which is beneficial to your health and helps you get the results you want from your training!