"I deserve it! after the day I've had.."
"I’ll eat better tomorrow to make up for it!"
"This isn’t the right time for me to make eating changes."
"A little bit won’t hurt!"
We've all said at least one of these sentences when a craving strikes but how do you overcome cravings when you are trying to eat better and live a healthier lifestyle?
The first thing to understand is how the brain works. If you want to beat a craving then this is the first part of the process. Our brains are wired for instant gratification. We like instant gratification because the brain’s reward system is not wired to respond to future rewards.
Remember that this part of your brain is still working in much the same way it did back in caveman days when survival was the key driver of daily life. In that context, a reward that was far away – whether 10 miles or 10 days – was pretty much useless to you.
For your brain, only instant rewards are truly irresistible.
That means that as soon as you create any distance between yourself and the temptation, you immediately take power away from the brain’s reward centre and give it back to your brain’s self-control system.
In fact, neuroscientists have discovered that as little as a 10-minute delay in eating something makes a huge difference in how your brain values that reward because it turns immediate gratification into a future reward (something your brain values far less).
So try delaying giving into that craving. - Tell yourself that you will have the thing you’re craving, but you’ll have it 10 minutes from now. Set the alarm on your phone or watch, put the food out of sight, or remove yourself from the vicinity of the food, and do something else. You can simply sit and take some deep breaths. You can distract yourself with another task or you can use the time to get curious about what you’re feeling and thinking in this moment that’s making the food so tempting.
Here are 7 powerful questions to help you disarm a craving when it strikes:
- How am I hoping this food will make me feel?
- How am I afraid I’ll feel if I don’t eat this? Can I handle that?
- Would eating this actually be a "treat" for my body?
- How will I feel about myself two hours from now when I’ve made the better choice here?
- Making the healthier choice right now would mean I am…
- Can I remember that I am strong and that, even though this feels hard, I can do hard things?
- Can I love myself enough to make a better choice right now?
Keep these in your journal and journal on them during a craving.
Put the one or two you like best on a Post It note and stick it in your kitchen.