Newsletter #29 – How To Eliminate Cravings Once and For All: 6 Incredibly Simple Strategies To Having Complete Control Over What You Eat

How To Eliminate The Cravings Once and For All: 6 Incredibly Simple

Strategies To Having Complete Control Over What You Eat

Quote #29

“He that takes medicine and neglects diet wastes the skill of the physician.” – Chinese Proverb

Spotlight On Success

“People are making comments to me every day, I am reaching the point where I am a walking advertisement for you ”
- Corina G.

I would like to congratulate Corina G. for shaving 2.5 inches off her waist, 1.5 inches off her hips, and an inch off her thighs in just 8 weeks.

What makes Corina’s success even more special is that she is in the process of starting a company from the ground up. You know what that means: 10 to 14+ hour days, way too much travel, long meetings, crazy deadlines, etc. She did all of that with a hectic schedule, red wine, AND just 2 hours (or less) per week to invest in an exercise plan.

In Corina’s words, “What makes the plan a success is that it is tailored and customized to my lifestyle to use the limited space, equipment, and time that I do have to do just the right things that will maximize the impact on my progress.”

Recipe #29 – Breakfast Fiesta

One night I was hungry, and I needed a new recipe for newsletter #29. So, I looked in my fridge and found eggs, spinach, avocado, turkey bacon, salsa and an orange, and asked myself, “How can I make something yummy and quick with this stuff?” With my hodgepodge of ingredients I created what I am now calling a “Breakfast Fiesta” because it was vaguely Tex-Mex and it was freakin’ awesome. Click here for the recipe.

How To Eliminate The Cravings Once and For All: 6 Incredibly Simple

Strategies To Having Complete Control Over What You Eat

It’s week 3 and so far you’ve dropped 8 pounds of body fat and you are elated. But all of the sudden something happens: you start thinking about cake, ice cream, and hamburgers and you can’t stop. Before you know it you’re at the store with a gallon of ice cream and a bag of frozen French fires. You’re eating like crap again and you’ve regained the 8 pounds that you lost because you lost the battle of the cravings with your body.

You can use discipline to fight them for a little while, but eventually you will give in and your pants will give out.

The good news is that steely, never-ending discipline is NOT the key to getting rid of your cravings. There are a few simple shifts that you can make in your lifestyle that will virtually eliminate your cravings and put you back in charge of what you eat. Here they are in their order of importance:

#1. Eat On Schedule: Hunger is the father of cravings. The longer your go without eating, and the less regularly you’re eating, the bigger and stronger your cravings will be. You’ve heard it before, but you probably need to hear it again—eat small, frequent meals and snacks.

You only know something when you APPLY it on a regular basis, not when you’ve heard it. The people who have great physiques and are actually eating small frequent meals are the ones saying, “Man, I’m glad he reminded me of that. I can probably do a better job of applying that to my life.”

The people who are always “trying” to get in shape, but still can’t see their toes are the ones who are saying, “But I already know that!” You don’t know until you live it.

Eat moderate portions of healthy food every 2.5 to 3.5 hours. This will eliminate 75% of your cravings all by itself. Its only when you go 4 or more hours between meals that you have the chance to get really hungry and you start to crave the junk.

If you feel a junk food craving coming on, go eat a healthy meal or snack. Ninety-nine percent of the time the craving will go away right then and there.

#2. Rest Up: The less you sleep the hungrier you are, the less your body is able to tell when it’s full, and the more you crave fat and sugar (especially the two combined). Getting enough sleep on a regular basis will go a very long way to putting you back in control of what you put in your mouth.

Obviously there will be times when you can’t get enough sleep, but you can have a little extra caffeine, sneak in a 15-minute power nap here and there, and schedule time to catch up on sleep missed.

#3. Breathe Easy: For most people, stress is a diet killer. The more stressed you are the better those french fries at Five Guys smell and the less ability you’ll have to resist.

Being more relaxed, even with a hectic schedule, is VERY simple—focus on your breathing. Make yourself breathe deeply and slowly from your abdomen. This will cut through the stress like soap through grease.

Breathing deeply is not some new-age, crystal-waving nonsense. It is based on the fundamentals of physiology. Your body has two parts to its autonomic nervous system: fight or flight (stress), and rest and recover (sympathetic and parasympathetic respectively, if you are into trivia).

Deep, diaphragmatic breathing stimulates the rest and recover portion of your autonomic nervous system, and reduces the activity of the stress half. You can literally alter your biochemistry in an instant just by adjusting your breathing. Just put your hand on your belly and take 10 deep and slow breaths—you’ll feel like a million bucks.

#4. Hit The Bottle: Drink more water. Keep a water bottle with you all day long and sip frequently. Many people mistake their thirst for hunger, and being thirsty is stressful and thus stimulates cravings.

Oh, you’ve heard this one before? Like I said before: if you aren’t living it, you don’t know it.

#5. Eat Better Carbs: Simple carbs like bread, pasta, and candy cause wild swings in your blood sugar that ultimately lead to a crash. When your blood sugar is low again you will have insatiable cravings for large quantities of sweets and processed carbs.

Get your carbs from fruits and veggies as often as possible. They are really good for you, make you feel fuller longer, give you more energy, and will keep you plenty regular.

#6. Out Of Sight, Out Of Mouth: If you keep junk around your house, then you will eat it. If you actually have to expend the energy to leave your house to get ice cream, then you will be much less likely to actually do it.

If you live with someone who has a junk food stash, you can ask them to put it in a separate cabinet that you don’t need to open on a regular basis. If you can’t and don’t see it on a regular basis it’s almost as good as it not being there at all.

For the parents reading this, I would like to say that you are the boss of your kids and you are the one with the money. I was an obese child. It sucked! Getting called “blubber thing” and having my boy tits squeezed felt HORRIBLE. In retrospect, I really, really wish that my parents hadn’t given in to my whining and complaining for junk food as much as they did… my life and health would have been a whole lot easier.

Conclusion
These strategies will work if applied consistently. However, if you apply these strategies for a few days, and then just go back to skipping meals/snacks then the cravings will come right back. Make your road to a healthy body easy!