| A craving does not have to derail your | | | | low calorie, healthy foods, such as: |
| healthy eating meal plan. Cravings can come | | | | |
| from stressful situations or just wanting | | | | - Ritz whole wheat crackers |
| something that you're used to eating. You | | | | |
| know you're not hungry, you just 'need' to | | | | - Fat free chips |
| have that ice cream or that candy bar. | | | | |
| | | | - sugar free jello or pudding |
| Food craving is emotional and there's not a | | | | |
| lot we can do to control a craving once it's | | | | - Meal replacement shake like Slim Fast |
| upon us. We can learn to manage how we | | | | |
| respond to the urges. Success on your healthy | | | | - Low fat ice cream |
| eating meal plan requires that you learn how | | | | |
| to manage sudden cravings. When we are upset | | | | - Non fat / sugar free yogurt |
| many of us go for 'comfort foods'. Those are | | | | |
| the foods that taste good like ice cream, | | | | - Light microwave popcorn |
| potato chips, cake and chocolate. First | | | | |
| recognize that you want to eat, not out of | | | | The above snacks may not be the most |
| hunger but emotions. By coming to grips with | | | | nutritious but they're better than eating a |
| this and realizing that you might be taking | | | | pint of Chunky Monkey (TM) or half of a Sara |
| several steps back in your weight loss | | | | Lee cream pie. There are whole sections in |
| journey, you might just curb the craving | | | | grocery stores now dedicated to 100 calorie |
| right there. | | | | snacks. Most of these are just smaller |
| | | | portions of normal junk food but if you can |
| If that doesn't work well enough, learn how | | | | discipline yourself to only eating one |
| to redirect that craving to something more | | | | serving, they can be a good alternative. |
| constructive. Take a walk, ride a bike, call | | | | |
| a friend or go window shopping. Do something | | | | Part of any healthy eating meal plan is the |
| to take your mind off the stressful situation | | | | flexibility to once in a while give in to |
| and therefore the need to eat. The last thing | | | | those strong urges. Sometimes if you have a |
| you want to do is be sitting at home alone | | | | craving, it cannot be squashed with a |
| stressed out. As you're grocery shopping keep | | | | substitute. If you've been sticking to your |
| in mind that if you don't have the 'comfort | | | | meal plan then you have earned the |
| foods' in the house, you will not eat them. | | | | opportunity to give in to that craving. |
| Don't give yourself unnecessary temptation by | | | | |
| keeping unhealthy foods around to snack on. | | | | An excellent way to guard against emotional |
| Part of your healthy eating meal plan should | | | | eating is to have a good diet plan that |
| be responsible grocery shopping. | | | | allows you plenty of flexibility. With a |
| | | | healthy eating meal plan you should expect to |
| If you still feel the need to snack, try some | | | | lose one to two pounds per week. |