Lose Baby Weight and The Healthy Mummy are celebrating their 5th birthday this October and as part of the celebrations we’re sharing loads of helpful information around the number 5.
Information that will help you with your healthy eating plans and exercise routines to ensure the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenges are a real success towards reaching your weight loss goals.
Here are 5 super ways to help stop cravings in their tracks when they come knocking to try and stop you from your healthy eating:
1) Remember How You Feel After Making A Poor Food Choice
Have you ever found that the desire or thought of a certain food is much more appealing than the food itself? For instance you might crave a burger, chips and a shake – you feel as though you really want it badly. Then you eat it, and afterwards you feel quite sick and zapped of energy.
Compare that to how you feel after eating, say, a chicken salad. You feel full, satisfied, and ready to get on with your day.
The key is tapping into these feelings when you have a craving – by remembering how it made you feel afterwards you can tell yourself that it’s not a good idea to go for the burger and to instead make a healthier choice.
2) Plan Ahead To Avoid Getting Hungry & Emotional
If you know that you have a flavour packed wrap or salad in your fridge or bag for lunch, it can be easier to say ‘no’ to yourself when the urge for a greasy pizza strikes.
This step means that you need to be planning your meals and snacks ahead of time, rather than waiting until you are hungry (and let’s face it – that’s when most of us think ‘what can I eat RIGHT NOW?’).
You can also keep some stash meals (single or family sized serves) in the freezer so that you aren’t tempted by a take away when you’ve had one of those days.
There are loads of freezer friendly meals in the Challenge Recipe Hub, look for soups, stews, pasta sauces, curries, patties etc.
Letting yourself get too hungry between meals can also lead to reaching for a sugary or fatty snack (think croissants or cakes) – so the same goes for your snacks too.
Always keep fresh fruit, nuts, yoghurt or other healthy snacks on hand so that you don’t get caught out. Make larger batches of the healthy snacks from the Challenge Recipe Hub such as muffins, bliss balls, slices, trail mixes, popcorn etc, so you always have a healthy snack available when hunger strikes.
3) Avoid The Triggers
If you have certain people or situations that lead to poor food choices, it’s time to make some changes. If you always grab Chinese with a colleague for lunch, or always head to a café for chocolate mud cake with a girlfriend – you need to nip those bad habits in the bud right away.
Make suggestions for healthier options – why not take turns bringing in a healthy lunch for you and your colleague? Or meet your friend for a walk instead of at the café?
It’s important to notice the triggers that lead to the poor choices, and then turning them on their head so that they are no longer an issue
4) Cut Out One Thing At A Time
If you feel as though your unhealthy cravings are too big to tackle all at once, try cutting out one thing at a time.
You could start with soft drink for the first week, then chips, then other favourites – all the while topping up what you do eat with new, tasty options so that you don’t feel as though you are missing out.
So if you really love blueberries, be sure to keep them in the house so that you can ‘indulge’ whenever you feel like it. If you love dip, make your own healthy versions (check out the Challenge Recipe Hub for some great options) so that you can tuck in anytime.
5) Do Your Research
Spend a little bit of time finding out some of the nutritional information about your favourite junk foods. Our Calorie Bible is a great place to start.
When you see in black and white just how much fat, sugar, salt, calories or artificial additives are in these foods it can help to reset your brain to say ‘no thanks.’
Click here to see the breakdown of what’s in ice creams and ice blocks.
Click here to see what’s in those chocolate bars.
Try out these 5 easy ideas to ensure you are prepared next time a craving for an unhealthy good hits.
