How to Fight Food Cravings and Win!

By Jamin Thompson

I am constantly asked by people how I keep my food cravings under control and stay disciplined all of the time and not eat junk food. Don't you get cravings they ask? Of course I do! Right away I give these people a few of my ideas, but as I thought about it a little bit more, I realized that this would be the perfect thing to write about in my HARDBODY EZINE!

Food cravings are a very serious issue, and are one of the main reasons people fall off of the path with their diet. It is time I address this issue and explain how I combat my food cravings and teach you how you can apply some of these techniques to your dieting as well to help you lose belly fat fast and get ripped 6 pack abs.

CRAVINGS vs WILLPOWER

Because I am a very competitive person, I try to trick my mind into believing that bad foods are the enemy and that I cannot allow them to beat me by me eating them. Some may call it crazy, but others may call it discipline. Whatever you choose to call it, I believe that anyone can increase their will power at any time if they have a strong enough reason to do so.

Once I sat down to think about this issue a bit further, I wanted to know if willpower was more of a psychological issue or more of a mind over matter issue. Do I have some great info tucked away into my thick skull that subconsciously gives me more willpower than a normal person? I don't think so!

I am sure that all of us have heard various experts say that if your body craves something then that must mean your body needs it. Once I heard this I was jumping for joy, just relishing in the fact that my body desperately needed chocolate chip cookies and pizza in order to survive! However, I quickly dismissed this idea, because as a kid I always thought that the smell of Ajax Cleaner was awesome and my body was telling me to give it a taste. Thankfully I never did! But you see my point here.

Sometimes your body craves things that are not good for you! The only rational assumption I could make was that some people just want it more than other people. They have a goal and they will do whatever it takes to accomplish that goal. They will themselves to victory and empower themselves to overcome any craving. They look for solutions instead of making excuses. Step one is making yourself believe that you can overcome food cravings and deciding to be strong in your decision.

If you consistently overcome food cravings, one by one, day by day, over time you will kick the habit of being tempted, and win the battle over food cravings! If you truly believe that you can beat these cravings then you are ready to move on and can put the following tips to the test!

THINGS TO PUT INTO PRACTICE

1. Take a multivitamin

Oftentimes, food cravings can be our body's way telling us that we have certain nutrient deficiencies. The simplest way to begin correcting this problem is to take a regular multivitamin and mineral supplement. You do not need a super dose, or mega multi pack of anything. Just a regular old multivitamin from the grocery store will do just fine. My favorite is One-A-Day Men's and they also have a One-A-Day for Women as well.

You will be surprised at how well your body will respond when you give it the adequate amount of vitamins that it is missing! As sad as it sounds, it is nearly impossible to get all of our nutrients from foods these days. Even our vegetables and fruits are exposed to harmful chemicals, which are believed to decrease the nutrients in these foods. When you give the human body the right amount of nutrients, our systems will behave as they should, and the mind will be less likely to trigger a food craving attack.

2. Eat Healthy Fats

In order to maintain proper health our body must have healthy fats! I know that most big diet companies these days stress low fat diets and such, but trust me, without healthy fats in your diet not only do you increase your risk for heart disease and other terrible illnesses, but your body will not even burn fat as well as it should! Yes you heard me correctly! Fat burns fat. It is not impossible to find good fats, and here are some of my all-time favorites:

-Flaxseed Oil

-Fish Oil

-Primrose Oil

-Olive Oil

-Canola Oil

-Sesame Oil

-Various raw nuts

The best product that I personally recommend is the UDOs 3-6-9 Oil

You can check that fantastic product out here: http://udoerasmus.com/products/oil_blend_en.htm 

3. Avoid processed foods and refined salt

Processed Foods

In many of the foods we eat, there are such things called neurotoxic additives, which are added into the ingredients to create drug-like addictions to these types of foods. For example, have you ever eaten a sugary breakfast cereal and wanted to eat the whole box even though you were full and not even really hungry? Or perhaps you ate chips or another snack and couldnt stop eating?

In order to stay healthy we must try to eat as many whole, natural foods as we can. My rule is, if man made it, there is a 99% chance it is bad for me! Not only can processed foods cause deadly disease, but they are a deal-breaker when it comes to losing weight, building some muscle, and beating annoying food cravings!

My advice is to reduce your consumption of processed foods, which are usually laden with deadly trans fats and hydrogenated oils, and eat fresh foods as much as you can.

Refined Salt

The average American consumes over 4,000 milligrams of salt daily, which results in over 200,000 American deaths annually. The American Heart Association (AHA) generally recommends that we intake about 1,500 milligrams or less of salt per day. I personally recommend no more than 1,000 milligrams of salt intake daily.

Not only can salt cause heart disease, hypertension, high blood pressure, and strokes, but it also causes water retention, which bloats most people by 10-20 pounds! Try limiting your salt to 1,000 milligrams daily and see if you drop a few pounds or more.

Salt is hidden in most of the foods that we eat these days so it is very important to read all labels and be extra careful when dining out. For example, some menu items at the macaroni grill have over 10,000 milligrams of salt in just that one meal! That is almost 10 times the daily recommended intake level! Add in a few more meals that day and you may find yourself eating 15,000 or more milligrams of salt. Be careful!

4. Limit Alcohol, Bad Carbs, and Sugar

Eating foods that are high in sugar can trigger a negative insulin response in our bodies. Now you might be saying hey I don't have diabetes why do I have to worry about my insulin? The fact is, when your body has a negative insulin response it causes you to have unstable blood sugar levels, which can cause strong, addictive cravings for alcohol and sweets.

It is also a very good idea to avoid sugar, alcohol, and bad carbs because these three things get deposited very quickly into your adipose tissue, which makes you fatter very fast! I discuss insulin and your metabolic response in The 6 Pack Secret Program Manual more in depth.

Hopefully you can apply some of these easy tips to combat your food cravings and I hope that they work for you. Check out more of my best fat-loss strategies to help you uncover those hidden abdominals of yours, laid out into actual programs for you to follow in The 6 Pack Secret Program for Losing Belly Fat. You will also learn the fundamentals of fat loss, which are responsible for 90% of your results.

 

As always, best wishes for a healthy body, and good luck with your fat burning!

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About the Author

Jamin Thompson is an internationally recognized fat loss expert, fitness model, motivational speaker, and sports performance expert. He is the author of the best selling fitness and diet e-book, The 6 Pack Secret: Fat Burning Secrets of The World’s Top Fitness Models which has helped thousands of men and women from all over the world build muscle, lose fat, and remain healthy for life without the use of supplements, fancy machines, or long boring cardio workouts. Learn how to increase your metabolism and get rid of stubborn fat by visiting: www.the6packsecret.com