Making sure that you don’t overdo your caloric intake is simple math, but sticking to the plan is a real challenge. Feelings of hunger are not easy to ignore, but what is the difference between genuine hunger and cravings? Nutritionist Alan Aragon has the answer and shares three ways to win your long-term weight management goals.
If you’ve tracked your caloric intake all day and know that you are on a deficit or hitting your maintenance number, then a pang in your stomach for a slice of pizza at 9.30 p.m. is the last thing you need, but what about your muscle gains? If your body is telling you to consume food then ignoring that feeling will lead to muscle loss, right?
Wrong, says Aragon, who has a Master’s degree in Human Nutrition and is one of the most trusted evidence based fitness experts on the internet. Aragon took to Instagram recently to differentiate hunger versus cravings and explains that cravings are rarely about feeding the muscle but much more often about appeasing the mind.
The Difference Between Food Hunger and Cravings
“Food hunger and cravings are not the same thing,” he shares. “Hunger can influence the intensity of food craving, but food craving is very food specific. So, hunger can be satisfied by eating pretty much any food just filling the stomach. Craving, on the other hand, can typically only be satisfied with certain food or a certain type of food. Whether it’s a sweet type of dessert food or some sort of savory, greasy, crunchy snack.” The take home message here is that hunger can be satisfied with any food including healthy ingredients, while cravings typically involve trying to tempt you to the dark side and eat those stodgy, salty, and energy dense foods.
“So, contrary to popular belief, cravings rarely happen because of some sort of nutritional deficiency,” says Aragon, and this means that giving in to cravings will rarely help your fitness or weight loss goals. But if cravings threaten to derail our health, why do we get them?
“Food cravings are the result of conditioned responses to environment what reinforce the positive emotions and positive psychological state that you associate with a given food,” explains Aragon. “Like watching your favorite television show and what you happen to be mindlessly eating.” Aragon says that cravings likely won’t stop due to self-deprivation however, and that totally abstaining from the snacks that make you feel good could have a rebound effect later down the line. “So that kind of goes against the narrative that we should avoid foods,” he suggests. “Because that will only increase (your) cravings.”
Aragon says that the reason people often regain weight after a period of being lighter is due to losing their ongoing battle with cravings. Okay, so if food cravings are a fact of life, how can we build a better relationship with them?
How To Manage Your Food Cravings
“Instead of thinking how to completely overcome of stamp out cravings, I would rather think of it in terms of how to best manage the reality of food cravings,” concludes Nutritionist Alan Aragon. Here are three sensible steps to manage your cravings for a healthier diet.
Design a diet that satisfies your appetite
“First of all, design your diet so that it is a high satiety diet,” advises Aragon. Aim for meals containing high protein and fiber content as these will make you feel fuller for longer. Aragon says you should be aiming for whole-foods or minimally refined meals as these will have a greater tendency to satisfy your appetite.
Make swaps for success
Aragon encourages you to take a hard look at the foods that you typically crave, and see what you can swap them out with, for example dates are sweet and make for a great substitution for sugary treats. Or perhaps you could stick with the same foods that you crave but search the aisle for lower calorie options instead.
Reduce the snacks, reduce the rebound
As Aragon explains, eliminating your favorite snacks in the short-term could cause you to rebel and rack up the weight in the longer-term. Fortunately, you don’t have to completely avoid the foods that you crave. “It’s not a big deal, just don’t over do it,” says Aragon. “Just don’t have it with a high frequency throughout the week or through the month.”
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