By Vivienne Beard (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: January 15, 2014
Have you ever had images of chocolate and French fries follow you around all day? Food cravings are common to almost all, and overcoming them can feel like an impossible task. Quickly eating something unhealthy may satisfy a craving, but will only harm our bodies in the long term.
While some cravings are actually biological messages our brain sends our body when certain nutrients are needed, research has found that most cravings are caused by our emotions. When our taste buds enjoy the flavours or the texture of a certain food, a pleasurable message is sent to our brain and remembered. The areas of our brains responsible for memory and sensing pleasure are closely related, and will associate the tasty food with feelings of happiness and contentment. As amazing as this process is, it can also cause us to crave the unhealthiest of foods when our emotions are high. If we are feeling sad or stressed, the craving we have that provokes us into eating a chocolate bar or a greasy packet of chips is often our brain’s way of dealing with stress by craving food that previously left us feeling calm and stress-free.
Researchers from the University of California have discovered that the combination of fat and sugar actually has a calming effect on our bodies. Their study found that those who ate a combination of fat and sugar produced fewer stress-related hormones compared to those who did not. This calming effect is one of the reasons those under stress tend to crave foods plentiful in grease and sugar. Carbohydrate-rich foods like bread and pasta have a similar calming affect by boosting our bodies’ levels of the hormone serotonin. Fat, sugar, and carbohydrates may leave us feeling momentarily calm and stress-free, but will only hinder our bodies by contributing to blocked arteries and unhealthy weight gain.
One way to overcome the obstacle of unhealthy food cravings is to eat healthy, nutritious food while doing something we enjoy. We can, in fact, train our brains to like healthy food by enjoying ourselves while we eat nutritious, body-benefitting foods. For example, when going to the movies with your friends, instead of succumbing to the smell of buttery popcorn, slip a healthy and delicious trail mix of almonds, dark chocolate pieces, and cranberries into your bag. Choosing healthy options while doing fun activities will help train our brains to crave these foods instead when a stressful time comes. It may be a challenge, but the more we choose nutritious over harmful foods, the easier and more enjoyable it becomes.
Students’ lives are riddled with emotional trauma. Thankfully, by making small changes in our diets and routines, we can avoid eating harmful foods when feeling stressed by the constant flood of assignments. Try starting your day with 10 deep breaths and gentle stretches while focusing on peaceful, positive thoughts. Yoga has been proven countless times to counteract feelings of stress with relaxation, no fat or sugar involved.
Before your next food craving hits, make the decision to respond differently. Instead of giving in to the craving instantly, try this new method that has been proven very effective in overcoming food urges. If thoughts of treats and juicy burgers haunt you, tell yourself, “I don’t want to eat that now. If I still want it in two hours, then I will have some.” By making this simple decision, we trick our brains into being satisfied, and often, the craving will subside. Not giving into food cravings the moment they come may be a challenge, but ensures that we, and not our emotions, are in control of our everyday health.
Good health isn’t about making radical changes right from the start. Total dietary restrictions have been proven to hinder, rather than help, a healthy life. Instead, healthy living is about making gradual changes over time, replacing processed, sugary food with whole, nutritious food that satisfies our bellies and our taste buds.
