Food Cravings
Food Cravings
The Absolute Best Approach
ou just gotta have it--chocolate chocolate-chip ice cream with hot fudge sauce and nuts on top. But you can't. You know you can't. It has fat. It has sugar. Calories galore. But you're on a diet. You know what's good for you. Chocolate chocolate-chip ice cream with hot fudge sauce and nuts is definitely not it. Okay, the nuts have protein, but . . . no, no, no, no, no.
So you go for the carrot sticks, the celery, the low-fat dressing. You skip the butter on your bread. And then you go home and eat two gallons of ice cream.
Sometimes cravings occur when your body lacks nutrients--including vitamins and minerals--during pregnancy, says Helene Leonetti, M.D., an obstetrician/gynecologist in private practice in the northern suburbs of Philadelphia. But the funny thing is, we rarely crave a nice big bowl of steaming butternut squash. More like pumpkin pie. And that's where we can get into trouble.
"Food cravings are the body's natural cravings gone awry," says Dori Winchell, Ph.D., a psychologist in private practice in Encinitas, California.
"That happens because women often won't allow themselves the food they need. Instead, they skip breakfast, eat a tiny salad for lunch and then go home and head for the chips, fries and chocolate bars," says Jan McBarron, M.D., a weight-control specialist and director of Georgia Bariatrics in Columbus, Georgia.
What Women Doctors Do
Pickles Helped Nausea Helene Leonetti, M.D. Among the pregnant women she counsels, few experience the sort of food cravings often associated with pregnancy, says Helene Leonetti, M.D., an obstetrician/gynecologist in private practice in the northern suburbs of Philadelphia. When cravings do hit, she says, they could be caused by a physiological need or, less commonly, simply triggered by suggestion. "If we hear that women crave pickles during pregnancy, then we'll crave pickles," says Dr. Leonetti. And crave them she did when she was pregnant. "When I got pregnant in adulthood, I was nauseated, and the tart-sour taste of pickles made me feel better," she recalls. When her nausea went away, so did her pickle craving. Along with her craving for pickles, Dr. Leonetti developed an aversion to coffee. "While I was pregnant, I couldn't even be in the same room with coffee," she says.
|
TINY TACTICS FOR BIG CRAVINGS If you're in perfect health and satisfied with your weight, cravings may be harmless. But if you suspect that giving in to cravings for food high in fat, sugar or excess calories may be to blame for a recent weight gain or a jump in your cholesterol levels, or that food cravings are jeopardizing other aspects of your health, here's what women doctors suggest.
Suck a sour pickle. "If you are about to pig out, suck a sour pickle to eliminate the craving for sweets," says Maria Simonson, Sc.D., Ph.D., director of the Health, Weight and Stress Clinic at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institution in Baltimore.
Juice it. A really strong craving for sweets can often be stifled by eating a peppermint washed down by a few ounces of fruit juice or a few nibbles of fruit, such as an apple or pear, says Dr. Simonson.
Fool your sweet tooth with spice. "Cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg can satisfy a sweet tooth, since these spices add a sweet flavor without the calories," says Elizabeth Somer, R.D., author of Food and Mood and Nutrition for Women. Add cinnamon, vanilla or nutmeg to yogurt or steamed milk, Somer says.
Grab something absorbing. Instead of reaching for a bag of chips, reach for the op-ed page of the newspaper--or whatever else you might find engaging. "Once you're absorbed in an interesting or playful activity, your craving is likely to fade away," says Susan Olson, Ph.D., a clin ical psychologist in Seattle and co-author of Keeping It Off: Winning at Weight Loss.
Take your minerals. Food cravings are often generated by a lack of the mineral chromium, complicated by bad eating habits--namely, starving yourself during the day and overeating at night. One way to quickly get your nutrient intake back in balance and send cravings packing, says Dr. McBarron, is to go to a health food store, ask for a complete multivitamin-mineral supplement that includes chromium and take one a day. Give in--occasionally. "If you absolutely require potato chips or some other food that you feel guilty about eating, build it into your diet deliberately to decrease the anxiety," says Dr. Olson. If you must have ice cream, plan ahead. Decide just how much and how often you will eat it. Then, when you're ready to fulfill your longing, go out and buy just what you want. Don't set yourself up for cravings by keeping a half-gallon ready at hand in your freezer.
