We all know what it’s like to crave something. That indescribable feeling that seizes your body and convinces you that you will go insane unless you put __________ (fill in the blank) into your body. While over 70% of the population can resonate with this feeling, many don’t understand why they occur or how to best nip them in the bud so they don’t drive your dietary decisions and interfere with your health goals. Cravings stem from a variety of possible causes, ranging from psychological imbalances to physical deprivation. By understanding how cravings are created, you can conquer them once and for all!
Break the Habit: The reality is, that habits are easier to make than break. Many of you were trained from a young age to expect a sweet treat after certain meals. As an adult, changing this “comfort” behavior can be difficult as our synaptic pathways are stubborn. Many people feel obligated to eat something sweet after a meal, when they are not even hungry! Chemically, repeated behavior engrains synaptic pathways that make the action easier and more likely to occur in the future. This type of craving is dangerous because it takes doing something different to kick the habit. Studies show that habits are broken in 30 days or less. Try one of these craving cutting tricks below instead of your usual routine to say goodbye to your cravings for good!
1. Plate it! If you have trouble stopping yourself while having a snack or sweet, plate it and put it away! Decide beforehand how many of a snack you want, and then put it out of reach. Studies reveal that if a snack item is within arm’s reach, you will eat up to 30% more than if it was put away. Break off a square of dark chocolate, take out three dried mango slice and walk away. Snacks can also be small portions of nutritious meals, such as a mini Probiotic and Enzyme Salad. If you have a sweet tooth, be sure to check out more BDS friendly dessert options.
2. Peppermint Essential Oils: Peppermint oil is a natural appetite suppressant, among other things extremely beneficial for the body. It is one of the most highly regarded herbs used to heal. Along with it’s suppressant characteristic, peppermint oil has been found to increase focus and mental alertness by 30%. It is the most powerful straight on the tongue, and can also be enjoyed by putting a few drops in a half glass of water. Feeling like dark peppermint chocolate? Squeeze a drop of peppermint oil on your tongue followed by a bite a dark chocolate for a rich and delicious treat!
3. Lemon… anything! Starting and ending your day off with lemon juice and water is a sure-fire way to gently cleanse and sponge out the colon after a full 8 hours of natural bodily detoxing. Some people like their water bitter, while others like it sweet (by adding stevia). Neither is better than the other, the benefit is in the chemical makeup of the lemons, which is very similar to the juices that you have in your saliva and stomach, called “anionic” molecules.
4.Walk it off… Literally! This is a win-win. Going for a brisk walk will kick your cravings while burning extra calories. Walking once daily will fire up your lymphatic system and massage your intestines ensuring proper digestion. If I’m craving something I go for a walk in the park or down the street, and often I forget what I was craving!
5. Probiotic & Enzyme Salad. Basically raw sauerkraut, I recommend consuming 1/2 cup at dinner of my easy recipe. It is full of probiotics, which help balance the ratio of good-bad bacteria in your intestines, as well as potent enzyems. Having enough good bacteria in your system helps you synthesize nutrients better. This salad is also a huge help for sugar cravings because they help balance yeasts like Candida albicans in the body, which are fed by sugar and contribute to the sugar cravings themselves.
6. ZZZ’s: Lack of sleep reduces the amount of leptin in your body, a hormone that regulates when to stop eating. When leptin is out of balance, the counter hormone, grehlin, sends signals to your body that it is hungry when it is not. Sleeping enough each night (7-9 hours) is vital for reducing your cravings and balancing your body’s hormones.
7. Sweeten up the side dishes: Another option is to dress up your meals with a sweet side dish. Satisfying your taste buds during a meal can prevent cravings post-meal time. Try carrots or my sweet potatoes recipes- Like Ganesha’s Sweet Potatoes or Italian-Style Sweet Potatoes, found in The Beauty Detox Solution.
8. Water, water, water: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, water is a natural appetite suppressant because it prevents dehydration. When the body is imbalanced, it can send false signals of hunger and lead to a strong craving for something savory or sweet. It’s always a good idea to drink some water before attending to a craving. Be sure to drink between meals, and consider doing a water cleanse when feeling your body feels sluggish.
9. Chlorella “Craving-Reducing” Tablets: Chlorella stabilizes blood sugar levels and provides nutrition, effectively allowing you to gain nutritional value while losing the crave for empty calories. You can find these at your local health food store. it is always better to “eat” your way out of cravings (no pun intended) than to add supplements to your diet. These should be a last resort, not the solution!
10. Glowing Green Smoothie (GGS): The best long term strategy to cut cravings is to deliver a high amount of nutrition on an ongoing basis. Having a GGS once daily will provide tons of antioxidants and live enzymes. When your body has the nutrition it needs, you will find that over time, your cravings nearly disappear and will definitely get much, much better.
Taking preventative measures like starting each day with a Glowing Green Smoothie will enrich your body in minerals and vitamins that are invaluable for proper bodily function.
I recently decided that I needed to gain some weight and rather than go about it a healthy way, I just decided to eat everything in sight. I am now fighting (and usually losing the fight) for most cravings…I do not know that cutting meat out of my diet entirely is an option, but I do not usually have time to cook. Any advice? I try to stay hydrated but it seems I can never stop eaating
Hi Sarah, the issue here is not cutting meat out entirely. You don’t have to if you want to keep some in your diet, especially in the short-term. If you were eating unhealthy foods to gain weight, then there is some level of toxicity, mucus buildup and clogging in your system. This can prevent you from optimally absorbing nutrients, even when you start eating healthy foods. You should definitely incorporate the probiotics and Probiotic & Enzyme Salad right away. Candida is also pretty common in women, so read that section of the book and see if it applies to you. An overgrowth of Candida albicans can lead to wild sugar cravings. You might want to consider going on Blossoming Beauty for a while, if it applies to you, to really get things under control for the long-term.
Nutrition-wise, adding the Glowing Green Smoothie is also a great thing for you, because it will cleanse your body with it’s high content of fiber, phytonutrients AND enzymes, and at the same time give you a lot of nutrition and chlorophyll so your body has a lot of balanced nutrition at the beginning of each day. xx
I just became vegan a few months ago and have never felt better! I remember reading your book and the different phases and meal plans. I am now on blossoming beauty and am starting to feel even better! I am struggling with cravings for snacks and the celery and salsa just wasn’t helping. So, I found this and I’m looking forward to trying these tips. Thank you so much for helping me live a healthier life!
Great tips! I’m going to get some peppermint oil and give that a try. Thanks!
Fantastic!
Great information! What brand of chlorella tablets do you recommend? Also which brand of peppermint oil do you recommend? Thank you so much! I love your book and website!!! : )
Thanks Brittany! I like the Kyoto brand of chlorella. For peppermint oil, there are many different brands that are good. Look in your health store for a pure, organic form. xx
Hi Kimberly,
After reading your article I’d love to purchase some peppermint oil but I’m struggling to find a food grade organic peppermint oil – I’ve only found food grade peppermint flavoured oils or organic therapeutic peppermint oil (which specifies that it’s not for consumption). I’m in Australia so perhaps they’re not as easily accessible over here. Could you please let me know of any food-grade organic peppermint oil brands which you could recommend which I’ll then try to purchase online?
Thanks for your assistance.
Anja
I don’t know that much about Chlorella. Is it found naturally in greens?
Check out my whole blog on chlorella!
The only thing that stops my cravings is eating enough food.
Hi Kim 😀
I just finished reading The Beauty Detox and I feel so enlightened!
I’m definitely doing my best to follow proper Beauty Food Pairing! However, I was sooo sad to find out legumes & beans are one of nature’s “oops!” :-‘( I usually eat them daily…
I have a couple of more questions for you 😉
First, I was wondering what you think about making hummus with sprouted chickpeas? I remember you mentioning that unsprouted chickpeas lead to gas and bloat, so would sprouting them eliminate this problem? Also, how would I go about sprouting them?
Also, I’m planning on making Tomato Basil Bread and was wondering if using Shiloh Farms’ Sprouted Spring Wheat Flour is a better alternative than just using whole wheat flour?
Thanks again for being super sweet and answering all my questions <3
That’s wonderful! I would opt for my Chickpea-less hummus recipe featured in The Beauty Detox Solution. You can use the sprouted chickpeas as well if you like, which are better than regular chickpeas. With breads, sprouted breads are always better than whole wheat flour. Xx Kim
Hi Kim,
I tried to get in with the FB chat but my questions got buried. Mind if I ask here?
If we all have different make-ups (e.g. doshas)? A vata-pitta, pitta-kapha person, is the BDS be recommended all types?
About food combining:
Do you soak your grains in an acid?
Some food combining sites say garlic is an irritant and should be avoided, but I’ve always known it as a major health food. What’s your take?
Thanks so much!
I actually went back and answered all these questions later the next day on FB… but quickly, the BDS can be tailored for each dosha, if you want to adhere to it. For instance, I am vata-pitta, so I don’t eat as much garlic b/c I don’t want to flare up my pitta side. If you are kapha dominant, you might want to add more onion/garlic, etc. Irregardless of dosha, our digestive systems function the same, and I recommend eating a plant and green-based diet, giving up dairy, cleansing on a regular basis, etc. which are the main principles of the BDS.
The cleaner someone’s system is, the more garlic can be an irritant. But most people have lots of mucus and toxicity in their system, and garlic helps break it up. Xx
Hi Kimberly,
Am almost finished re-reading your book! I was wondering if you would recommend taking acv as a digestive enzyme? I am also having difficulty finding Mag07. Any other brands I could look for?
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with so many
I’ve actually heard that from a few people, I’m going to try out a couple different brands and let you know. Keep a look out for a new recommendation in upcoming posts. Love, Kimberly
Great post!! Definitely going to try the peppermint oil!
That’s wonderful!
I tried Cholerra tablets once and it made me so sick to my stomach about 20 min later. I also chewed them and gagged because they kind of tasted like dog food :/. I got the whole foods brand so I’m not sure if that was the issue.
Also, can you put chia seeds in the GGS?
Sorry I meant Chlorella not cholerra haha
Oh no! That sounds horrible. What are your feelings on sea vegetables in general? If you gag at them you may not like chlorella. I use a brand called Kyoto which doesn’t taste that bad to me. You could crush them up and mix them in water with your nose closed. 🙂
I put chia seeds in almond milk smoothies. xx
Thank you so much for this post – extremely informative and easy to follow. I will certainly be trying out a few of these tips.
hi Kimberly, i was wondering if you take appointments? if so how would i make one with you? in the los angeles area. also where can i find your recipe for the bread which consist of millet, quinoa, amaranth and coconut oil?
Quick question!! I have cravings at night after working out (cant workout in the am) and would love to have my ggs at night but I know fruits aren’t recommended as a food to have at night! Can I make the ggs without fruit for my nightly cravings?
What if I am not craving anything I am just hungry? For example this morning I woke up hungry so I had a cup of hot water with lemon and I drank my glowing green smoothie at 8 this morning. Now its 11:00 am and I am so hungry. I have a green salad and avocado for lunch but it’s only 11:00 and my next meal won’t be until 6:00. So I have with me celery sticks, a banana, and two pieces of whole wheat bread. How can I best eat this? How can I avoid this in the future? or is this just the way it is until I adjust? (Im only 105 lbs but I want beautiful skin and to eat a way that is true to a yoga lifestyle which a I think this solution does. However, I am hungry. Help.