Are cravings sabotaging your weight loss? FB Live video included

Click to watch the video on strategies and tips to end cravings

A MAJOR misconception that I hear all the time is that it is normal for menopausal women to always have cravings and therefore gain weight.

But, that is not true, you actually DON’T have to, there are ways to end cravings for good.

If you’re struggling with cravings that are causing you to gain weight and you think this is something you just have to deal with - you don’t I say this with confidence because I’ve helped countless clients. Continue reading to find out how you can end your cravings.

Cravings for certain foods are nothing unusual nowadays. Everyone now and then has a craving for sweet or salty foods which isn't something bad. Unless cravings become part of your everyday life and could have a negative impact on your health and well being.

Cravings are driven by your brain's need for a "reward" — not your body's need for food. It’s important to realize that a craving is not the same as hunger. If you want to live a healthier lifestyle, then understanding your cravings is an essential part of your success!

Cravings are usually seen as a negative, something we should suppress and should fight against as much as possible – until we give in and binge on junk. But did you know….cravings can actually be positive? (you may be asking so why are we here if its a positive thing).

You see, it's your body’s signal that is telling you it needs something, and it needs something very specific. The key to understanding cravings is important to figure out what is driving your cravings.

Finding out what is the SOURCE of your food cravings is the first step of reducing and eliminating them.

Before I get into some of the underlying reasons that could be driving your cravings, let me share Debra’s story, a client that I worked with last year.

When Debra started working with me, she was 30 lbs overweight and only 5’ 5’, she was struggling with cravings and lack of energy which eventually led to her weight gain.

To stop her weight gain, Debra started eating fat free and low calorie foods like healthy choice frozen meals, low calorie soup, and 100 calorie snack packs for a snack or treat. Even with all of that low calorie diet food, the cravings continued and she wasn’t losing weight. She became dependent on energy drinks and coffee to get through her days.

We know that all calories are not created equally and calories IN does not equal calories OUT - a cookie and a carrots

And calorie restriction will usually cause weight loss, but at a certain point, the weight loss will stop. Your body will require you to eat even fewer calories in order to lose weight.

But as soon as they got off the calorie counting plan they instantly put on all the weight and then some.

When you restrict calories, You go into starvation mode...

Here’s why…

Your body thinks it needs to hold onto every calorie you eat because it isn’t sure when you’re going to feed it again. All of this causes your metabolism to slow down. Which means that every time you eat, your food will be stored as fat… even if you’re eating something super healthy like a salad.

Once we started working together we replaced her “diet foods” with things like delicious stir fry with chicken, bok choy, mushrooms and brown rice cooked with coconut oil… and oatmeal with berries, walnuts, and cacao nibs. She started taking supplements and traded out her snack packs for carrots with almond butter, healthy trail mix, or an acai bowl.

By eating these nutrient dense foods, along with supplementation, her cravings and mindless eating disappeared and she lost 13 lbs in 12 weeks… all while eating food she LOVED.

At the end of her program, Debra wrote this testimonial

“I replaced diet foods with more delicious, nutrient dense foods, and my cravings and mindless eating disappeared… and I lost 13 lbs in 12 weeks!” thank you deon!"

Let’s get on with the reasons,

4 common underlying reasons for cravings include:

If your body is lacking in certain key nutrients such as essential vitamins or minerals (which was Debra’s primary problem).
Sometimes because of bad food choices like fast food or processed foods which aren't nutritious, they cause you to crave more and more to get the nutrition it needs.
Hormonal, when women experience menstruation, pregnancy, or menopause, fluctuating testosterone and estrogen levels may cause unique cravings.
Emotional, a very common reason for cravings, where you are not physically hungry, but emotionally hungry. This can be driven by:

Stress
- Unhappiness
- Depression
- Exhaustion
- Not enough love
- Bad relationship

So what can you do?

Here are a 6 tips to start controlling cravings

Focus on eating a diet consisting of nutrient dense foods such as lean protein (chicken, grass fed beef), healthy fats avocados, walnuts and high quality carbs.
Stay away from artificial sweeteners and refined carbs such as fast foods as they tend to increase cravings.
Incorporate wholesome high quality supplements to provide for missing vitamins and minerals.
Doing a detox or a cleanse is a great way to reset your body, eliminate toxin, balance your hormones and reduce/eliminate cravings
Engage in activities that will help to keep you emotionally balanced (yoga, meditation, good relationships, using essential oils, etc.)
Using certain essential oils (peppermint, lemon,grapefruit, slim and sassy blend (Grapefruit Peel, Lemon Peel, Peppermint Plant, Ginger Root, and Cinnamon Bark essential oils)