Why do we crave unhealthy foods? A healthy weight loss diet program often becomes a battleground between our desire to lose weight quickly and cravings for snacks based on unhealthy food choices. Maybe not be what we eat, but research indicates that longed for the foods that we have become accustomed to eating, so it could be said that ask what we eat. If you’ve created a pattern of eating ice cream for pleasure or when under stress, it should come as no surprise that you crave ice cream under the right conditions. Pavlov’s Dog, by any other name, is still Pavlov’s Dog.
But if we have indeed trained ourselves to want unhealthy snacks or foods, the reverse may also be true: We can train ourselves to want healthy snacks and foods. If we can do this, a mild-tasting weight loss supplement could become as desirable as a sweet roll.
I never crave coffee until I started drinking it. The same goes for double chocolate chip ice cream. A taste for coffee and chocolate must be learned through exposure to these foods and their flavors. If people living in more primitive jungle cultures can have a craving to nibble on creepy bugs unique to their habitat, surely we can develop our own desire for a decent healthy snack, healthy fast food, and healthy food recipe options. when preparing meals.
So how do we reprogram ourselves to turn a craving for sweets into something on the healthy food list? To quote a line from a movie, “Build it and they will come.” In this case, if we create the habit of choosing healthy foods at mealtimes and snacks, we will begin to crave those foods instead of the ones we have left out.
There is a lot of pleasure associated with these snacking experiences, and most of us are reluctant to give them up. But if we can get ourselves to substitute some simple healthy food and snack recipes, we can train our mental and physical taste buds to want them, and a new pleasure association will form around the new healthy food choice or recipe.
Recent investigations have originated this. The results showed that new cravings can form to replace the old ones, even though the new ones are based on bland, healthy foods, and the original ones were the tried-and-true fat-and-sugar savory treats. The best news? It may only require a week to do so.
I’ve covered some healthy snack ideas to retrain our cravings in another article. (Contains healthy snack ideas that also apply to children.) For now, I’ll give just a few examples of healthy snack substitutions.
If you don’t want such a jolt to your taste buds from the start, you can make it a two-step process in some cases. For example, when you feel the seemingly uncontrollable urge for chocolate ice cream, have a cup of coffee or a glass of Ovaltine Chocolate and milk. Ovaltine is not like the junk chocolate milk mixes thrown at kids. Think of it like a healthy fast food snack. It contains vitamins and minerals, and if you use a tablespoon or two instead of the recommended four, not too much sugar.
Step Two: Buy a good chocolate-flavored whey protein mix from your local health food supplier (or flavor of your choice) and use that instead of Ovaltine. These protein supplements are no longer what they used to be. Back in the day they were NOT blended without a blender and they tasted pretty bad. It’s not like that. They mix up quickly just by stirring or shaking, and the flavors are pretty good. Trust me.
Now you’ve turned a sugar and fat ice cream binge into a healthy fast food option: a protein supplement! Plus, it’s so much more filling and satisfying. You won’t be tempted to eat anything as quickly as you would if you had succumbed and eaten ice cream.
Don’t you think this will work? Well, I can attest to that personally, and tests done on regular people like us have shown the same. In fact, it worked when very bland but healthy food recipes and snack substitutes were used instead of the usual treats, and in just one week. Actually, people were craving for the bland tasting healthy snacks instead of their old unhealthy treats.
Go ahead and try it. You’ll be craving healthy foods and snacks in no time.