by Frederic Patenaude
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Every time I ask my readers what's the
most frustrating thing they experience
when trying to eat a very healthy diet,
the number one answer that comes up
is *cravings* for unhealthy foods.
It seems that even though you may know
what's good for you, the “bad”
foods or the foods you're trying to
avoid are still not only tempting, but
sometimes temptation is stronger than
anything. Like the movie said, “Resistance
is futile.”
Now, I know it's been said that the
best way to resist temptation is to
yield to it, but today I'm not going
to suggest that. Instead, I'm going
to give you 5 actions you can take when
you're craving unhealthy foods.
1. Eat More Raw Food
From my experience, the number one reason
why people experience cravings on a
raw food diet is that they haven't learned
to eat enough fruits and vegetables
to be well nourished. They eat a starvation
diet that may be good for short-term
detox, but it's not enough to sustain
them over the long run.
So the one thing you can do whenever
you're craving unhealthy foods is to
eat more raw foods. Make yourself a
big banana/blueberry smoothie and don't
consider eating anything else until
you've finished it.
Then you can learn to gradually increase
the amount of raw foods that you eat,
to the point that you're no longer craving
unhealthy foods.
2. Wait for True Hunger
In my book The Raw Secrets, I explained
the difference between true hunger and
false hunger. In true hunger, you will
be satisfied by simple foods. With false
hunger, you will *crave* complex, spicy,
or salty foods, and might not feel at
all drawn to eat fruits and vegetables.
One thing you can do when you're craving
unhealthy foods is watch how you feel
and identify whether you're experiencing
true hunger or false hunger. (Those
signs are listed in the book The Raw
Secrets).
If it's false hunger, commonly referred
to as “appetite,” then it
won't hurt to simply wait until you
are truly hungry before eating. At that
point, you may find that a green smoothie
or a fruit salad might be the food that
you're really craving.
3. Break Out of the Pattern
Often, cravings arise when there is
a situation that “triggers”
the cravings - some mental or emotional
association that is “anchored”
to the particular foods that you're
craving.
For me, I would always crave all sorts
of foods when I visited my mom. The
emotional triggers associated with the
place where I grew up were strong, and
for many people it's the same.
You can learn to avoid these circumstances
as much as possible, and/or break free
of the emotional patterns or triggers
when the cravings occur.
For example, if a certain situation
triggers a craving for you, then you
have to understand that your brain has
been “conditioned” to react
that way.
One thing you can do is simply break
the pattern by doing something you wouldn't
normally do in that situation.
That can be go out for a run, go take
a walk, jump in a pool, do some jumping
jacks, laugh... anything to break the
pattern!
4. Identify the Emotion
You can also be craving unhealthy foods
when certain emotions arise. The reason
is that we often use foods to “numb”
ourselves whenever we feel emotions
we don't like.
And it's not just lonely or fat people
who have that problem - everybody does,
to some degree. The foods we call “comfort
foods” are in fact “numbing
foods” that prevent us from experiencing
our feelings.
The solution is not to run away from
the emotion, not to “express”
it, but to simply feel it. Accept the
emotion, feel it, and observe what happens
inside of you when you're not running
away from the emotion by using “comfort
foods” to numb it.
You might discover very interesting
things about yourself in the process.
5. Get at the Root of Your Cravings
Ultimately, you want to get at the root
of your cravings. If the cravings are
of a nutritional nature, you want to
learn how to eat a healthy raw-based
diet that fulfills your nutritional
needs. I recommend as a minimum that
you invest some time in learning the
basics of this diet by referring to
the following resources:
o Raw
Health Starter Kit
o Making
Friends With Your Food
But there are also complex chains of
emotions attached to our relationship
with food, and if you've been raised
in a Western culture, chances are that
you use food for many reasons, not just
for nourishment.
In order to eradicate cravings completely,
you need to change your *relationship*
with food, so that you can do away with
cravings and feel confident in facing
the inevitable social obstacles that
present themselves when applying a raw
diet in a predominantly “cooked”
society.
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