Why do we crave unhealthy foods? A healthy weight loss diet program often becomes a battleground between our desire to lose weight fast and our craving for snacks based on unhealthy foods. We must not be what we eat, but research shows that we do Desire the foods we have become accustomed to, so you could say we yearn what we eat If you have developed a pattern of eating ice cream for pleasure or under stress, it should come as no surprise that under the right conditions, you will develop an ice cream craving. Pavlov’s Dog, by any other name, is still Pavlov’s Dog.
But if we’ve actually trained ourselves to want unhealthy snacks or foods, the opposite can also be true: we can train ourselves to crave healthy snacks and foods. If we can do that, a bland-tasting weight loss supplement could become as desirable as a sweet bun.
I never craved coffee until I started drinking it. The same goes for double chocolate ice cream. The taste of coffee and chocolate must be learned through contact with these foods and their flavors. When people living in the jungle in more primitive cultures have a craving to snack on crawling insects unique to their habitat, we can certainly develop our own desire for a decent healthy snack, healthy fast food, and a variety of healthy meal recipes when preparing food.
So how do we reprogram ourselves to turn sweet cravings 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 make a habit of choosing healthy foods at meals and between meals, we will start wanting those foods instead of the ones that are we have renounced.
There is a lot of joy associated with these treats, and most of us are reluctant to give them up. But if we manage to substitute some simple healthy food and snack recipes, we can train our mental and physical taste buds to crave them, and a new association of pleasure will form around the new healthy choice or recipe.
Recent research has proven this. The results showed that new cravings can be formed to replace old ones, even though the new ones were based on bland, wholesome foods and the original ones were the tried-and-true fat- and sugar-tasting delicacies. The best news? It can only take a week to do it.
In another article, I touched on some healthy snack ideas that we can use to retrain our cravings. (It includes ideas for healthy snacks that apply to kids, too.) For now, I’ll just give a few examples of healthy snack substitutes.
If you don’t want such a jolt to your taste buds right from the start, you can make it a two-step process in some cases. For example, when you get that seemingly uncontrollable craving for chocolate ice cream, drink a coffee mug or glass of chocolate ovaltine and milk instead. Ovaltine is not like the junk chocolate milk mixes that are offered to children. Instead, think of it as a healthy fast-food snack. It’s packed with 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 blend from your local health food store (or the flavor of your choice) and use it in place of Ovomaltine. These protein supplements aren’t what they used to be. In the past they were NOT mixed without a mixer and they tasted pretty bad. No longer. They mix quickly with just a stir or shake, and the flavors are pretty good. Trust me.
Now you’ve turned a fatty and sugary ice cream feast into a healthy fast food choice: a protein supplement! In addition, it is much more filling and satisfying. You won’t be as tempted to eat as if you killed and ate ice cream.
Don’t you think this will work? Well, I can personally vouch for that, and tests done on normal, everyday people like us have proven the same. It actually worked when replacing the usual treats with very mild but healthy food recipes and snack substitutes, and it did it in just a week. People were actually craving the boring-tasting healthy snack instead of their old unhealthy treats.
Try it. You’ll be craving healthy foods and snacks in no time.
Thanks to Paul W. Whitten
