Cravings

What does it mean when we have constant cravings for certain foods? There are many answers to that question.
I want to briefly discuss a few places that those cravings come from and any possible ways to address them.
A simple reason for cravings is simply habit. Are we used to having dessert after dinner every night? Is it something you cannot give up? Do you always have a glass of wine with each meal? Think about little habits that have become ingrained. We don't always have to stop them if it will make it hard to stay health focused but rather look at replacing that with some other healthy habit. What if you did have dessert but it was more fruit based and fewer in calories. You could still have your cake and eat it too. Or having smaller portions of what ever it is.
Sometimes a food craving is emotionally based. This is a large discussion area. I would not do it proper justice to just briefly describe it here. There are several great books on emotional eating by Doreen Virtue. You can even read a excerpt on this webstie http://www.innerself.com/Behavior_Modification/Food_Cravings.htm.
Some people have the same food cravings, it is always for one type of food. If you tend to have the one type of food craving ie I can never pass up a soft chocolate chip cookie and I seem to crave it often, don't band yourself from eating them just because you are trying to lose weight. I find that if I allow myself a cookie on the weekend or have it as a reward for losing some weight, I do not break my diet and buy a batch of cookies and eat them in one sitting. Also remember if you do give in to a food craving, try to limit what you eat and get back on the healthy kick. Many dieters prescribe to an all or nothing motto and that is often why they fail. Just go back to the healthy eating the next day.
Also remember to do the work to burn off that cookie or piece of chocolate. There is roughly 50 calories in two Hershey's Kisses milk chocolate and just five minutes on the stair machine will burn that off. Five minutes of work to have two delectable kisses in your mouth... well worth the effort.
Keep up the good work ladies!