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article archive
Spring Cleaning
Learning Portion Control
Your
Own Kitchen Makeover
Quick! Tips for Cooks On-the-Go
Cravings: Taming the
Beast
Calcium
Arthritis? Don't Eat That
Tomato!
Chinese 5 Element Food Chart
Adrienne Matt
646.236.2796
me@thehealingchef.com
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What Your Cravings Are Telling You
Ever wonder why you crave cookies
but your sister craves pretzels? Maybe your husband loves
spicy, burn-your-tongue chili and you stash hard candy in your
purse. These cravings are a clue to what your body really
needs—nutritionally as well as to comfort you. Here’s a
glimpse of what your cravings might be telling you.
Think about what you crave. Look at your
comfort food. What are the qualities? Mushy? Crunchy? Salty?
Sweet? Spicy? Bubbly? Is it soda pop? Sweet and bubbly.
Buttered popcorn? Salty and fatty. Ice cream? Cold and creamy
(fat). One way to combat cravings is to eat a little bit of
your craving in each meal—so you don’t binge all at
once.
So if you crave sweets, have a little
sweet in every meal. Substitute that baked potato for sweet
potato at lunch and see if you still crave that cookie at 3
p.m. If you crave salt, eat better-quality salts and sodium.
Substitute baked salmon for smoked salmon and see if you still
crave pretzels later in the afternoon.
Eat more fat—but the good
kind
If you notice your cravings are fatty in
nature, get some more fat in your diet. Good sources of fat
include a handful of unsalted, roasted nuts. Walnuts contain
68% fat (as a percentage of total calories). Almonds have 71%
fat and hazelnuts have 62%. Because these fats can be
difficult to digest, eat only a handful at a time.
If available, add some avocado to your
meals. (Avocado has 64% fat.) One of the easiest ways to sneak
good fat into your food is to add a dash of flax seed oil on
your food. Just a drizzle will add 74% essential fatty acids
to your diet—and minimize your "fat food"
cravings.
Sweet tooth? Drink unsweetened cranberry
juice
The tricky part about defining a sweet
tooth is that most of our sweet foods are also fatty.
Experiment. See if by adding better-quality fats into your
diet, those chocolate cravings subside. If hard candy is your
weakness, then sugar is probably your craving.
Look for unsweetened, concentrated
cranberry juice and add a teaspoon to a glass of water. Sip it
throughout the day and watch your sugar cravings wither away.
Vegetarians sometimes develop a sweet
tooth because they decrease animal protein. One option may be
to increase protein in each meal to see of the sweet craving
is less strong.
Root vegetables and sweet vegetables like
carrots, parsnips, beets, winter squash and sweet potatoes can
also curb sugar cravings.
Trade salt for other
spices
When we crave salt, our body is often
telling us it needs potassium, magnesium, calcium or other
trace minerals found in sea salt (not table salt). Real sea
salt is slightly gray or bluish-gray and clumps or cakes. Look
for this in health food stores. You’ll see you need very
little sea salt to flavor food.
Try different spices to flavor your food.
Pepper and cayenne can add punch to popcorn. Eat olives with
pits, so you slow down and take more time to eat your salty
treat. If potato chips are your crutch, try another crunchy
snack—celery. If you add nut butter (almond or cashew is
better than peanut butter), the salt-sweet may decrease your
cravings for saltier foods. Substitute potato chips for rice
crackers with sea salt. You’ll find you eat fewer of them
because they pack a punch of salty flavor.
Limit the amount of canned food you eat.
It often contains high amounts of salt and sodium. The less
often you eat salty food on a daily basis, the less likely you
are to crave salty snacks.
Do a little detective work and
experiment. Figure out the nature of your cravings and see
what works for you. By substituting unhealthy treats for
satisfying, nutritious treats, you can eat better and not
binge. Then you’ll be more likely to stick to a smart eating
plan—and not feel deprived.
Excerpt from Start with One New Scary Vegetable (or Health Advice for the Rest of Us) by Adrienne Matt, HHC
Do you have a health question or concern? Please contact me.
questions@thehealingchef.com
©Copyright 2001-7 Adrienne Matt, HHC. All Rights Reserved. This content may be copied in full, with copyright; contact; creation; and information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Ms. Matt is required.
Disclaimer — Newsletters are based upon the opinions of Adrienne Matt. They are not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and they are not intended as medical advice. They are intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Ms. Matt. She encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.
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