Fight Your Top 5 Food Cravings

Cravings for certain foods can be either because our body is trying to alert us of a deficiency, or because we are addicted to something in the foods we crave. Either way, knowing how to manage food cravings and satisfy them in a healthful way can help you stay on track with your diet and nutrition. These 5 common cravings don't have to knock you off the healthy wagon. Just use this guide to eating alternatives to help you fight your food cravings.

When You crave: Sugar

You Should Eat: Broccoli, Grapes, Grape Juice, whole grains, or turkey.

What your body wants: Chromium and tryptophan, foods that help fight insulin resistance. Foods high in chromium and tryptophan will help you beat back your cravings for sugar.

When You Crave: Salt

You Should Eat: Tomatoes, rye, celery, or kelp.

What your body wants: Electrolytes, and a way to process them. Grabbing chloride-rich foods will help replace your electrolytes without as much sodium as using the salt shakes is likely to give you.

When You Crave: Chocolate

You Should Eat: Black beans, peanuts, spinach, whole wheat bread, small amounts of 72% or higher dark chocolate.

What your body wants: Magnesium. Magnesium helps your body metabolize certain nutrients, such as calcium and protein. It also plays a role in regulating blood sugar and energy production. Giving your body the needed magnesium can help you cut that craving without the candy bar.

When You Crave: Fatty Foods

You Should Eat: Yogurt, milk, 1 once of cheese, kale, salmon

What your body wants: Calcium. Your body uses calcium for more than just building bone, it also uses it for heart and metabolic functions. Kick up your weight loss and smother that fatty food craving with high-calcium foods.

When You Crave:Carbohydrates

You Should Eat: Salad, Brussel sprouts, Garbanzo Beans, or whole grains

What Your Body Wants: Calories and energy. Carb cravings are a common complaint among dieters. Many people cut their calories too far, and starve their body. Check your caloric intake to make sure you are eating enough, then satisfy that need for energy with low-fat, high fiber and high protein foods to keep your craving in check.

Instead of completely denying yourself everything you like, manage your cravings effectively with these food alternatives, and allow yourself treats of your favorite foods once in a while. You are more likely to eat reasonable, healthy amounts of your favorites if you don't deny them to yourself completely.

Resources:

Ask The Dietician: Chromium. Dietician.com

Excerpted from Staying Healthy with Nutrition: The Complete Guide to Diet and Nutritional Medicine. Published by Celestial Arts. Healthy.net

Magnesium Benefits: Magnesium supplements.Algecal.com

The surprising benefits of calcium: you know you need it for strong bones, but calcium protects your health in other important ways, too. Here's what this amazing mineral can do for you. Christopher Ott. Findarticles.com