5 Ingenious Tips and Tricks To Avoid Inevitable Junk Food Traps

5 Ingenious Tips and Tricks To AvoidInevitable Junk Food Traps

Cravings. One of the worst enemies most people, especially people on a diet have to battle with on a daily basis. Cravings are hard to deal with because people are hardwired to crave for foods according to their taste and preferences, much more than they have to with normal levels of hunger.

Food manufactures have caught on to this urge so strongly, that they strategically create junk food that often stimulates powerful, physiological reactions that we tend to have a hard time resisting. 

Here’s how you can keep the perfect blend of sugar, salt, fat, other ingredients and aroma of your favourite snacks out of your head! 

#1. Keep your favourite knick-knack out of sight

As study conducted by Cornell University found that office workers are four times more likely to binge in sweets if they ate from see-through containers, as opposed to opaque containers that were placed two meters away from them. 

The conclusion: either move them out of sight or get rid of them completely, which will help keep the thought of them out of your mind or get rid of them completely.

#2. Change your habitual patterns

It takes only a few weeks for your brain to form a habitual pattern that looks forward to everyday. For instance, if 5 p.m. is associated with tea and snacks, maybe it’s time you change your train of thought around that timeframe. 

Firstly, identify this time/s during the day. Next, look to change your routine/agenda around this time with say talking a walk or making carry snacks with you over to indulge in them instead when you are craving. You’ll be surprised how well walking dampens your appetite. 

#3. Keep yourself well hydrated to avoid unnecessary foodcravings

We often tend to confuse our thirst with food cravings. You’ll be surprised to see how often your brain confuses thirst with hunger. People tend to lose their sensation and confuse thirst with hunger as they age.  

Drink a tall glass of water if you get a sudden surge in hunger for a specific food and wait for a few minutes. Don’t be surprised to see that your craving fades away, as your body might just be thirsty is all. 

#4. Plan your meals in advance and avoid skipping your meals

It’s not just about planning your meals the night before, losing weight can come down to doing all your grocery shopping on the weekends and prepping for the week to come. It’s easy to skip packing a healthy lunch, to skip meals or having to resort to eating food from outside, since Monday morning always hits you at a frantic pace. 

Not only does prepping a set menu beforehand eliminate the factor of uncertainty of where your next meal is coming from, it also avoids extreme bouts of hunger, which encourages unhealthy and irregular eating habits. 

 #5. Slow down rate at which you eat

When you eat, avoid letting your mind wander from the food at hand. Eating without being distracted helps your mind distinguish between physical and emotional hunger states the Obesity Reviews journal. This way you’ll know when you’re ‘actually’ full, which will offset cravings for more food than is required. This is one of the best ways listen to your hunger. So, slow down your eating and savour every bite, otherwise your bound to consume more calories than you need at every meal.

Additionally, chewing your food until the point of 'no lumps' in your mouth can burn up to 2,000 calories, according to a study published by the journal Obesity. That’s because chewing food more thoroughly increases the blood flow to the stomach and gut. So taking that extra time ends up burning an additional 2,000 calories every month, state the authors of the study.