No-one who has had a weight problem will ever forget how difficult it is to lose even a few pounds and keep it off. No matter how motivated you are, the cravings start.

Watching Oprah, I remember hearing Dr. Oz hint that if you can hold out for 10 minutes, the craving will pass. One only assumes he hasn’t got a kitchen or fast-food restaurant anywhere nearbyt.

Food cravings are a common experience but are under-studied. At issue is not a sense of hunger because the craving can happen even when you are full. Cravings demand we eat something quite specific: chocolate, beans, a carrot. It’s as if your body needed something that only that one food can provide.  For some people, it’s not enough to have a taste of the food, they need to dig deep and binge away.

The Source of Cravings

All my life (which has been long) it has been suggested that caving to craving is a lack of self-discipline.

Research suggests that cravings are accompanied with very clear mental images of the desired foods and the more vivid the image, the greater the cravings.  Moreover, while the image is in mind, it seems to take over cognitive function. Studies show that people undergoing a craving actually have trouble completing  various cognitive tasks. In one experiment, volunteers craving chocolate couldn’t remember words and took longer to solve math problems. Cravings become the focus of our attention and disrupt our ability to think clearly!

Fortunately it works both ways because if you can take your mind off the food for a moment and fixate elsewhere, the craving will diminish. So the next time you are craving something that you think is bad for you, try re-tuning your mind by concentrating on a hobby or person that you find attractive.  And get out of the kitchen!