4 Tips To Try if You Always Crave Junk Food

Looking at Pinterest boards and food blogs, it’s easy to believe that everyone eats and prepares delicious healthy food every day. However, this is far from the truth. It’s normal and natural to have frequent cravings for junk food, as high-calorie foods were an important part of survival for most of human history. Still, it can be frustrating to try to switch to a more balanced diet when you’re constantly craving high-calorie processed foods. Here are a few tips to deal with constant junk food cravings.

How Can You Trick Your Brain Out of a Junk Food Craving?

It can be difficult to recognize when a craving is a passing whim and when your body truly needs a snack. Here are a few ways to respond if you find yourself craving junk food when you’re trying to switch to eating mostly whole foods.

1. Try Adding Supplements to Your Diet

Supplements won’t eliminate cravings, but they can add nutrients to your diet when you may not be eating as well as you’d like to. Using vitamin and mineral supplements is a quick and easy way to increase your nutrient intake. Formulated supplements can provide your body with useful nutrients when transitioning into a new diet plan or trying a new approach to food.

2. Rate Your Hunger on a Scale

Getting into the habit of rating your hunger can help you get in touch with your body’s natural signals. If you have a craving, stopping to rate your hunger from 1-10 is a conscious step that can help you decide on a new action to take instead of relying on old habits. A rating of 5 or higher probably means you need a snack or meal, while a lower rating may indicate a passing craving.

3. Find Healthier Snacks You Actually Like

The internet is full of healthy “substitutions” for craveable snacks, but switching potato chips for cucumber slices is not a feasible long-term solution for most people. Instead of stocking up on carrot sticks, explore your options until you find healthy alternatives that you actually want to eat.

Try vinaigrette recipes, hummus recipes or premade dressings until you find one that you look forward to eating with vegetables. If you have a love of soda or sugary drinks, sample fruit teas or sparkling water until you find one you want to drink more than once. Be honest with yourself and only commit to a substitution if it tastes good, or else you’ll struggle to make the switch.

4. Distract Yourself

Boredom snacking is a common behavior that can be harmful if your go-to snacks aren’t the most healthy options. According to a study in Frontiers in Psychology, people with high self-awareness regularly consumed more food if they were given high-boredom tasks to complete throughout the week or lacked an overall sense of meaning in their lives. The study’s authors concluded that food was one way for the conscious self to escape unpleasant situations. They also found that interesting healthy snacks were a good option for boredom eating.

Staving off boredom in the first place is also a strong strategy. Finding a five-minute distraction when cravings hit can tell you if the craving is a passing whim or if you could use a small meal. Here are a few ideas that can help provide novelty in the middle of the day without eating junk food:

• Listen to a little-known song from an artist you enjoy
• Watch a favorite funny video that always makes you laugh
• Go for a walk or do a five-minute exercise routine
• Research a topic you find interesting

Junk food cravings are normal and most everyone has them. No food is inherently unhealthy if it’s consumed in moderation, but unfortunately, the taste and design of many snack foods doesn’t encourage moderate intake. Stopping to examine cravings is a crucial first step, and from there, be honest about what you will and won’t substitute. Many times, a short distraction can help curb a passing craving.