Junk Food Cravings

by Sharon
(UK)

Hi Michelle

Thank you for creating your website - it is very useful.

I am transitioning to two meals a day - breakfast in the morning and dinner in the evening. At the moment, I eat some fruit in between. If I eat my second meal too early, I am too hungry to get to sleep, so I decided on breakfast and dinner.

This way of eating is great for my digestion and for preventing junk food cravings during the day (usually triggered by eating lunch). However, I still struggle with wanting dessert after dinner in the evening - I crave chocolate/sugar foods. I would like to lose a few pounds and also feel better in the mornings, but don't know how to stop these cravings.

I am not vegan, so my meals do include eggs (at breakfast) and meat/fish (at dinner). I find that I am too hungry and foggy headed on a vegan diet.

Thanks!
Sharon

Michelle says: Hi Sharon!

I'm glad you like the site and found it useful. :)

Is your craving for sugar something new that came up after you started the 2 meal plan?

It's possible that your body is simply adjusting to having less food over all. If you're used to eating more food in a day, it may be your body's way of tempting you into eating more since sweets are harder to resist.

Food cravings can also be caused by a nutritional deficiency of some sort. Some people crave sweets when they're not getting enough fruits. Others crave them when their protein intake is too low.

But from what you've described, it looks like you're getting enough of both. To be sure, you could try having more fruit at breakfast. And you can also increase your protein intake slightly by adding a few nuts and seeds to your meals to see if it makes any difference in your cravings.

If that makes no difference after a few days, then you may want to consider sitting down with a nutritionist to evaluate your current diet to make sure that it's completely balanced.

In the meanwhile, you could try to satisfy your sweet cravings with healthy alternatives that will feed and nourish your body at the same time. You could try 1 or 2 medjool dates (they're really good), or a small handful of raisins.

If you want something more exciting, you could learn how to make raw desserts that are naturally sweetened. One recipe book I really like is Ani's Raw Food Desserts, but you can also find other great raw dessert recipe books on Amazon.com.

I've always have a sweet tooth and I find that when I eat raw desserts, I'm completely satisfied and don't crave sweet things so often. It's amazing!

Hope that helps!

Michelle