Did you know that there are about 93.3 million adults in the United States suffering from obesity? This number equates to about 39.8% of the entire adult population in the country. That’s why obesity-related conditions like heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of preventable death.

If you want to get fit and live longer, you need to follow simple health tips as soon as you can. It’s important to know how to stop food cravings to prevent other unhealthy behaviors.

Yes, it’s difficult but we’ve got a guide to help you through it. Read on and find out more how to control your diet:

1. Play Smartphone Games

For most cravings, they last for about ten minutes. What this means is that whenever unhealthy food cravings arise, you need to distract yourself. Something simple like playing smartphone games can actually do a lot to help curb your cravings.

A study proved that after playing games, their subjects’ cravings dropped by about 20%. A game that can engage you in a visual manner can dominate your mental processes. It’s hard to imagine (therefore crave) something vividly while you’re playing games.

2. Go Outside and Walk

Are you craving for chocolate? If so, a study found out that a brisk, 15-minute walk can help reduce the cravings. This effect can last for at least 10 minutes after you’re done roaming around.

It’s important to curb your craving for chocolates, as it’s the most common for people to want. If you want to know more about the meaning of your chocolate cravings, visit this site. It can help you know if you’re stressed or low on energy.

The walk helps due to the fact that your brain chemicals get altered. Couple that with the visual appeal of the outdoors, your cravings will go away.

3. Think About the Repercussions

In most cases, people tell you to be positive and do what you can to lose weight. But a study proves that considering the negative long-term consequences is the most effective way of reducing cravings. The other types of thinking strategies include suppressing their thoughts, the immediate food reward, and the fact that they don’t need to act on their cravings.

With this type of mindset, you can start eating food less often. What this means is that you need to eat a few cravings to break it in the long run. Always remember not to go cold turkey since it often backfires and you end up eating too much.

4. Drink Water and Eat More Protein

In most cases, you can confuse thirst with hunger or food cravings. If you get sudden urges to eat a specific food, drink a big glass of water. Wait for a few minutes—it often takes that long for the craving to fade away if you’re just thirsty.

Always remember that drinking water has a lot of benefits to your health. It’s especially important if you’re middle-aged or older. Taking a swig of water before your meals can help curb your appetite and make you lose weight faster.

While on the topic of meals, you might want to start eating more protein. This helps a lot in reducing your cravings since the feeling of satisfaction lasts longer. A lot of studies support this, with one concluding that a high-protein breakfast gave significant reductions to cravings to obese teenage girls.

Another study supporting high-protein diets showed that overweight men had a 60% reduction in cravings after increasing their protein intake to 25%. At the same time, their cravings to get a midnight snack got cut in half.

5. Avoid Extreme Hunger – Plan Meals and Stick to a Schedule

Hunger is still the leading cause of cravings. It might get too hectic for you to do a lot of activities at work, but always remember to eat on a regular basis. If that isn’t possible, always make sure to get healthy snacks and put them close by.

Planning your meals for the day or the entire week stops the uncertainty factor. Often, you’ll get more tempted and crave more if you have to think about what to eat later on. It’s especially the case when you experience long periods of hunger.

6. Reduce Stress

Stress often introduces unhealthy food cravings, thus influencing how you eat. This effect is stronger for women, as supported by studies. Stressed females often ate more calories and crave more food compared to their relaxed counterparts.

Also, stress contributes to the raised levels of cortisol in your blood. Cortisol is a hormone that has the means of making you gain weight, especially in the belly area. A good way to prevent stress is to meditate and slow down whenever you can.

7. Get Enough Sleep

Hormones can fluctuate as the day progresses, and it affects your appetite in a lot of ways. That’s why it’s important to sleep early since deprivation can disturb these hormone levels. It can lead to poor regulation of your appetite and strengthen your cravings.

Studies show that people without sleep have 55% more chance of becoming obese. With that, getting a good night’s sleep is one of the most effective ways to stop cravings. In fact, the medical benefits of adequate sleep should motivate you to go to bed earlier.

8. Stop Going to the Supermarket Hungry

A grocery store is the worst place for you to get hungry. After all, it gives you an easy means of getting all the unhealthy foods you can crave for. It’s due to the fact that supermarkets place them at eye levels.

With that in mind, ensure that you eat your meals before you go to the supermarket.

Learn How to Stop Food Cravings Today!

There are a lot of other ways how to stop food cravings. But if you’re not sure where to start, this list can help you get healthier at least. Always stay vigilant and stick with your diet to lose weight and start getting healthier.

Why stop here?We got other health guides for you to check out. Here’s one listing down different reflexology benefits to improve your health!