How to Get Rid of Those Food Cravings for Good

For a solid semester of high school I craved Taco Bell quesadillas every. single. day. True story- ask my mom, I texted her about it every day in class. We all have food cravings and I want to help you move past them. In Intuitive Eating, authors Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resche discuss the cycle created from a “taboo” or off-limits food and the “diet mentality.” I've created the created the cycle in my own words to talk you through it, as I do my clients.

Name an "Off-Limits" Food

To explain this cycle, I am going to use a donut as my example. At this stage of the cycle, you name donuts as a “bad food.” You support that with reasons why donuts are bad. This could be: donuts have too much sugar, donuts are processed, donuts have too much fat, donuts have too many calories, donuts are a junk food, donuts are a dessert and I need to eat less dessert, etc.

Restriction & Deprivation

Here, you decide “donuts are bad because ______, so I am not going to eat donuts, ever.” You restrict donuts and do not eat them, regardless of your cravings. This creates a sense of deprivation and increases your focus on the donuts and on the fact that you can’t have the donuts. For instance, if someone offered you a donut you might say something similar to, “No I don’t eat/like donuts,” but then you are probably thinking about how everyone else is having a donut and you can’t. This will likely increase your cravings. The more we tell ourselves “No, you can’t have ________,” the more our thoughts and attention will go to the restricted food. That’s human nature- the more you tell yourself you can’t have something, the more enticing it becomes.

“What the [Heck]” Effect

This is my favorite part to talk about- the “what the [heck]” effect. You haven’t allowed yourself to have donuts for x amount of time, regardless of your cravings, and you go to a party or a get together and there are donuts. Everyone else is having them, they smell warm and delicious, they’re calling your name. And then you say, “what the heck, I’m going to have a donut. This “no donut” rule is so stupid, I don’t care anymore, this is my cheat day," etc, etc. So, you have a donut.

Over Indulgence

And then because you haven’t allowed yourself to have a donut in x amount of time, despite your cravings, now you are really really really enjoying the donuts and want more which leads to over indulgence or over eating.

False Sense of More Control

After an over indulgence, you feel guilty. You think things like, “I shouldn’t have eaten that,” “why did I eat that,” “I ate way too much,” etc. You likely feel uncomfortably full and possibly even uncomfortable in your body. These thoughts and feelings lead to the need to become stricter and more “in control” so that this over indulgence does not happen again. This way of thinking provides a false sense of control over our cravings and we’re back to step one with labeling donuts as a bad food that needs to be controlled.

This is a cycle, meaning you can start in any place and one step will inevitably lead to the next. The goal is to break the cycle before step 1, so that means letting go off “off-limits” foods and food rules. When we allow ourselves to honor our cravings, aka have the donut when a craving arises, we take the power away from the food. So in high school, I finally went to Taco Bell and got a quesadilla. After that, the cravings subsided and I was good to go. That doesn’t mean I’ve haven't wanted a quesadilla since, but I was satisfied after having it and didn’t text my mom the next day reminding her of how much I wanted a quesadilla. This cycle can be applied to any and all foods that you’ve labeled as “bad” or “taboo.” Breaking food rules, challenging the food police, and stopping this cycle can be hard but so freeing. If this is something that you feel called to explore further, I encourage you to work with a dietitian who can help you in your individual journey to finding food freedom.