Satisfy your Cravings

Satisfy Your Cravings—and Lose Weight

Find out how you can enjoy “forbidden” foods and still drop pounds

More from Woman's day

• Packaged Foods That Won’t Break Your Diet
• Diet Advice That's Making You Fat

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By Karen Ansel, RD

Have you ever tried desperately to avoid a food you crave only to find yourself devouring a pint of ice cream? Labeling something "forbidden" only makes you want it more, so satisfying a craving (in moderation) is usually a better plan. But if you're serious about losing weight, you need to strategize. A few options: 1. Downsize your treats, so you're eating a smaller amount of the exact thing you want. For example, instead of a 4" square brownie, have a 2" square brownie.
2. Go for a lower-calorie substitute. That may mean skipping ice cream in favor of sorbet. (Warning: If you've been dreaming about the real stuff for hours, a stand-in might not quash the original craving.)
3. Make room in your daily calorie count for a food you really want.
4. Know your trigger foods. The exception to the "don't deprive yourself" rule: foods that you can't eat a bite of without stopping. So, if you know that you can't eat a cookie without devouring the box, better to resist the first one. Read on for more ways to deal with cravings.
How to Make Room for Your Cravings
Each of these sample meals adds up to 500 calories for a total of about 1,500 calories a day (which should enable you to lose about 1 to 2 pounds a week).
Breakfast
What you're craving: Bacon
• What you'd normally have: 2 scrambled eggs cooked in 1 tsp butter with 1 slice Cheddar on a whole-wheat English muffin with a 12-oz latte made with skim milk
• Eat what you want: Skip the Cheddar and add 2 slices of bacon.
What you're craving: Chocolate-chip pancakes
• What you'd normally have: 3 medium (4") buttermilk pancakes with 3 Tbsp maple syrup and 1 cup fruit salad
• Eat what you want: Skip the maple syrup and add 2 Tbsp chocolate chips.
What you're craving: A sweet and gooey cinnamon roll
• What you'd normally have: 1 medium (4 1/2 ") cinnamon-raisin bagel with 2 Tbsp cream /cheese and an 8-oz lowfat cappuccino
• Eat what you want: Swap the bagel and cream cheese for a medium (5 oz) cinnamon roll; swap the cappuccino for an 8-oz regular coffee with a splash of 1% milk.
Lunch
What you're craving: A side of potato chips
• What you'd normally have: A tuna sandwich on whole-wheat bread with a side salad (1 1/2 cups mixed greens with 2 Tbsp Italian dressing)
• Eat what you want: Skip the dressing on the salad (vinegar is OK) and add a 1-oz bag potato chips.
What you're craving: Caesar dressing
• What you'd normally have: 2 cups romaine lettuce with ½ cup grated carrots, 4 oz grilled chicken, 10 croutons, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, 2 Tbsp lite balsamic vinaigrette and a small whole-wheat roll
• Eat what you want: Skip the Parmesan, use only 5 croutons and swap the lite dressing for 2 Tbsp Caesar dressing.
What you're craving: Cheese on your sandwich
• What you'd normally have: 2 pieces rye bread with 2 oz roast turkey breast, 1 Tbsp mayo, lettuce and sliced tomato, and a 1-oz bag tortilla chips
• Eat what you want: Swap the mayo for 1 Tbsp honey mustard and the tortilla chips for an apple, then add 2 slices Swiss cheese.
Dinner
What you're craving: Alfredo sauce
• What you'd normally have: 1 cup pasta with 1/2 cup marinara sauce, 1/2 cup steamed broccoli and 1 slice buttery garlic bread
• Eat what you want: Skip the garlic bread and swap the marinara for 1/2 cup Alfredo sauce.
What you're craving: Steak
• What you'd normally have: 6 oz grilled chicken, a medium baked potato with 2 Tbsp sour cream, and 1 cup steamed spinach with 1/2 Tbsp butter
• Eat what you want: Skip the sour cream and butter, and swap your chicken for a 6-oz grilled lean flank steak.
What you're craving: A chocolatey dessert
• What you'd normally have: 6 oz salmon fillet with 1 Tbsp teriyaki sauce, 1 cup rice and 1 cup broccoli with 1 tsp olive oil
• Eat what you want: Cut your portion of rice to 1/2 cup and add a small (2" square) brownie.
Think Small
You can satisfy cravings without inhaling a hot fudge sundae or jumbo bag of chips. For 200 calories or less, you can have:
Sweet
• 1 oz high-quality chocolate, like Dove Silky Smooth
• 1 small (2" square) brownie
• 1/4 cup Cranberry Raisinets
• 1/2 cup all-natural lowfat pudding, like Kozy Shack
• 1/4 cup dried fruit, like apricots, cranberries, blueberries, mangoes or pineapple
• 1 cup chocolate- or caramel-flavored herbal tea, like Lipton Caramel Truffle or Celestial Seasonings Chocolate Caramel Enchantment Chai
• 8 oz hot chocolate made with skim milk
• 1 Tbsp caramel topping (drizzle on sliced apples)
• 1 Tbsp honey (add to tea or plain yogurt)
Salty• 15 all-natural tortilla chips, like Garden of Eatin'
• 1 oz whole-grain pretzels
• 1/4 cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup soy nuts
• 20 olives
• 1-2 Tbsp low-sodium
Creamy
• 1 cup lowfat cream of mushroom soup, like Imagine or Amy's
• 1 cup cooked polenta
• 1/4 cup tzatziki (Greek yogurt, garlic and cucumber dip) with a mini whole-wheat pita
• 1/4 avocado (on 1 slice soft sandwich bread)
• 8 oz cappuccino made with 2% milk
• 6 oz all-natural lowfat vanilla yogurt, like Stonyfield Farm
Crunchy
• 15 all-natural potato or sweet potato chips, like Terra Chips
• 3/4 cup whole-grain cereal
• 1 cup sliced jicama (dip in salsa or add to salad)
• 1 oz plantain chips
• 1-2 granola bars, like Nature Valley
• 12 small whole-wheat crackers, like Wheat Thins Fiber Selects
For more dieting tips, read The WD Get Real Diet .

Broken Links in E-mail Posts

The reason some of the links don't work in the e-mail posts is because the right parenthesis is highlighted as if it is part of the link, so it gets added to the web address. You'll notice the left one is black and the far right one is blue (meaning it is highlighted as part of the URL). If you click on the link in the e-mail, it will try to open the URL and you'll get an error message. If you look in the address bar and delete the parenthesis at the end of the URL, you'll be able to visit the link.

Short option - just visit the Fit Pals blog and click on the title to view the article. The above is a template script problem over which I have no control.

Yoga for Cancer Patients Provides Benefit of Sleep, Vitality

Carbs Against Cardio: More Evidience That Refined Carbohydrates, Not Fats, Threaten the Heart (Scientific American)

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Scientists find anxiety gene that also makes you comfort eat

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Excerpt:

In the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers have discovered that there's a "stress switch" that seems to lead to diabetes and obesity.

The Israeli researchers created their own method for changing the activity of the gene in the brain, causing it to release varied amounts of a protein called Ucn3.

They discovered that increased levels of Ucn3 caused anxiety and changes in metabolism.
With increased levels of Ucn3, the bodies of mice used more sugar and less fatty acids and metabolic rates increased, showing the first stages of type 2 diabetes.

Dr Chen added: "Until now the lines drawn between stress, appetite and anxiety were pointed out, but never fully explained.

Fight Cancer with Food

Click on title to go to article.

This is a useful list. I still use my Vita-Mix on a near-daily basis to get enough produce into me. I swear this machine is the best money I have ever spent. I have steadily been consuming a fruit/veggie smoothie a day for months now. I buy organic whenever possible and my smoothies consist of water, a whole organic apple (cored but unpeeled), blueberries, raw broccoli or spinach, mango, etc. I also add a teaspoon of flax seed oil and/or a tbsp of hemp seed. I even throw in whole flax seed and it's pulverized to bits. My smoothies are rather unusual mixtures but sure work wonders. What I like about the Vita-Mix (compared to my Omega and Breville juicers) is that I don't lose any of the fiber or discard the peel. That said, after reading this article, I'm going to strive to include at least one serving of brassica vegetable in my smoothie everyday. Brassica veggies contain sulforaphane, which is has been shown to halt breast cancer cell division and was reported (just this past week) to block breast cancer stem cell growth. Brassica veggies include broccoli, cabbage, spinach, cauliflower, kale, etc. You don't even notice their strong flavors when blended with fruit in a smoothie. I also suspect that more nutrients are extracted as well, since a blender pulverizes all the plant cells far more effectively than our teeth. But that's just me surmising...

For High-Fructose Corn Syrup, the Sweet Talk Gets Harder (NY Times)

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Corn Syrup’s Bad Rap

The New York Times chronicles the development of widespread and baseless distrust of high-fructose corn syrup: “What started as a narrow movement by proponents of natural and organic foods has morphed into a swell of mainstream opposition, thanks in large part to tools of modern activism like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter  … This is happening even though many scientists say that high-fructose corn syrup is no worse for people than sugar, which costs some 40 percent more.”

“The bottom line in this debate is that science no longer matters,” says Stier. “It’s all about public perception.”

Dr. Ross agrees, noting, “All of the scientists quoted in this Times article – many of whom are no friends of the food industry, including Drs. Marion Nestle, Walter Willett, and Michael Jacobson – are quoted saying that high-fructose corn syrup is essentially equivalent to sugar as far as metabolism and calorie content are concerned. Nevertheless, activist groups manage to drum up a movement against corn syrup despite all of the science. It’s very frustrating.”

Dr. Whelan adds, “The charges brought against high-fructose corn syrup revolve around the notion that it causes more obesity than pure sugar. There’s no truth to that whatsoever, since they are equivalent in terms of calories.”

American Council on Science & Health (ACSH Dispatch)

The Health Implications of Sitting All Day

Funny, Mai just mentioned to me this week about those office treadmills where you walk at a very slow pace with your desk/computer propped in front of you. What a timely article. I had no idea that there were such pronounced health implications between a desk job versus one where you're standing or moving. That said, I gained 19 pounds since starting a desk job four years ago.But I lost 3 pounds this week! Journaling every day, exercise most days, sticking to ~1400 calories daily, consuming a minimum of 4 servings of fruits & veggies each day, averaging 25 grams of fiber intake each day, fat intake ~30%. I didn't experience the weight loss success of the rest of you in our class, but I've never had a problem with binge eating since taking that class and my body has never consumed so much produce as it has in the past 6 months. Small victories!

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Homemade Pop Tarts!

Totally wrong forum for this recipe - but they're homemade pop tarts! ;-)

Now talk about warped perception - I look at this recipe and view this as a desert; definitely not a breakfast food. Yet I'd eat the boxed variety as breakfast in the past. The power of marketing...