Cravings…..We have a manifold of them throughout the day. Typically, it’s not your nutrient dense whole foods we crave but rather processed and packaged that leave  us wanting more, but why?  Sadly, these foods are purposely altered to taste appealing and highly sweet or salty thus we crave  more and more, and which in turn leads to your taste buds finding those nutritious and delicious whole foods all of a sudden very dissatisfying. In his new book, Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael Moss goes inside the world of processed and packaged foods. “Employing scientists to dissect elements of the palate and tweak ratios of salt, sugar and fat to optimize taste, the processed food industry, Moss says, has hooked consumers on their products the same way the cigarette industry hooked smokers on nicotine.” 1

In knowing this, whole foods need to be almost always considered in addition, to ensure a healthy lifestyle, even though they may not appear necessarily tasty, especially when you have been used to eating the “other stuff!” Hence, a food taste bud reset might need to come into play, which may not be that easy! But with determination, and self – discipline your new healthy lifestyle will forever pay off.

Okay, it’s a typical day, you’re hungry and the cravings are kicking in and the pressure is on to eat something to fulfill your brain, yes, I said brain, not stomach, as it is the brain that will crave these foods and drinks, and set those neurons firing. 2

Knowing that it is the enteric nervous system that regulates our gut, this is often called the body’s “second brain.” Thus, gut and brain are always in constant communication. 3

Various food manufacturers make food highly palatable by spending a lot of time and money to ensure your brain, not stomach will be enjoying every bite and will have you wanting more. The ingredients that are responsible for this unhealthy craving are the very harmful added sugars, salts, and non saturated fats. These fats and salts are a common and attractive combination in food which stimulate appetite, again craving more and more, furthermore responsible for obesity. 4“Food manufacturers are experts at making foods that are highly palatable,” says Angela Snyder, a wellness dietitian at Houston Methodist. “They pour a lot of time and money into researching how to create foods that are multisensory, resulting in processed foods that can absolutely manipulate our taste buds and trigger the reward centers in our brains.” 5

Now throw peer pressure into this equation and we basically have our kids and teenagers only craving processed foods. In which they may very well be the “heavy users” that are the target for these large manufacturing companies. 6

Whole foods on the other hand are jam-packed with vital nutrients and are generally characterized as foods that have not been processed, refined, or have ingredients added to them. These foods include fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, meat, fish, and eggs. These nutritious and delicious foods give you real flavor you might not at first crave as you’re used to eating things such as chips, pastries, pop etc. and I call them “things” for a reason, as they are not real food, they are not intended for our stomach, period. These things will only lead to negative health effects and deplete your body of essential nutrients. One study involving more than 100,000 adults, found that eating 10% more ultra-processed foods was associated with above a 10% increase in the risks of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and cerebrovascular disorders. 7

The good news is, that when you commit to eating whole foods and eliminate processed foods it will leave you feeling energized, focused, and allows you to feel your optimal self. These nutritious foods are an endless component to starting or maintaining your healthy lifestyle as they are loaded with nutrients, low in sugar, packed with antioxidants, high in fiber, skin nourishing, help lower triglycerides, high in healthy fats, reduce various disease, great for your gut thus allowing you to feel great mentally, prevent overeating, great for your dental health, and so much more.  8

At the beginning of your new healthy diet, it will be difficult but after a week or so, those bad cravings will be less and less frequent; nevertheless, you always have to stay disciplined to make the right choice.

Being disciplined,  applies to many things when we want to reach goals and stay on track, but, it also applies to your daily diet. Self-Discipline is difficult, I know, but with practice, it gets better, trust me. Be vigilant all the way from before the first bite to when you’ve stopped eating. But temptations sometimes seem too powerful to ignore, you’re not alone. But willpower is a learned behavior, based on the American Psychological Association. The more often you resist temptation-whether it’s the urge to eat an unhealthy snack or skip your evening run – the stronger your willpower can become. 9

A few things that have helped me along the way especially when cravings come on, I ensure I don’t buy any of the processed foods in the grocery store because if they are available at hand then you can easily undermine your best intentions and convince yourself it’s okay just to have one. The second tip is to try to make a lunch or a snack when you’re going to work or for a long drive somewhere. Have healthy snacks readily available as many places sadly don’t have healthy choices and when they do, they’re not organic thus filled with pesticides, herbicides and more which pose serious risks to human health. Furthermore some are even classed as being carcinogenic. 10

This is doable, correct? To you and me it is, but our kids especially teens who are the most vulnerable to succumbing to make the wrong choices is not, since they are easiest to influence and then they spread awareness to their friends through social media networks. Their impulsive characters make it an easy target to make them addicted to these things quite easily through peer pressure, good advertising and of course they are easy, which is what most families opt for, why not? Many households choose to get a frozen dinner, packaged soup, and fruits in a gummy instead of going to the grocery store instead of physically hand picking your food and cooking from scratch. But trust me when I say this, it’s worth every minute and after a few weeks you will be a pro and in turn teach others because they will long to look like you! You’re going to look fabulous, and your healthy bliss will shine!!! Following on from that you may want to write down what intrigued you to consider reading this post or perhaps want to make a change about eating healthy. Is it your weight perhaps you feel sluggish, or depressed, or maybe your health has taken the best of you. Keep this goal in mind every time you have a craving. Stay focused on that goal and overcome that temptation. So, to recap, educate your kids and teens on eating whole foods and inform them on the tricks that large manufacturing companies do, secondly lead by example by cooking at home, hand selecting your healthy groceries and involve your kids at it too so they too can learn, third and not least, keep disciplined in your food choices, remember after you overcome the temptation, once, twice it just becomes easier. Remember this easy quote from Michael Pollan, “Came from a plant, eat it; was made in a plant, don’t.”