Diet

[maguerrieri]

I am really struggling with eating well. I tend to crave sweets constantly and am looking for ways to help with that. I also struggle with finding the right things to eat to help me lose weight

[Paxiled]

Most of us like sweets or they wouldn't be so prevalent, but when you crave something constantly, one question would be, is something bothering you and is this one way of avoiding dealing with it?  There is also a theory in Oriental medicine that we crave extreme yin (sweets) when we are out of balance in our lives or our lifestyle or our jobs or our diets.  Those who ascribe to this believe that, for example, people who eat extremely yang diets (meat, for example) will crave sweets to balance that out.  It's just a theory, but it's been around a couple thousand years so who knows?

[Lyric5]

You could need more magnesium, if you are craving chocolate.
Also, adding healthy fats helps to curb cravings and makes us feel full. Try adding a half of an avocado and cooking with a good oil like coconut oil.

[gymdandee]

Adam Drewnowski and Allen S. Levine write in the "Journal of Nutrition"  that added sugar and fat make up more than 50 percent of the typical American diet and contributes to the obesity epidemic. Craving sweets after a meal can hamper weight loss efforts. You try to deny the craving, only making it more pronounced. If you indulge the craving, stopping with a small serving may be impossible for you.
Drewnowski and Levine point to evidence that regular consumption of foods high in sugar and fat leads to "neurochemical changes" in the brain--hardwiring you to crave these types of foods. Food cravings often are a result of habit and association if you have always had something sweet after a meal, you do not feel closure unless you meet that need. Sweet treats often are associated with rewards and positive feelings, so you feel good when you eat them.
Another cause of post-meal sweet cravings has to do with the mood-elevating brain chemical, serotonin.
Professor Peter Rogers from the University of Bristol notes in the online resource ScienceDaily.com that the desire to eat foods, such as chocolate, combined with knowledge that they should be eaten in moderation causes you to crave them more.
It might be best to go cold turkey for a few weeks. Over time, if your cravings are due to habit, they should subside. Make sure you are consuming adequate nutrition and calories during the day. Try to make each meal contain a serving of protein, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates. Brushing your teeth immediately after eating or chewing a piece of minty, sugar-free gum also may help cut the desire to consume sweets after a meal. If you must have something sweet try fresh fruit, which offers nutrition along with natural sugars.
Read food labels carefully. Artificial sweeteners do nothing to curb your cravings. A 2004 study at Purdue University showed that artificial sweeteners may disrupt the body’s ability to count calories, setting you up to consume more calories overall. Also, because artificial sweeteners exhibit sweetness hundreds of times more intense than sugar, they may cause you to crave sweeter and sweeter products.

[boz5886]

Change diet to low carbs, high fat and protien. I suggest reading this book, it's called Grain Brain. great dieting plan in last chapter.

[gymdandee]

Grain Brain and Smart Fat: Eat More Fat. Lose More Weight. Get Healthy Now. those two books and try the following
http://www.healthydirections.com/want-the-best-way-to-lose-weight-try-a-modified-paleo-diet/

[Paxiled]

And if you want to see what people eat who actually live the longest and healthiest, scientists have been actively studying clusters of them.  None of them eat a high protein diet -- they are all in the grains and beans and veggies and fruits categories.  Food for thought.

[slightlycosmo]

I have terrible sweet cravings! And once I'm in that groove (say, after a candy-heavy holiday like Easter...) it's hard to reset. I've had really good luck in the past with eating some fats and veggies. For instance, if I focus on eating my veggies first, that helps fill me up (and I season them however I want - butter, salt, balsamic, whatever sauce I want - I figure veggies covered in just about anything are healthier than chocolates and jolly ranchers...). Olive oil and butter on veggies seem to help me feel satisfied with them. Peanut butter helps during this time, too, but only if I use real peanut butter and not the kinds with added sugar. The other thing that helps when I'm having a craving for something really sweet is coconut butter. It's a bit sweet but filling due to the coconut fat, but it's just ground up coconut - not processed sugar or added fats or anything like that. I'll have a spoonful straight from the jar if my cravings are getting the better of me.