Anybody else cringe when you those infographics on what to eat when you’re craving something? Like no… a Brazil nut and some spinach are not going to make me stop craving chocolate cake! 🙄

Now don’t get me wrong, I definitely believe that our body does give us cues when it’s missing something. But sometimes food cravings are legitimately about enjoying the food. I work with women who are trying to heal a relationship with food after disordered eating, as well as those who have a healthy relationship with food and are working on that loss. And either circumstance, I will never recommend that someone avoids a craving. It certainly won’t heal broken relationship with food, nor is it necessary to achieve fat loss. So here’s some practical tips for when your cravings hit.

🙅🏻‍♀️ Don’t restrict. White knuckling it is only going to backfire. It will only be a matter of time before you can’t stand it any longer and end up consuming more than you would like. If you want to work on having a better relationship with the foods you don’t yet feel quite in control around, labeling them as “bad” or “off-limits” is only going to perpetuate their illicitness. Start including them regularly and eventually they will become no big deal. It may seem scary but promise you from experience with clients, it works.

🗓 Plan ahead of time to have it. My clients absolutely love the strategy! I started recommending it after I found how well it worked for me personally. If you plan ahead of time to have something, it is incredibly helpful to take away any feelings of guilt that surround indulging in a food. It becomes part of the plan instead of feeling like a deviation from it. It also allows you to plan for a sensible amount so that you know going into thanks how much you will consume.

🥣 Make it yourself. This is often a healthier alternative to a more processed version. When you make it yourself, you can control exactly what ingredients go in it. Whether you want to use lighter ingredients swaps or not, I can guarantee you that the joy of making it will become as much of the experience as eating the food itself. This helps shift your focus from food to experiences.

🍩 Have the real thing. On the flipside of the above, sometimes having the actual thing you’re craving just needs to be the way to go! Sorry y’all, but no healthy recipe is going to suffice when the Krispy Kreme craving hits! Side note for transparency: the donuts pictured were not all consumed. I just love sampling bits of all the flavors when I do get the real deal treats like this.

🙏🏻 Pray and ask the Lord for guidance before consuming and as you plan the details of consuming your craving. Don’t forget that the Lord wants to be involved with every single decision you make in your life—food choices too! Especially if you’re struggling in this area, it’s important to seek His wisdom. He can help you to determine what guardrails you need to set

in place if you’re confused about what is going to allow you to walk in freedom and what is going to be excess over-indulging the flesh. He cares about this process!

Reader Questions:
1/ Which was most helpful?
2/ Do you have one to add to the list?

If learning how to approach healthy living God’s way sounds like something you’re interested in and you want a coach that uses biblical principles as the foundation, shoot me an email here!

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P.S. If you are interested in getting a custom set of macros, you can find out more here. If you want something more in-depth which will help you learn #Moderation365 nutrition strategies like #DessertEveryDay and how to eat in a way you love and still get results, you can get 1:1 coaching via my Meal Mastery Mentorship. You can head to this link to find out more.

If you just want to stick your toe in the water and see what it’s like, then my Meal Mastery Nutrition Audit has a 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee! So no excuses!!! Find out about it at this link.

If you are interested in working on a specific habit and need someone to help you troubleshoot, keep you motivated, and hold you accountable, I offer coaching a variety of ways, which you can learn more about here.

My specialty is habit change and my approach is to work on mindset alongside the habit, so that it is healthy and sustainable, and this is best done via 1:1 Coaching which you can learn about here. Whether it involves your health, finances, nutrition, exercise, relationships, or personal growth, habits are the key to success. We are the outcome of what we repeatedly do. Without addressing that, there can be no change. Learn more here!

P.P.S. I will be increasing my 1:1 coaching prices after I have my new Moderation 365 certification (in about 12 weeks). Current clients will be grandfathered in at their current rate as long as they don’t lapse, but for those who are wanting to enroll as a new client, I would do so now if you are on the fence!