Ever find yourself raiding the kitchen at 10 PM, drawn to cookies, chips, or a tub of ice cream, even though you ate a full dinner just hours before – and even though you weren’t feeling physical hunger pangs in your stomach? If so, you’re not alone. Research from a study at Tufts University’s Human Nutrition Research Center revealed that 94% of us experience food cravings regularly.
Can’t keep your hands out of the cookie jar? Here’s the good news: understanding why cravings happen and having practical strategies to manage them can be the difference between feeling controlled by your cravings and being in control of them.
The Biology Behind Why Your Brain Craves Certain Foods
When that overwhelming desire for chocolate hits, being able to say no is not just about willpower. Your brain chemistry is actively working against you.
When you eat highly palatable foods—especially those rich in fat and carbohydrates—your brain releases dopamine, opioids or other neurotransmitters associated with pleasure and reward. This creates a powerful “wanting loop” that motivates you to seek out those foods again and again.
An interesting finding in the Tufts study was that we tend to crave specific combinations of nutrients rather than just sugar or just fat alone. The foods most people crave are typically:
Twice as calorie-dense as our regular diet
Higher in sugar and processed carbs
30% higher in fat
30% lower in fiber
50% lower in protein
No wonder chocolate tops the craving list! It perfectly fits this high-sugar, high-calorie, high-fat, low-protein profile that our brains seem programmed to pursue.
How Emotions And Environment Trigger Food Cravings That Are Hard To Ignore
While biology plays a big role in cravings, psychology is equally powerful. Many of us have been conditioned to associate certain foods with comfort or celebration. This emotional connection can be so strong that simply feeling sad, bored, stressed, or anxious can trigger intense food cravings. Even feeling happy or accomplished can do the same thing – your brain tells you, “I deserve a reward.”
Your environment plays a major role too. Simply seeing food advertisements, smelling freshly baked cookies, or walking past your favorite restaurant can set off a cascade of cravings.
Whether the craving is triggered from inside you or outside you, it can happen regardless of whether you are physically hungry or not. A craving is more like a thought in your mind – which is why some people call it “head hunger.” It often comes and goes quickly. Real biological hunger is felt physically in your stomach, and it doesn’t go away, it intensifies.
The Most Commonly Craved Foods And Why We Want Them So Badly
According to the research, these are the foods we crave most intensely (in order):
- Chocolate (particularly for women)
- Salty snacks
- Ice cream
- Brownies and cookies
- Cakes and baked goods
- Bread and pasta
- Pizza
There’s a biological and evolutionary reason for craving some of these foods and it has to do with the caloric density. High sugar foods and high fat foods are energy dense. Foods high in both sugar and fat have the highest calorie density of all.
If our ancestors weren’t sure when the next meal was coming, then it makes perfect sense why they’d be wired to pursue high calorie density foods. And it looks like we inherited this tendency and still have it, even though there’s no shortage of food around us today.
Also, men and women show different patterns—women tend to crave chocolate and sweets more frequently, while men report stronger cravings for pizza, bread, and meat (like a big fat juicy steak). Women also experience fluctuations in craving intensity throughout their menstrual cycle.
How to Control Food Cravings Without Feeling Deprived
So if we’re wired biologically from the inside (of our brain) to have cravings, and if the outside environment is filled with craving triggers we can’t escape seeing, what the heck are we supposed we do about it?
Here’s an important finding from the newest research: There are people who successfully manage their cravings, and it’s not because they have superhuman willpower. It’s also not because they have fewer cravings or no cravings at all.
These are people who have trained themselves to respond to cravings differently than people who give in.
The single biggest predictor of weight gain isn’t how often you crave foods or even how often you cave in to cravings. It’s the portion size of craved foods when you do indulge and whether you you make that portion fit into your calorie budget over the week.
You might want to read that again, because this insight completely changes how you successfully approach cravings.
Instead of trying to eliminate cravings (which is nearly impossible – kind of like hoping to eliminate all negative thoughts), the key is to notice them and let them pass when you can. Otherwise, learn to satisfy them in controlled ways that don’t derail your health goals.
So now let’s get to the practical stuff and action steps you can take to get your Cookie Monster under control.
5 Strategies to Manage Your Food Cravings
1. Practice Portion Control
Rather than completely avoiding chocolate or chips or whatever the craved food is, it’s possible to allow yourself small portions while still losing weight and staying healthy.
Research suggests that total restriction often backfires, intensifying cravings even more and leading to binge eating in huge quantities when you eventually give in. This is why “Flexible dieting” is far superior to total restriction.
One idea is to portion your favorite treats. Instead of eating ice cream straight from the container, serve a small amount in a bowl. Or buy individually wrapped single serving chocolates rather than large bars. This makes it easier to enjoy a food mindfully without overeating.
An even better idea: Make your own tasty but nutritious sweet treats at home. Our Burn the Fat Inner Circle recipe library includes dozens of healthy high protein ice cream, cookies, brownies, mug cakes, smoothies, pudding and more.
Whether it’s the “real thing” or a modified, healthier home-made treat, the key is to schedule it and make it fit your macros.
2. Identify Your Craving Triggers
Start noticing the patterns around your cravings:
Do they happen at specific times of day?
Do they happen in particular emotional states?
Do they happen around certain people?
Keeping a simple food-mood journal for a week can reveal surprising connections.
Once you know your triggers, you can prepare strategies in advance.
For example, if you know afternoon workstress leads to sugar cravings, have healthy alternatives ready or plan a quick stress-relief activity for that time (a brief meditation or breathing exercise, listening to music, or taking a walk).
3. Set Up Your Environment to Reduce Exposure And Temptation
External cues can be powerful craving triggers. Unfortunately, it almost seems like the world is conspiring against you – plotting and scheming to force you to eat more and move less. This is so true that scientists have a name for the modern society we live in today: The “obesogenic environment.”
You don’t have control over what you see on city streets, in grocery stores, in restaurants, in advertisements, and so on. But you do have some control, depending on what you let yourself be exposed to. The good news is that you have almost total control over your home environment.
As the stoics say, don’t worry about what you can’t control. Instead, focus on what you do control. If you reduce your exposure to triggers in all the areas you control, that will go a long way toward beating back cravings. Here are a few ways:
- Keep trigger foods out of sight (or out of the house)
- Always leave healthy foods in visible places
- Eat only in the dining room (no eating at your work desk, in front of the TV, or in front of the computer.
- Take a different route to avoid passing your favorite fast food restaurant
- Unfollow social media accounts that constantly post tempting food images
- Spend less time with people who tempt you. Spend more time with people who support you
Tip: Take special note of the first three items on that list. Failure to control your home environment is a huge mistake.
4. Follow a Balanced And Flexible Diet to Prevent Biological Cravings
Extreme calorie restriction or eliminating entire food groups can actually intensify cravings. In psychology, it’s called “Ironic Rebound.”
This is the classic example: If someone tells you not to think about white elephants, what do you think about? That’s right – white elephants. It’s a psychological truism that you tend to crave what you’re not allowed to have.
So instead of creating long lists of forbidden foods, put your focus on lists of healthy foods you do want to eat. In addition, eat any foods you want infrequently and in small amounts as long as it fits your calories for the week.
Don’t cut any foods out completely unless you must due to allergy or intolerance. Instead, embrace a balanced and flexible approach and also focus on foods that make you feel fuller longer. Here are a few ideas:
- Include adequate protein at each meal (it increases satiety)
- Don’t let yourself get too hungry (eat regular meals)
- Include fiber-rich foods that help you feel fuller longer
- Practice “flexible dieting”: allow your favorite foods, just make them fit into your calorie budget
5. Develop Healthy Responses to Emotional Triggers
When emotions drive cravings, food becomes a coping mechanism. If you build alternative responses, you can often “surf the urge” and ride out the craving. Or you can find an alternate response – plan something to do instead of eating.
- For stress: Try a 2-minute breathing exercise
- For boredom: Keep a list of engaging non-food activities
- For celebration: Create non-food rewards that still feel special
- For any craving: take a short walk
Did you know that research reveals that taking a walk is a proven way to kill sugar cravings? (Even chocolate). When you feel the craving, don’t act on it right away. Tell yourself you will take a short brisk walk (at least 10 minutes; 20-30 even better.).
Tell yourself if you still feel the craving afterward, you’ll let yourself have the treat you want in a sensible amount. Most people will find after the walk, the craving is gone.
Remember, cravings may have biological origins, but they are not real physical hunger, so they can pass quickly if you can ride them out, distract yourself, or do ssmething physical like take a walk.
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When to “Give In” in To Food Cravings (And How to Do It Right)
The most successful approach isn’t about never giving in to cravings—it’s about enjoying your favorite foods strategically. Research shows that people who maintain healthy weights long-term often do incorporate their favorite foods, but with important differences:
- They plan for treats rather than eating them impulsively (avoid unplanned snacking at all costs)
- They enjoy smaller portions, eating slowly with full attention (no mindless eating)
- They don’t use one indulgence as an excuse to abandon their whole diet (don’t give in to the“what the hell effect”).
- They adjust their eating before or after to accommodate the treat (but never starve yourself as “punishment”).
This flexible approach allows you to enjoy your favorite foods without guilt while maintaining overall calorie balance. (Learn more about flexible dieting and flexible meal planning here)
The Bottom Line on Controlling Cravings
Food cravings are normal, biological responses—not moral failings or signs of weakness. Nearly everyone has them. What matters most is how you respond.
The most effective strategy isn’t trying to eliminate cravings through white-knuckle willpower alone. Instead, understand the triggers, anticipate them, develop pre-planned responses so you’re not blindsided, and allow occasional indulgence without over-doing it.
By shifting your focus from “never giving in” to sometimes “giving in mindfully and moderately,” you can break free from the cycle of craving, restriction, and guilt that sabotages so many health goals.
-Tom Venuto, The No-BS Body Transformation Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com
www.BurnTheFatInnerCircle.com
Scientific references:
Gilhooly, CH. International Journal of Obesity. (12):1849-58. Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, MA
Ledochowski L et al, Acute Effects of Brisk Walking on Sugary Snack Cravings in Overweight People, Affect and Responses to a Manipulated Stress Situation and to a Sugary Snack Cue: PLOS ONE, 10(3): e0119278, 2015
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