I don’t get cravings.

I just don’t. It’s not because I’m better than you, more disciplined, obsessed with my body looking a certain way, or am some fanatical health and fitness junkie, although some may perceive me as such. The reason I don’t get cravings is because I take aggressive action to ensure that’s the case.

This morning after a 25 min climb on the stair-master, I enjoyed an amazing breakfast at my favorite local diner of egg whites, spinach, mushrooms and peppers…Doesn’t sound too amazing right?

The part that was amazing, was the thick, sweet, maple french toast that accompanied it. To make things better, I added a sliced banana, peanut butter, and maple syrup to my meal. I’m not talking about protein french toast, or natural peanut butter, or sugar-free syrup here… I’m talking about TRUE french toast with regular peanut butter, and real maple syrup. Yes, the sugary kind.

I would say on average, this is my morning meal at least 3x per week.

But how can it be possible to eat like that and maintain the physique I do?

The short answer….Eating like this routinely is the ONLY way to maintain my level of conditioning, and keep me strict and true to my diet and this lifestyle.

One of the top 3 questions I hear the most from clients is

“How do I deal with cravings?”

The answer is simple.

In today’s blog we are going to discuss this age-old question, and gain clarity once and for all on just how to prevent, eliminate, and destroy our “cravings” that ultimately lead to binging, and F’n up our progress!
 

True Life: How do I deal with cravings:

 
You deal with them by taking proactive action to ensure you don’t get them in the first place. That’s the only way.
There is no “secret” food that will help eliminate cravings.

You need to make sure you’re taking in enough calories during the day, eating every 3-4 hours, and NOT cutting out the food you love. You will not win that battle. Trust me, stronger people than you and I have tried and failed. Miserably I may add. (me!)

If you’re craving a pizza, tell me, how can anything other than pizza satisfy said craving? Would eating a sh*t load of spinach and gulping down a ton of water cure your lust for pizza at that point! Hell no…

If chocolate is your thing, does it sound reasonable to think that substituting your beloved for a less delicious, more healthy alternative, would cure your intense desire to consume your favorite chocolate cake, candy, or ice cream? Probably not.

You satisfy your craving for the foods you crave by NOT restricting yourself of them, and consuming them on a semi-routine to routine basis. Some of you at this point are probably lost. For those of you that this applies, it’s about to get even worse.

Also, if you go all damn day without eating a thing, you will inevitably find yourself ravenously hungry. Correct me if I’m wrong here, but when we allow ourselves to get to that point, how often is it that we find ourselves hungry for something clean like turkey, rice and veggies? And more over, how readily available is something like that for us to procure? The reality is, when we get to that point, 99.65% of us are going to find the nearest drive-thru or take our place, and ultimately eat an entire day’s worth of calories in 1 sitting.

The result: Fat gain as a result of an abundant surplus of calories for the day.

What if I told you that you can lower your body fat % continuously, all the while still enjoying the foods you love on a consistent basis? Peanut butter, chocolate, pizza, no problem!!

You see, people get so caught up thinking that in order to achieve their ideal physique, they must completely restrict themselves of the foods they love! The overwhelming majority of the people that think this way will never reach or accomplish their personal goals. This will occur because calorie and/or food restricting will inevitably always lead to the same unfavorable outcome; the obligatory binge!

So, how do we prevent cravings? We prevent cravings by routinely eating the foods we enjoy! 95% of the time we eat a healthy, clean, and diverse selection of foods, but we leave a 5% margin to fill with the foods we truly love. We keep hunger at bay by consuming our meals on a 3-4 hour schedule like clock-work, and focus on creating eating habits that put us in such a place where we never really get hungry, and when eating, never get overly full.
The Nutrition Solutions info email address gets bombarded with emails daily by novice dieters asking the same things; “how will eating protein pizza, burgers, (bison) and peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes help me lose weight?

The answer: if you aspire to lose body fat, you must exist within a caloric deficit. Meaning you have to burn more calories every day than you consume.

REMEMBER: your body isn’t smart enough to decipher foods as good, bad, healthy, unhealthy, clean or dirty. There is simply protein, carbs, fats & the caloric value of each meal which can be quantified and accounted for to ensure control and manipulation of one’s body composition.

Contrary to popular belief, your body cannot tell the difference between 300 calories from fish and broccoli, from 300 calories from pizza. So provided you are burning more calories than you’re taking in on a daily basis, you will and continue to lose weight. Period.

With that said….Assuming chocolate is your weakness, do you think if you ate a small bit of chocolate each and every day, you would ever end up in a position where you lose your mind, raid the nearest gas station convenience store, and buy the place out of anything and everything chocolate?! Perhaps.

If you’re someone who eats your feelings, or has absolutely 0 dedication and discipline this may be the case, but it’s highly unlikely.

The menus I create for my clients are strategically formulated to not only hit a certain macro-nutrient breakdown and threshold, but more importantly, are comprised of meals that will mentally stimulate my clients on the highest level! My objective every week is to provide my clients with 1 or 2 meals that make them feel as if their cheating, when in reality, their not.

If you love peanut butter, instead of consuming your fats from coconut oils or almonds, which are very healthy but somewhat boring, add a tablespoon or 2 of peanut butter with 2 of your meals daily. If you’re more the chocolate type, eat a couple pieces of dark chocolate, preferably with your post workout meal.

You see where I’m going with this?

It’s far more beneficial to your progress and personal goals for you to eat a slice of pizza 4x per week, then to restrict yourself, and end up in a position where you eat an entire pizza twice a week!

Summary

– Eat every 3-4 hours
– Do not cut carbs! Unless you are living a sedentary lifestyle, aspire to have low energy and be in a bad mood most of the time,  or have 0 interest to build muscle and improve your physique, this method of dieting will only leave you hungry and disappointed.
– Eat more of the foods you love. Just do so in moderation.
– If you eat something off your normal diet, try and do it after an intense workout. And make sure you get your next clean meal in 3-4 hours after the fact.

It is only when you control your cravings, will you be able to control your progress and results.  So have your cake and eat it too, just make sure you keep the diet on point the other 95% of the time.

Feel free to share this with someone who struggles with cravings.

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