A craving does not have to derail your healthy eating meal plan. Cravings can come from stressful situations or just wanting something that you’re used to eating. you know you’re not hungry, you just ‘need’ to have that ice cream or that candy bar.

Food craving is emotional and there’s not a lot we can do to control a craving once it’s upon us. we can learn to manage how we respond to the urges. Success on your healthy eating meal plan requires that you learn how to manage sudden cravings. when we are upset many of us go for ‘comfort foods’. those are the foods that taste good like ice cream, potato chips, cake and chocolate. first recognize that you want to eat, not out of hunger but emotions. by coming to grips with this and realizing that you might be taking several steps back in your weight loss journey, you might just curb the craving right there.

If that doesn’t work well enough, learn how to redirect that craving to something more constructive. take a walk, ride a bike, call a friend or go window shopping. Do something to take your mind off the stressful situation and therefore the need to eat. The last thing you want to do is be sitting at home alone stressed out. As you’re grocery shopping keep in mind that if you don’t have the ‘comfort foods’ in the house, you will not eat them. Don’t give yourself unnecessary temptation by keeping unhealthy foods around to snack on. Part of your healthy eating meal plan should be responsible grocery shopping.

If you still feel the need to snack, try some low calorie, healthy foods, such as:

Ritz whole wheat crackers
Fat free chips
sugar free jello or pudding
Meal replacement shake like Slim Fast
Low fat ice cream
Non fat / sugar free yogurt
Light microwave popcorn

The above snacks may not be the most nutritious but they’re better than eating a pint of Chunky Monkey(TM) or half of a Sara Lee cream pie. There are whole sections in grocery stores now dedicated to 100 calorie snacks. Most of these are just smaller portions of normal junk food but if you can discipline yourself to only eating one serving, they can be a good alternative.

Part of any healthy eating meal plan is the flexibility to once in a while give in to those strong urges. sometimes if you have a craving, it cannot be squashed with a substitute. if you’ve been sticking to your meal plan then you have earned the opportunity to give in to that craving.

An excellent way to guard against emotional eating is to have a good diet plan that allows you plenty of flexibility. With a healthy eating meal plan you should expect to lose one to two pounds per week.

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