8 Ways To Overcome Cravings During Your Fasting Window
You know fasting is healthy. It increases your health and longevity. It will help you get past that weight loss plateau. But maybe you are struggling, you keep succumbing to hunger cravings. How can you curb hunger cravings when fasting?
Hunger doesn’t make fasting difficult. Your reaction to the hunger does. If at the first sign of hunger you seek out food, you need to ask yourself an important question: Do you control your hunger, or does your hunger control you?
By controlling your hunger, you can strengthen your fasting practice. The most important aspect of controlling hunger is to accept it. Acknowledge before you begin your fast that hunger will rear its ugly head, and that it won’t hurt you; it will only try to intimidate you.
Fasting and feeding is yin and yang. The human body needs a balance between the two for optimal health. Most people clearly suffer from too much yang (feeding) and not enough yin (fasting).
Hunger Pangs While Practicing Intermittent Fasting
How many times have you heard people saying that they are fasting to get healthy, and you immediately feel sorry for them? The first thing you think after that is, “I will never stop eating, this is not for me, there must be another way.”
However, researchers have found that there are certain fasting methods that may actually increase your health, which includes the health of your heart. Ongoing research is done in this regard, but you can take note that fasting might just be a good thing for your health.
What about when you start to feel hungry? How do you manage to get past that discomfort so that you can use fasting to be healthy? We take a look at why you feel hungry while fasting.
What Causes Hunger?
Your body and brain are so good at encouraging you to seek fuel you can easily take in more energy than you need. Your “food-gut-brain-axis” controls your hunger. It’s a complicated system involving your hormones, physiology, and your psychological response to food.
Your hunger begins in your gut. When your stomach, large, and small intestine empty after your last meal, the hunger hormone motilin is released. When motilin enters your system, it triggers the hormone ghrelin, which can release when you anticipate mealtime, whether you’re full or not. The expectation of food makes you hungry, rather than the time of day. No doubt you’ve felt hungry when you’ve seen delicious food, or when you thought your meal was too small or unsatisfactory.
This drive to eat despite an energy deficit is called “hedonic hunger,” and it isn’t well understood by science. But it’s likely related to the reward system in your brain, which interferes with your perception of metabolic satiety. You experience hunger on a physiological level and psychological level. Thankfully, there are effective ways to curb both.
How To Curb Hunger Cravings.
Before we get into the practical tips that will help you curb hunger cravings when fasting, let me just remind you that fasting will help you get into ketosis. When you are in ketosis, your body uses ketones instead of glucose for energy and you feel much less hungry. Remember, no matter what, time is your ally.
1. Drink plenty of water.
The simplest, easiest, and healthiest method to stave off hunger while fasting is to consume adequate amounts of fluid, especially water. Much of the time, hunger is actually thirst — so you should reach for some water. In fact, filling up on good, clean water will be your number one weapon to combat hunger.
Although the recommended amount of water is eight glasses (or 64 ounces) per day, most people fall far short of this amount, drinking only two-and-a-half glasses (or 20 ounces) per day, which is 58 gallons of water, on average, a year.
2. Reduce stress, get a good night sleep and avoid alcohol.
Poor sleep, stress and alcohol have a profound effect on appetite as they disrupt hormone and blood sugar control.
You can side step these sugar and hormone induced hunger pangs by improving sleep quality, practicing stress reduction techniques and limiting alcohol consumption.
To improve sleep quality, makes sure your bedroom is cool and well ventilated; stick to a regular bedtime, that’s not too late; block out noise and light; don’t eat at least 3 hours before bed; avoid screens and blue light an hour before bedtime; wind down with a book; incorporate exercise into your day.
A good night sleep will certainly have a positive, knock on effect to your stress levels. For an extra bit of calm and serotonin (happy hormone), you can also practice stress reducing techniques like yoga, meditation, exercise, journaling and counselling.
Try to limit alcohol consumption as much as possible, but particularly the day before a fast, to prevent erratic hormones and blood sugars.
3. Drink warm liquids.
Warm beverages like coffee and tea (without sugar) also help you get past a hunger pang when it appears, to keep you going for however long is left of your fast.
Coffee — The chlorogenic acids found in coffee have the potential to control hunger and, therefore it can help curb the hunger you experience while fasting.
Tea — Black tea and herbal tea are good methods to suppress hunger cravings, but green tea has a more lasting effect. Experts believe that green tea contains a compound that will help to reduce the appetite and also prevent you from feeling hungry.
Apple cider vinegar — Drinking apple cider vinegar is a natural appetite suppressant and helps keep those pangs away on your eating break between your last and first meal. It also helps your digestive system by preventing bloating and gas. Mix one tablespoon of ACV in a glass of water.
4. Stay busy.
You may know boredom causes you to overeat, and this emotional hunger is related to hedonic hunger. You tend to reach for a snack to fill your time or feel better, whether you’re hungry or not.
Stay busy. You’ll be less bored, and hunger your mind won’t be occupied with how hungry you are. So, structure your fasting hours around activities when you can. Do some housework instead of eating breakfast, or schedule a work meeting when you’d typically eat lunch. You’ll forget about your hunger, and you’ll be active instead of reaching for a snack.
5. Go for a walk.
Walking briskly maximizes the fat-burning effects to be had when you’re fasting. A brisk walk also promotes a healthy heart and supports your overall well-being. Brisk walking is without a doubt one of the healthiest things you can do. And, so is fasting. So go ahead and combine the two.
Brisk walking, like most other forms of exercise, can also help to keep your hunger levels low. It does so not only by providing an enjoyable distraction, but also by encouraging your body to start burning stored body fat as a means for energy.
6. Replace electrolytes and eat salt.
Electrolyte loss is a common and normal response during intermittent fasting. As a result, you may experience dry mouth and thirst, despite your effort of drinking gallons of water. These symptoms can be uncomfortable and make you feel hungry (thirst can often be confused with hunger).
Electrolytes are integral for health and wellbeing, so we urge you to keep levels in tip top shape, before symptoms set in. To replace electrolytes, you can drink bone broth and salt food liberally during your eating window.
A pinch of salt is also a great way to cleanse the palate and dampen hunger. Use a small bit at a time, a few dabs on your tongue, and let it work its magic — in no time, hunger will vanish, along with that horrible coating in the mouth.
7. Practice mindfulness!
Mindfulness can help you get back on track with your body’s signals. Often it’s enough to stop for a moment when your belly starts to rumble and ask yourself:
“Am I really hungry right now or do I just need a break? Or a nice chat, a hug or something else?”
That’s how you learn to recognize your real needs.
8. Stay away from food.
Research shows easy access to food, and even pictures of food can cause you to feel hungry. Create a no-food environment to reduce your hunger when you’re intermittent fasting, and keep your work area food free. When you’re home, limit food to the kitchen and create areas of your home where there’s no eating allowed.
With all that said, if hunger feels too overwhelming, you may need to adjust your fasting regime. Fasting should feel relatively effortless, comfortable and fit into your life.
The Take-Away.
Prepare for hunger, but don’t be afraid of it. I promise you, hunger will not be as bad as you anticipate. With these tips and tricks under your belt, you will be able to quickly cast aside hunger pangs and reach your fasting goal.
Bear in mind that fasting disrupts our conditioned appetite, so the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Before you know it, fasting will be an instinctive, natural part of your day, as you respond to the rhythm of true hunger, rather than appetite.
