Ask HN: Food hacks for eating well? - <AUTHOR> I keep getting cravings for foods (chocolate, nachos, soda, you name it) that I'm trying to avoid because I know they're unhealthy, and their more nutritional replacements aren't hitting the spot. I know that junk food is engineered to be craved, so I'm wondering if anyone has managed to make the good stuff crave-inducing. <comment><USER4> My wife has dealt with this problem. I did some research and here's what I found.

Carbohydrates (and pretty much anything else addictive) are "crave-inducing" because of a physiological reaction they cause. It triggers chemicals in your body and brain, not at all unlike cigarettes or other drugs. For refined carbs, it's insulin in the blood, which is followed by serotonin in the brain. The serotonin creates a relaxing effect.

It would be easy to engineer any food to have this effect by adding some sort of drug to it. Sprinkle some heroin on broccoli and you'll probably start craving that pretty quickly. Obviously though, you don't want that. What you want is to have no craving at all.

There's a good chance that your brain is not producing enough serotonin without the carbohydrates. This could be due to a number of things, lack of sleep, exercise, or even sunlight, too much stress, chronic depression. Sadly eating carbs produces bursts of serotonin followed by a deficit, so it becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. Once some other factor gets you into the cycle, the carbs themselves will keep you there.

Assuming there aren't deeper factors at play, the following may help:

1\. Don't eat any refined carbs for a month. Keep unrefined ones to a minimum as well.

2\. Get exercise, sleep, and spend time outside where possible.

As for #1, it's much easier to accomplish this at the grocery store than at home. A Snickers bar is a lot less difficult to ignore on a shelf at the store than on a shelf in your pantry. Never go to the store when hungry.

All of this assumes that you don't have some deeper mental health issue at play. Overeating is often a method of self-sabotage employed by people who are depressed, in which case you may need professional help. But I'd at least try cutting out carbs first because it's free and can't really hurt.

<comment><USER5> I've been curious about this for a while: how would one cut out carbs? They're the most easily absorbable form of energy available. Without carbs you would have to bring in energy in the form of fats which can't be good in the long run.

<comment><USER6> You don't have to cut out carbohydrates; just REFINED carbohydrates.

Refined carbohydrates cause an unhealthy "spike" in blood insulin levels. It's the insulin drop that is felt as a "craving." The body "craves" an insulin spike.

And fats aren't bad for you. You need them to live. In general, your diet should be around 40/30/30 Carb/Fat/Protein.

There are tons of articles out there on how to eat properly but I've been paying a lot of attention to Robb Wolf lately. He has been getting some pretty impressive results with his recommendations.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Your cravings are a signal from your body that something is wrong. You need to address the cause (whatever it is) and not the effect (the cravings).

Unfortunately, the cause may be difficult to determine.

Fortunately, there is a great hack that probably addresses the cause: fruit. Lots of fruit. Always raw. Preferably on an empty stomach. Not too much variety.

Fruit is loaded with just about every nutrient your body wants, many of them difficult to get any other way. Chances are that if you're not eating enough fruit, your body needs nutrition and these needs manifest themselves in your cravings.

It works for me. I've been eating lots of fruit for years, and the only time I crave junk food is when I haven't eaten enough fruit earlier in the day. For long coding sessions, I always keep plenty of the hacker's perfect snack, bananas, on hand: the almost perfect food, self-contained, needs no refrigeration or preparation.

[Written while munching on some delicious fresh sweet watermelon. No junk food could compare to this.]

<comment><USER8> The problem with this advice is it doesn't take onto count the Glycemic index of the fruit. Case in point - Watermelon and Pineapple. While it seems reasonable to say eat as much fruit as you want, both these items very high glycemic values - above 85 out of a 100 point scale.

Why does this matter? High glycemic foods cause a spike in your blood sugar - this causes hunger, among other things.

The best 'hack' to controlling your hunger is to manage your blood sugar level. By avoiding high glycemic value foods you will curb your hungry. By eating low GI foods you will eliminate your hungry whenever you want. low glycemic value foods have the opposite effect - this is the way to completely control your hunger as I do.

For example, I eat a handful (about 8-12) Almonds when I'm hungry (esp. at night). Almonds have a very low glycemic index, and just eating a small amount will stop your hungry/craving. But it's not just almonds - any low GI value food will have this effect.

Some other suggestions on great low GI snacks:

Apples, Cherries, Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries, Grapes, Peaches

Non-Fruit low GI:

Almonds (but not all nuts), Yogurt, Lean Chicken/Turkey, Tuna, Black Beans, Brown Rice (much better than White Rice),

High Glycemic Foods:

Refined sugars (aka anything baked), Watermelon, Pineapple, Jams, Bananas

Keep in mind you shouldn't try to eliminate these foods, but if you are cutting weight then it's good to avoid eating too much of a high GI item to manage your hungry. Personally I try to avoid them still (after losing/getting back into shape), because I never have a desire to binge out anymore.

Incidentally, I recently lost over 24 pounds in 6.5 weeks using these food hacks. I also started playing hockey again (one of the hardest, most thorough workouts out there it turns out), and that caused me to want to be in better shape, so now I'm working out a lot more too. I'd suggest adding in activities you love, hiking, mountain biking - whatever it is just be more active.

Anyway, I discovered this GI 'hack' from my biz partner who is a gym owner and a nationally ranked crossfit athlete, hope that helps!

Good luck!

<comment><USER9> Best comment I've read the entire thread - people don't realize that the GI of carbs is the most important factor to weight loss. Managing blood sugar and keeping a steady, non-spiking blood sugar level will result in pretty much automatic weight loss, without even having to diet.

My snacks are usually a small handful of almonds and a piece of fruit. Also, you can combine a somewhat high GI fruit like an apple with a handful of nuts, and the fat content will end up lowering the speed at which your body will absorb the sugar from the fruit, which evens out your blood sugar level. There are other fibrous foods that will do this as well.

<comment><USER10> Yet you contradicted him. Are apples low or high GI?

Thanks for both of your comments. They were enlightening.

<comment><USER11> <http://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/glycemic-index#values>

I'd say average. Bananas don't have an high GI either, it seems.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Only eat food at meals. Eat as much as you like at first, just do not eat except at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You may have to start taking a little more time for breakfast.

Within a couple weeks your body will be very acclimated to this schedule, and you will not want to eat except at meals. Once the cravings have stopped, focus on improving the quality of what you're eating. When you're cooking for yourself (and you should) play with how little oil and salt you can use and still enjoy your meal. Reduce portion sizes.

If the cravings return, maybe you eat a little more at your next meal. Maybe they're small enough (and you used enough to your new schedule) that you just don't. Habit is a very powerful thing. Right now, you're habitually snacking. Turn that on its head.

Oh, and it helps if you're eating with other people, especially if they eat quickly, because you will feel social pressure to wrap it up.

</comment><comment><USER13> From the foods you describe I'm guessing you are used to eating quite a large amount of sugar. You don't mention, for example, craving steak. (Mmmm....steak :)

If "nutritional replacements aren't hitting the spot" it might just be that you're ingesting fewer calories and are hence hungry. Junk food tends to be very energy dense so you have to eat a larger volume to maintain the same amount of energy coming in.

One way to blunt sugar cravings is to exercise. Particularly if you're a lard arse your insulin response can go out of wack. Exercising depletes muscle glycogen which can help bring things back to normal. You can find out a whole lot more here: [http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/training-the- obese...](http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/training-the-obese- beginner.html)

Another way to blunt sugar cravings is to fast. You'll find various people promoting "intermittent fasting". Basically, don't eat for about 12 hours. Fairly simple to say; may not be simple to do.

Also, make sure you're eating plenty of protein and fat. Don't just replace one pile of carbohydrates with another (e.g. nachos with bread). If you do this you'll stay on the sugar treadmill.

I hope that is useful.

</comment><comment><USER14> I think what makes food so difficult for hackers, in general, is having to _think_ about it all the time. We hate anything that constantly demands our attention and isn't a core interest. Such things will always seem impossibly difficult and ultimately be neglected.

Thus, the general strategy is to form _mindless_ habits that are healthy. Supplements are made for this kind of habitual consumption. They are simple to prepare, come in bulk, and are so boring that after a while, you don't even think of them as food; but you _do_ crave them every day due to the healthy feedback loop.

In your case, you probably want some kind of meal replacement shake that gives your body whatever it is craving with maximal collateral healthiness. I don't know what that is though, so you'll have to turn to science.

IMHO exercising more is always going to be easier than eating less, and the trick to that is the same: form monotonous habits. Repetition, obsession, and ultimately sweet oblivion.

</comment><comment><USER15> Hmmm, where to start:

\- Switch out junk food for healthier snacks (dark chocolate, nuts, (dried) fruit). Over time your tolerance for junk food will go down and you will want less of it;

\- If you really want a hit of junk food, just have it. There is no point dwelling on it. I will have one piece of sugary food with my coffee at around 10:00, which keeps me satisfied. Sometimes I binge out after not having a lot for so long (months), but when your tolerance for processed food goes down you will stop much sooner (through a mixture of guilt and physiological repulsion);

\- If you want sugar, eat 'good' sugar, i.e. fruit;

\- Have a bowl of healthy nibbles lying around to munch on when walking past. I always have grapes and nuts in the kitchen that I pick at;

\- Always eat breakfast. I have mine as soon as wake-up;

\- Cook your own meals and don't eat processed food;

\- Drink water rather than carbonated drinks;

\- Eat smaller meals more often. I try to eat something every three hours;

\- Follow the Japanese (I think) philosophy of eating until only 80% full, not bursting at the seams. For me the ideal amount of food is a cereal bowl worth of food;

\- Have a drink about 30 - 60 mins after you have eaten, not during a meal. This helps to top-up the fullness feeling and also allows food to be digested more efficiently before the digestive enzymes get diluted by a drink;

\- Don't try and justify eating rubbish by doing exercise. You are what you eat.

The end result is that people always tell me I am too skinny even though I eat a lot. I don't need to do that much exercise because my diet is good. When I do go out for dinner and/or drinks I can indulge without guilt.

<comment><USER16> > Have a drink about 30 - 60 mins after you have eaten, not during a meal. > This ... allows food to be digested more efficiently before the digestive > enzymes get diluted by a drink

I hear this claim a lot and it always sounds simplistic. The most reliable refutation a quick google turned up was:

<http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/digestion/AN01776/>

from a gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic. I quote:

"There's no concern that water will dilute the digestive juices or interfere with digestion. In fact, drinking water during or after a meal can actually improve digestion. Water and other liquids help break down the food in your stomach and keep your digestive system on track."

Food stays in your stomach as long as 5 hours. Water must get absorbed/passed on much more quickly. (I couldn't find numbers.) I imagine your stomach is pretty smart about maintaining a proper environment for digestion.

<comment><USER15> I am not sure if it's 100% true or not. I was told to do this by a nutritionist because I was drinking a pint at a time. I would drink this all in one go, but I imagine sipping would be fine. But drinking later ensures that I don't feel uncomfortably full.

But surely a large, sudden, water intake will dilute the stomach (not intestine where most of the nutrients are absorbed) juices and pH?

<comment><USER17> doc here: anything remotely close to normal water intake will not effect the efficacy of the digestive process. A big slug of cold water might be a skosh uncomfortable, but I've never heard of water intake causing diarrhea.

<comment><USER18> > A skosh uncomfortable

Are you military or ex-military, by any chance? They're the only other people I've ever heard use "skosh" (from the Japanese _skoshi_ , a small space or time). (I'm an Air Force brat and Navy vet.) EDIT: Looks like you might be a Navy doc?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> I've been able to eliminate cravings for the bad stuff which, for me, has had the same benefit as making the good stuff crave-inducing.

To do this I:

1\. Eliminated all artificial sweeteners. This meant quitting Diet Coke and using delicious local honey instead of Splenda in my tea.

2\. After 2 or 3 weeks of no artificial sweeteners I stopped eating sugary foods. No more candy, doughnuts, cakes, or other sweet baked goods. I still allow myself honey in tea and whole fruit, but no fruit juices.

Four months later—and without further dietary changes or the addition of exercise—I've lost more than 30 pounds. I still eat bread, pasta, cheeseburgers, fried chicken, etc. But I eat less because I have less appetite, and I never have a craving for sweet things. A month after quitting sugar I took a bite of crème brûlée to see if my tastes had changed. This dessert, which I had always loved, now seemed so cloying I could barely swallow it. Interestingly, whole fruit now tastes so much better than it ever has, with just the right amount of natural sweetness.

More importantly, this relatively slow rate of weight loss feels sustainable. The dietary changes also feel permanent. I'm not on a weight-loss diet, I've made my diet more healthy.

My untested hypothesis is that I had been so used to the overwhelming sweetness of artificial sweeteners that my tastes were altered such that I always craved sweet. By eliminating the hyper-sweet stuff, my tastes changed enough that I could more easily take the further step of eliminating refined sugar. I imagine this has resulted in more stable blood sugar levels and a corresponding decrease in cravings and overall appetite.

I'd love to hear about others' experiences.

<comment><USER17> > My untested hypothesis is that I had been so used to the overwhelming > sweetness of artificial sweeteners that my tastes were altered such that I > always craved sweet.

Not likely, though backing off on the sweets probably did improve your ability to appreciate the broader range of normal sweet. The reduction of cravings is probably more related to stable blood sugar.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Personally, I have to have clear, simple, and hard-edged rules when it comes to my eating diet. If I give myself any wiggle room, I find myself wiggling more and more until I'm back where I started.

I've had great success cutting back on junk by following Reinhard Engels' "No S" diet. <http://nosdiet.com/>

      No Snacks
      No Sweets
      No Seconds
      Except, sometimes, on "S" days

(Where "S Day" is defined as "Saturday, Sunday, or special cultural or religious event)

\--

If that doesn't work for you, here are some other hacks I or people I know have used with success.

\- remove all junk food from your home

\- don't buy any when you go grocery shopping

\- stop hanging out places where there are a lot of snacks

\- Set up a Seinfeld chain [http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds- productivity-se...](http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity- secret) (Personally I use <http://joesgoals.com> and keep a chart widget on my igoogle page)

\- if you simply _must_ snack... then figure out what snacks are compatible with your diet and put them on the top shelf of your fridge and in the deli drawer... the first place you look for a snack when you open the door.

\- tell all your friends that if they catch you eating junk food then you will give them $1,000 (or some other painfully large amount). (Just remember Inspector Clouseau and make sure you have a halting condition)

\- if your friends try to sabotage you then drop those jerks. It's not funny, it's not "a joke"... it's getting backstabbed by someone you thought you could trust. Life's too short to put up with that shit

<comment><USER17> As a doc, glad to see some people in the community thinking right about this. This is overall pretty good advice. I would add the best snacks are nuts and cheese, or other high-fat, high-protein, low carbohydrate foods.

I like the idea of a chart widget.

I would avoid most bread, including flat breads and crackers. The occasional tortilla for a wrap is ok. I would definitely avoid rice, pasta, and potatoes. If you eat sushi, consider sashimi.

Don't ask your spouse to provide the negative feedback, ambivalent co-workers might be best.

<comment><USER21> >I would definitely avoid rice...

Ever live in a Chinese household? If rice is so bad why do so many of the hundreds of millions of people who eat it 2 or even 3 times a day remain skinny and trim (Rice. Not the things that can go with it, not the ways it can be prepared or abused... just rice)? This is such a non-starter I don't even know where to... start.

<comment><USER22> Because Chinese people (at least the skinny+trim ones) have a single, small bowl of rice and eat tons of veggies and then a few pieces of meat.

Not the Amero-Chinese style half-plate of rice with a heaping of fatty meat cut, slathered in some sauce composed of half-salt half-cooking oil, with a few veggies thrown in for "color."

<comment><USER21> If the problem is fatty meat or oil and salt or other junk people eat with rice then why tell people "Don't eat rice"?

It isn't the rice that's bad, it's the stuff people eat with it yet I repeatedly see people say "don't eat rice" and frankly, I think that's a load of bull. Don't blame rice for bad American eating habits.

<comment><USER23> The problem isn't rice. If you're asking about optimal nutrition, rice is _one_ of the things to cut out, in addition to processed foods, sodium, sugar (the biggest problem), grains, etc.

More here:

[http://crossfitoptimumperformance.com/index.php?view=article...](http://crossfitoptimumperformance.com/index.php?view=article&id=317:paleolithic- nutrition&format=pdf)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> A good place to start is to remove "junk" from your diet. In the past, chocolate/candy etc was considered a treat and we should all go back to thinking that way.

Next up is hydration. If you are dehydrated, evenly slightly, it is easy to think you are hungry.

I also echo the views of those saying that sugar is worse than fat. Very refined carbs, such as white bread, are terrible due to the speed at which you metabolise it. Look into the GI of various foods and you may be surprised.

When you do have a meal, consider timing. The old saying "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and have a paupers dinner" is apt.

Also eat plenty of low carb, bulky foods such as onions, carrots, mushrooms etc. This will fill you up for longer, as well as giving numerous health benefits

</comment><comment><USER25> When I was about 10 until the time I was about 15 or 16 I would have 2 big cups of chocolate milk with extra sugar. I woke up one morning and decided I couldn't continue doing that or I would have some serious health issues down the road. The next morning I stopped drinking my milk that way, every couple of days I would cheat and have 1 glass, but then I would feel guilty and stop again. I'm 19 now and I drink one glass of 1% milk every breakfast, work out 3 times a week and I stick to a healthy diet that fits my goals.

Perhaps what you need is a lifestyle change and a new way of thinking about those cravings. I firmly believe in the saying "healthy body, healthy mind", and that shy's me away from anything unhealthy.

Of course I'm no saint so I choose 1 cheat day a week and I eat as much junk food as possible, after the day's over I don't want to look or eat any junk food until the next cheat day.

\--

I should also mention that at around 16 I became very interested in fitness and nutrition so I spent most hours reading up on it. It made me more aware that our bodies are just really REALLY beautiful machines, in order for it to run at full throttle you want to feed it the proper nutrients or else it will just chug a long.

</comment><comment><USER26> My method is to cook well. A large variability of dishes of different national cuisines can help you to avoid junk food. Eg for today's dinner I had a nice rizotto with fried onion, sweet pepper, aubergines and semi-milled rice (don't forget soy sauce though). It's tasty, it gives energy and after eating dishes like that it's hard to call nachos/soda 'cravings'. They really taste like junk.

</comment><comment><USER27> I agree with other posters that carbs and sweets are physically addictive. So when you try to cut back a little bit, you crave them. The good news is that the less you have them, the less you crave them.

1) Make it convenient to eat healthy

I keep the fridge stocked with pre-cut fruit front and center. It costs slightly more this way but makes it way more likely that I will actually eat it (and reduces waste). You can also do this with prepared baby carrots or celery if that floats your boat.

2) Don't keep junk food in the house

I don't keep soda in the house. I tried variations like keeping soda in the pantry so it would be harder to drink, but it didn't really work. What works is just not keeping it.

3) Workout right before going grocery shopping

Whenever I workout I feel fit and more like eating healthy food. If I go grocery shopping when I feel like a bum, I am more likely to grab unhealthy snacks. When I just worked out, my body starts craving fruit and healthy things so that's what I'm more likely to buy. Actually in general the more I work out, the more weight I lose and not just from the workout - I eat healthier because I don't want to waste all my hard work.

4) Find healthier options that you enjoy

Instead of eating straight bran cereal that I don't like, I found a semi- healthy cereal with dates and raisins. Not as good as the bran but not as bad as lucky charms. I got this mint chocolate chip ice cream from whole foods made out of coconut milk - it is amazing and way healthier than regular ice cream. For soda, you can try going natural or switch to something like unsweetened tea (still flavorful).

5) Meet your nutritional needs at meals

If you aren't meeting your nutritional needs at meals you will feel hungry for snacks. Try eating way more veggies and adding lots of protein (lentils, beans, spinach, tofu - I'm a vegetarian). Then at least when you start craving you'll know that it's not necessary.

6) Distract yourself

Sometimes I eat out of boredom or habit. I haven't really mastered this one, but turns out even if you're eating pretty healthy foot a lot you still gain weight, or don't lose it. I try to engross myself in my work or something with varying degrees of success.

Good luck!

</comment><comment><USER28> I often get cravings when I am nervous/stressed out and this is what I do.

I buy those large heads of lettuce. You can get three of them in a pack for 2.99 in Trader Joe's. Then I open the pack put one head on a plate and whenever I get a craving I peel off leaves one by one wash the leaves and eat them. I eat as much lettuce as I feel like, I do not try to hold my self. But I just leave the washed leaves, there's absolutely no dressing allowed.

This is great, because peeling and washing each leaf individually satisfies the nervous desire to do something. As somebody else said this cravings are usually mental, they have little to do with you being hungry, but mostly mean you are nervous about something so you need a distraction. And washing leaves one by one before you eat them provides sufficient activity to distract you and relax you a bit.

The other great thing about lettuce, is that they are good for you, and yet when you eat them without dressing they effectively provide no calories. The human stomach is not very efficient at breaking down raw greens so eating raw lettuce pretty much takes up as much calories as it gains. So you get necessary fiber and a bunch of other nutrients, but you get no extra calories.

And this means that you can eat as much as you would like without feeling any guilt. Also if you eat a lot, you will get a feeling of being full. The feeling will not last for long, but you can use this technique to last you until the time you get a regular meal and can satisfy your hunger with regular food and not junk food.

</comment><comment><USER29> I've been slowly trying to make myself eat healthier (ok, I lied, my wife is)...

Some of the things I've started eating regularly (and craving) that aren't all that bad: \- carrots and hummus. super cheap, filling, hummus makes it a little more exciting than plain carrots, but not as unhealthy as ranch. \- a jar of nuts. I prefer the lower-salt dry roasted peanuts to help satisfy my salty cravings. \- goldfish crackers. this is my splurge item. I usually get the whole grain ones to feel better about myself. \- i've also snacked on grapes, bananas, and other fruit as well. \- for "chocolate" cravings sometimes I'll have a fiber one/fiber plus bar. nutrition-wise, they're not all that good for you, but its better than a candy bar. and the repercussions of the fiber will at least make you think twice before eating it in the office...

Bottom line: Figure out what you actually _need_ and not just what you're craving. Your body is smarter than you think about knowing what you need. I can typically classify my cravings as either "protein" (hummus/nuts), "salty" (nuts/goldfish), "sweet" (fruit), or just empty (ie lunchtime and/or carrots/fruit). I don't need a whole lot of variety, so as you can see, my short list of regulars double-covers most of these which is just fine for me (and easy to keep handy at work).

<comment><USER30> Carrots + Hummus = Awesome. I discovered that a few weeks ago.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> At what time do you get the food cravings? I've struggled with food cravings at night all my life, and i see many go through it. I've tried lots of different things, but in the end a chinese lady told me that, it was because i wasnt eating enough for breakfast.

She told me to fill breakfast with protein and carbs and to eat like a king at breakfast time and like a prince at lunch.

Since i started doing that, my cravings at night have dissapeared, and i haven't had to come up with some formula to avoid junk food.

Try it ;-)

</comment><comment><USER16> I've always eaten reasonably well (comes from having grown up on a subsistence farm), so I have never radically changed my own diet, but I have a few (untested) thoughts:

1\. Get some food culture. It is easier to make good decisions when they are made in a larger context than "nachos bad vs. carrots good". Learn something about: where food comes from, diet and health (particularly in America: I'm assuming you're American), traditional food cultures, basics of cooking. For me this has meant reading the likes of Fast Food Nation and Michael Pollan, learning to cook some French, Italian and Asian dishes, lots of cookbooks, Alice Waters, Julia Child and other chefs, reading about diet/health studies like The China Study and the Nurses' Health Study, getting myself out to the local farmer's market, but those are by no means the only options.

2\. Practice what I like to call "meta-discipline". It is hard to control yourself when you're at home with some junk food. It is easy to control yourself when you're shopping at the grocery store. So don't buy junk and don't have it at home. Before you go shopping, be thoughtful about what you want to buy/eat, make a shopping list, and stick to it. (Usually I think of this in the context of work: it is easy to goof off at home. It is easy to walk to the library. It is hard not to work when you're at the library with a stack of math books.)

3\. The biggest improvement to my diet has come from cooking more. Mostly, this happened because I moved from a big city with a bunch of awesome restaurants to a little town with no good ones. I wish I had enacted the change sooner.

Good luck.

</comment><comment><USER32> As has been said, LOW GI is one way to limit cravings. Another good one is to add protein to your diet.

Protein stimulates the production or release of a hormone in your body called <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghrelin>. Which suppresses appetite.

Another food "HACK" is soup.

To that end, it appears that taking your meal and blending it with a good amount of water (thick soup is best) will trap moisture around the solids, take longer for your digestive system to work through and keep you feeling fuller for longer.

A couple of years back, there was a great show on the BBC called "10 things you need to know about losing weight", where both of those concepts were detailed with scientifical experiements. (a torrent existed last time i checked)

Oh. Another one that I just thought of is to make sure you never let yourself get hungry. When you're hungry, your body goes into a sort of "starvation mode" and sends signals to your brain that tell it to seek out foods of very high calorie density. Sugars and Fats. MRI tests have found that if you look at pictures of those foods when you're hungry they'll light up the pleasure centers of your brain. If you look when satiated, all food registers at about the same level of pleasure.

When you're starving, doughnuts are like sex.

</comment><comment><USER33> Try to buy foods with only one ingredient, avoid packaged foods with more than five ingredients, and don't buy anything with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Those three tips alone will have a profound effect on what ends up in your shopping cart if you currently buy a lot of unhealthy processed foods.

</comment><comment><USER34> I grew up in a household with unlimited junk food & dessert supply, and when I was 20, decided to rebel.

The trick is simply: don't buy junk food. Don't _buy_ it for at least 3 months, possibly forever. Keep it out of your house. Its easier to not buy it at the store, than not eat it when its around.

Once you've lived without sugar, salt & bad fats for a while, you stop craving them and its much easier to manage. If you need to snack, eat something with no flavoring - raw almonds or carrots for instance. Drink only water.

When I first made this change I actually went totally cold turkey on a 'no flavor' diet, where I intentionally only ate rice, boiled chicken, string beans, raw nuts and dried fruit for a month and only drank tap water. No joke. It worked for sure.

(Also chewing gum works wonders as well. You may just have an oral fixation)

</comment><comment><USER35> A simple tip: add fresh locally grown veggies to processed foods. For example, before making a can of soup or some HN-friendly Ramen noodles, chop up and cook veggies for a few minutes in very little water and then add the soup or noodles. Same with heating up a frozen dinner.

In my personal experience, when I go for long periods eating lots of healthy food, it is easy to fight off any cravings for crap-foods. Then if I am traveling and not eating so well, I find myself buying a occasional candy bar, etc.

</comment><comment><USER36> You will continue to have cravings for about a month after you give up shitty food. Your body associates a level of sweetness and/or saltiness with the amount of calories that it is getting. Modern foods mess up that calibration (disrupting grehlin and so on, watch "The Bitter Truth About Sugar" on youtube for the biochem explanation.) Anyway, you will eventually relent.

The hack for your motivation and behavior is an attitude adjustment. When you get the craving, you are feeling the craving and you are really getting a signal from your body. It takes some effort, but you can try to actively look at the signal as saying "this is the pain of detoxxing, no pain, no gain." If you take the craving as a signal that you are doing something right, then it can help motivate you to continue on the right path.

You can also look into recording the foods that YOU find are healthy and induce satiety disproportionate to their caloric load. Or, for some research about people in general, you can look here: <http://www.mendosa.com/satiety.htm>

My go-to satisfying things are frozen grapes and yogurt.

Edit: interesting research by Nutrition Data in estimating the "fullness factor" of foods: <http://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/fullness-factor>

</comment><comment><USER37> Eat slow-burn carbs at the start of the day. Plain oatmeal works best. Plain oatmeal sucks when you first start eating it, suck it up and use willpower for a month and then your taste buds adapt and it tastes good. Alternatively, mix fruit into the oatmeal and then it just takes on the taste of the fruit.

Fast burn carbs (sugary drinks with no fiber are the fastest) cause a spike in energy level followed by a crash, then you want more. If you've eaten slower burning carbs, then even if you have the sugary fast burn stuff later, you get less of a boost (because you've already got energy slowly releasing) and less of a crash (because you've still got some energy releasing). Thus it smooths out the addiction a little bit.

Also, for chocolate - if you're going to eat it, switch to dark chocolate. Again, it'll take you about a month to adapt if you're not used to it, but it's actually _much_ more rich and textured and flavorful and delicious than milk chocolate once you've adapted. It's really, really nice. Chocolate covered peanuts also give you some protein and a tiny bit of fiber so they're more filling if you have them. When I was training heavily, I'd eat one pack of dark chocolate peanut M&M's per day as a snack. No candy is healthy, but that's probably one of the healthier candies that's mainstream available.

</comment><comment><USER23> I used to have terrible cravings for crappy foods. I got rid by making two changes:

1\. Exercise _hard_ 5 times a week. I go to a local Crossfit gym which combines high-intensity sprinting with lifting and gymnastics (squats, pullups, etc). I've always been bored by gyms but at Crossfit you track your performance over time so you see how you're improving, and the workouts they give you are always varied. The reason Crossfit helped rid me of cravings is because I knew that if I ate crap I'd feel it during the next workout.

2\. Controlled my insulin. I used to eat pancakes for breakfast and be hungry / crash two hours later. The cycle continued throughout the day, often resulting in irritability, headaches, fatigue, loss of focus, etc.

The Glycemic Index ranks foods on a scale of 1-100, where 100 is pure glucose. When you eat high-GI foods, it stimulates an insulin response in the body so that glucose is removed from the blood and stored in the body as fat. When insulin isn't present, it's a cue to your body to get energy by burning fat.

It's the insulin spikes and drops caused by eating high-GI foods that cause you to binge on crappy foods and then crave them again when your insulin level drops.

When you control it by eating good sources of protein, good fats (nuts, seeds, olive and coconut oil, butter, etc), and low-GI foods instead of sugary processed stuff (most, but not all fruits and veggies)your cravings will disappear and you will lose weight since your body will be burning fat instead of glucose.

I know it's hard to believe, but I've seen the effects myself. I have pretty much no cravings (when I do have them, I'll eat some high-quality dark chocolate) and I've leaned out big time.

What I do suggest, though, is experimenting and seeing what works for you. You can read all you want about diet hacks, but while we do have the same systems, our body chemistry often responds differently. Try experiments that resonate with you and go with what works.

Also, here's a science-based PDF about changing your diet to reduce cravings, lose weight, and be healthier.

[http://crossfitoptimumperformance.com/index.php?view=article...](http://crossfitoptimumperformance.com/index.php?view=article&id=317:paleolithic- nutrition&format=pdf)

Good luck!

</comment><comment><USER38> * Keep a stack of almonds or cashew nuts next to your desk. That way it'll always be there when you get even a little hungry. This way you can stave off getting really really hungry which is usually the main problem in eating bad.

* Eat many meals with smaller portions. How I started doing this was to just eat half of whatever sandwhich, burrito I had bought and eat the rest after 3 hours. This is a good way to start getting into the habit of eating 6 small meals instead of 3 big ones.

* Start cutting down on processed food. Stick to meat, veggies and fruit. You dont need to be strict about it - just keep decreasing how much processed food is in every meal.

* Stop drinking anything other than plain soda, water, near 0 calorie drinks. The easiest way to do this is to get flavored seltzer water. 0 calories but still more "fun" to drink than water.

This will get you into a healthy state and keep you there. Losing poundage after this "state" is going to be harder but all it means is taking each of these rules to the extreme:

Ie only meat, veggies(the weird thing is you can eat as much of this as you want and you wont get fat) and fruits occasionally. Only water, seltzer. Eat every 3 hours with a bunch load of protein in each meal. This plus weight lifting will get you a six pack. Simple but not easy :).

</comment><comment><USER39> Not about cravings directly, but what works for me to reduce hunger pangs is to eat a spoonful of any kind of butter or milk fat. It gives me a nice base level of satiety until the next meal.

Anything sugary is only good for 45 minutes at which point the hunger returns in strength.

Now if only I can remember to do this every time.

edit: And no, my weight doesn't increase as a result of the fat-gobbling. It's the sugary stuff that does the damage.

</comment><comment><USER40> Prepare your fridge like a subway's counter: many ingredients ready to be inserted into the meal.

A lot of foods that are 'junky' are at one end of a spectrum of foods, too. Nachos, as per your examples, for instance, can be over-salted round chips with 'cheese' poured over them, or they can be orders of magnitude healthier.

If you've money, then you can easily find this out by switching the shops you eat in, but if you're not going out, then as has been suggested, buy things which have only one ingredient(which makes them -the- ingredients). Fresh or Canned, doesn't matter. Construct, rather than 'cheese'+chip nachos, real cheese(try two or three different kinds of cheese, too), a bit of meat (red meat or poultry..I would not suggest fish nachos) shredded lettuce, onions, etc, etc, etc. Those nachos are rather good for you. Still nachos, likely much more delicious, likely better for you.

The ingredients to that can be prepared in large quantities,and used in many other things. Nachos can easily become tacos or burritos, and if you add some loaf bread and leave some meats out, sandwiches.

</comment><comment><USER41> Knowing food basics about carbs, fats and protein, basic vitamins and minerals, calories and food digestion can help a lot. It seems like a miracle but once you know of what consists your food your brain magically adapts and doesn't sense any pleasure emotions once you eat something unhealthy. Food Inc. movie changed in similar way my view on processed food in supermarkets.

I can also recommend South Beach Diet for you ([http://www.amazon.com/South- Beach-Diet-Delicious-Doctor-Desi...](http://www.amazon.com/South-Beach-Diet- Delicious-Doctor- Designed/dp/B000FTWB1C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280157602&sr=8-2)). The book explains in simple terms how cravings occur (it mainly has to do with insulin levels and the digestion speed) and how to get rid of insulin (carb) spikes by replacing bad carbs and fats with good ones and balancing your diet. And exercise is my personal recommendation, don't know the physics but for some reason it improves digestion and overall feeling.

</comment><comment><USER42> I think it's great to find an appealing "bridge" that makes the healthy stuff appealing. I've personally always tried to make my diet as healthy and appealing as possible. Some of what I do:

For chips: bake chunks of potatoes in the oven with a lot of olive oil, some Tempeh and a bit of vinegar and salt.

Chocolate: get used to very dark chocolate, so dark it contains little sugar. This is actually very healthy. It is the sugar and any unhealthy oils, that makes a chocolate bar unhealthy.

Nachos: The beans in nachos are actually very healthy. Increasing your consumption of beans any way you can is good thing. Take a corn tortilla, heat it with olive oil, add lots of refried beans made with more olive oil, a _small_ amount of real cheese, and _lot_ of fresh salsa (fresh tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, etc). Quite healthy homemake nachos.

Sodas: I dilute fruit juice and add rose water, vanilla flavoring and vinegar or limon juice to a get soda-like taste that's not at all sweet (I think that even regular fruit juice is too sweet to be a soda substitute). Cafe Gratitude, among other health food restaurants, has some appealing sodas.

\-- The oil in foods is often what can give one a feeling of satisfaction. "Junks foods" exploit this along with the "sugar" rush. But oil isn't necessarily bad at all. Rather, what's important is getting a good supply of good oil (especially olive) and avoiding really bad oil like transfat.

Jeanne Calment lived to the oldest documented age ever - "She ascribed her longevity and relatively youthful appearance for her age to _olive oil_ , which she said she poured on all her food and rubbed onto her skin, as well as a diet of port wine, and ate nearly one kilo of _chocolate_ every week."

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment>

I'm not sure about the port wine though.

</comment><comment><USER43> I switched to cooking or preparing all of my meals, and it has been a big help against eating junk food for me. I think one reason is that there are two checks for eating junk food; one, I have to decide to buy it at the store and, two, decide to eat it from the kitchen once I have it.

Other things I've done which you might find useful:

\- replace soda with water: I drank a lot of soda in my teens and early college, but this was one of the easier things to change

\- have a sugar replacement such as fresh fruit available: if I eat something low in sugar (or maybe carbs in general?), particularly in the evening, then I get cravings for sugar. Eating fruit or toast seems to help this.

\- go to the grocery store only after eating. I'm not sure if this is a myth or real, but I do it in hopes that my immediate hunger won't drive my shopping decisions.

\- get enough sleep. Without enough sleep, my resolve is weakened by the afternoon, and I will want to snack rather than work.

</comment><comment> CO-OP I have a wonder soup which I make every week. I try to have a cup everyday. It is designed for general health, but particularly it is infused with cancer fighting foods. It's quite easy to make, just put the following ingredients in a blender:

Half Head Cabbage ! Carrot 3 Onions 2 cans diced tomatoes (any tomatoes will do) 1 red chilli 1 green chilli 3 cloves of garlic 4cm slice of ginger Some Jalapenos Cloves Rosemary Parsley Salt Peppercorns Tumeric

Blend this heavily, for best results use a cheese grater for the carrot and chilli beforehand.

Pop into a saucepan, add two (unchopped) sticks of celery (remove celery before serving) to leech while boiling.

You will need to boil until the spices and chilli overwhelm the cabbage taste. Play with spices as necessary.

Put in fridge and microwave a cup in the mornings or afternoons. The soup will be quite hot, thanks to the chillis, but the whole mix is very good for you.

</comment><comment><USER44> There are some great tips here. I will stick to basics: -Refined Sugar is bad, and even worse is fructose. Avoid it as much as possible. So avoid cola/pop (I cut it out years ago) and stop adding sugar/sweeteners to your tea/coffee. -Eat lots of fruit and don't worry which has a low GI or not. -Almost all unsalted nuts will be good for you. Almonds, Peanuts, etc. -Unsalted/Sugar Free trail mix will be good. -A blender, blueberries, banana (freeze it if you have to), and all natural (non hydrogenated) peanut, almond or sunflower butter should be your best friend. It is super quick to whip up a shake. Once you make this a habit you will want to rid the other stuff. Exercise is advisable as well as that will further lower your cravings. -Drink lots of water as it will sate your appetite.

</comment><comment><USER45> The way I look at it, you shouldn't try to remove individual food items from your diet, but figure out what type of foods it should be based on and focus on those. Let me explain.

I mostly follow a paleo diet ( <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet> ) which simplifying a lot is based on having plenty of fruit / vegetables accompanied by lean meats/fish.

If you go that route, whenever you're hungry, just have some more fruit/veggies and soon there won't be any room for the type of foods you mentioned nor cravings. Not only that, but there's no need to count calories anymore.

btw, there's nothing wrong in having junk food, as long as that is the exception and not the rule.

</comment><comment><USER46> Spending egregiously on fresh fruit, vegetables, and bread of the highest quality. As soon as I had a little money as a grad student, I decided to allocate an unlimited budget to spend on these particular items.

If you have unlimited budget to spend on fruit, you will find amazing blueberries, mangoes, etc. Or vine-grown tomatoes with sea salt and italian mozzarella. These healthy foods became for me such a great source of pleasure that they effectively crowded out junk food.

Counterintuitively, even with an unlimited budget, it's really hard to spend very much on these items, because there's a limit on how much you can eat. But the feeling of being supposed to spend egregiously made a big difference for me.

</comment><comment><USER47> A really "quick fix" for my cravings is to eat a low-carb protein bar or a protein shake, then eat a salad with ample dressing. Protein will stop hunger dead if you get the right kinds(each kind - whey, egg, soy, casein, etc. - processes at a different speed, thus a lot of protein blends incorporate a variety), the fiber of the salad helps you process everything else, and the fats in the dressing(which you should probably make yourself - <USER2> manufactured stuff is questionable) will hold most of the energy you need.

An alternative, if I don't have salad materials around, is to add a bit of olive oil to the protein bar/shake. It actually improves the taste quite a bit.

</comment><comment><USER48> My best tip is to equate the foodstuff to exercise equivalent. Ask yourself: How much exercise would I have to do to not gain weight by eating this junk?

A chocolate bar is roughly equivalent to, say, a 30 minute jog. If you think that what you're about to eat is as bad for you as a 30 minute jog is good (or that they basically cancel each other out), it doesn't seem quite so appealing. Then if you choose the apple instead, you've done the equivalent of a 30 minute jog better than the quantum-choice-alternative-less-disciplined- and-slightly-fatter-you.

Before you eat any junk snack, take a long look at the nutritional information and think about what it is going to do to your body.

<comment><USER49> 10 minutes of jogging burns an apple.

<comment><USER48> Okay, then you've done the equivalent of 20 minutes of jogging better. You know what I mean.

<comment><USER48> Downvoted? I honestly don't understand - what was jules' observation supposed to mean? I wasn't being snarky - I was trying to make sense of it!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER50> Eat healthy, sustainable, low GL foods, where possible. But that's not exactly feasible 24/7. So...

I find that it all starts when you eat when you're not hungry. This may be the product of a need to reassert control via some of the feedback loops described below, but suffice it to say, it often starts there. However, very often it begins via the fixed 'scheduling' of eating times in our society, despite the fact that we may need a variable # of meals per day and it may vary based on workout, stress, your mind, etc.

So here's the progression:

      (a) eat when you're not hungry
      (b) leads to not eating *enough* during a meal time
      (c) leads to feeling hungry in between meals.
      (d) leads to cravings and short-term satisfactions
      (e) further increases not eating *enough* during a meal time
      (f) goto (a) and (c)

Goto considered harmful. So the key to breaking the cycle is eating a large meal and then not eating until you're hungry. Everything in moderation, of course. But yeah -- older, wiser cultures, imho, eat one large meal a day. In the U.S., we tend to eat two (either big breakfast and big dinner, or big lunch and big dinner) or three. In Europe, sometimes they have just one (sometimes lunch, sometimes dinner). But the key is to remember that nature and evolution are in your favor. Listen to it -- i.e., listen to when you're hungry and when you're _not_ hungry. Although, again, while the body is pretty good at adapting to whatever the circumstance, where possible don't let social conventions confuse you... Social conventions are young on the evolutionary scale. Large meals, despite what people say, are as old as hunting/gathering (and note, this doesn't apply to strength training where you may be trying to gain weight, etc. -- or if you're a farmer, in which case a big breakfast is critical as you're going to burn more calories than many professional athletes -- but, imho, there is a confusion in the Midwest and a large part of our society about too many large meals -- i.e., people are no longer farmers but the social conventions haven't caught up).

Also, final caveat. I'm just a programmer trying to figure things out. Probably I'm a hypodiscontinuist (i.e., I fear the discrete breaks in otherwise continuous systems).

</comment><comment><USER51> I find exercizing regularly helps with cravings. After a good workout, I usually crave healthier foods. If you have trouble keeping an exersize routine, find an accoutability partner to keep you on track. Joining programs and using social commitments works well. Keeping physically active is much easier when you are doing it with friends, family, and coworkers. You can also try eatting meals or snacks more often. Your energy level will be more consistent and you will less inclined to eating foods that give you that quick sugar boost. Keep those healthy snacks visible and within arms reach to make this easier

</comment><comment><USER52> Basically nuts and fruits should be your choice, BUT if you work out regularly I think you can get away with a PB&J sandwich, hack it like this: get some dark bread (best would be self-made, otherwise check the bread from the store for unnecessary sugars [gluctose, fructose] -> avoid these), then get some organic all-natural peanut butter (no salt, no sugar, no extra fat, just peanut) and organic honey, most jellys have stuuupid amounts of additional sugar in it. Make some PB and honey sandwiches, eat them when your craving. Try to avoid them in the evening (go for fruits and nuts in this case)

</comment><comment><USER53> Here's a couple of things I've done over the years to make seemingly boring foods tasty:

-Make shakes. Almond milk, protein powder, berries and sugar free Jello. Buy like 5 different flavors and you can have strawberry cheesecake, dark chocolate, and butterscotch all for a snack without any of the guilt!

-Sauces will save your life. Pesto, hummus, sugar-free marinara, mustard, lemon, lime...mix and match all of these on various meats and vegetables for truly delicious meals.

-Lots of water. Water satiates you and is good for you. Always drink a ton of it to limit cravings. Green tea and mint tea are also shown to curb cravings.

</comment><comment><USER54> When I went low-carb for awhile, I made a point of being full all the time. It's hard to crave anything when you're already full. Of course this only works because with a low-carb diet (in my case at least) I achieved the desired effect (improved cholesterol counts) despite the fact that I was seemingly eating more food. For the record I lost weight as well, although that wasn't the goal. Here's more info if you like. [http://gcanyon.posterous.com/?sort=&search=cholesterol](http://gcanyon.posterous.com/?sort=&search=cholesterol)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Wow! First off, thank you for all of the very well informed responses!

I had no idea there was so much to be known about eating better, and why we eat the way we do, especially with regards to carbohydrates.

I should probably add that it's not just bad carbs I'm out to cut. I want stuff like steak/bacon/pepperoni pizza/nachos/taco bell all the time, and I know that with my genes it's only a matter of time before that sends me to the hospital.

Also, I'm quite skinny at the moment, apparently regardless of what I eat...so I'm not sure if that's a sign of a contributing factor

Again, Thank you so much for the information!

</comment><comment><USER55> I have heard a lot about not having your biggest meal last in the day. Something I do when I have late sleeping hours is get up in the afternoon, have some coffee and toast. Then have dinner at the same time as the rest of my household who have much more normal hours, so the biggest meal is halfway through my day. Then later on I try to fit in some exercise and either have a health shake or fruit, something light later on.

My biggest problem now is probably energy drinks, have cut back but still enjoy them regularly.

</comment><comment> Greg-Ord I find herbal teas helpful in reducing my craving for sweets. A homemade herbal iced tea (something with berries so it's somewhat sweet) is a good alternative to water all the time too.

</comment><comment><USER21> I have to keep it simple so here is what I do:

No soda. Ever. I drink unsweetened iced tea instead.

No unhealthy snacks on hand. Keep bananas, watermelon and apples instead.

Most important because I eat tons of them, roasted almonds. I keep boxes of these on hand and roast them myself (15 minutes at 350 degrees).

For dinners, try to eat more fish.

For breakfast try to eat unsweetened things (I eat unsweetened oatmeal that I make tasty by cooking in milk, not water, and adding raisins, blueberries, cinnamon and cloves).

Combined with biking more this has helped me lose 30 pounds in three months.

</comment><comment><USER56> I just wanted to add something to the discussion here.. A lot of sugar is definitely harmful to you, but is it sensible to complete avoid sugar everywhere as if it is poison? Isn't all this a bit hyped up? Example: I don't drink any processed juice or soda. But I do take sugar in coffee, and I eat chocolates once in a while. Is there any good reason for me to cut down on this sugar intake too? (and replace it with other so called "healthy alternatives" like those with Aspartame?)

</comment><comment><USER57> my diet is basically corn tortilla+black beans+chicken\salmon\eggs+lettuce\avocado\tomato. DIY mexican is the most efficient thing I've come up in terms of cost, time, health, & taste. I add lime, cumin, and red pepper for more flavor.

If you have sugar cravings just eat fruit instead, mangos kiwis or clementines are the best IMO. Any other effects junk food has besides a blood sugar spike is simply a psychological association you automatically retrain over time.

</comment><comment><USER58> I replaced ice cream with soy smoothies. Frozen fruit, vanilla soy milk, vanilla yogurt, and vanilla bean paste. I put all of the ingredients in a large glass and mix them with a hand blender. Easy to make and clean. The bean paste makes it taste more like an ice cream shake. I also combine peanut butter, cocoa powder, chocolate syrup, soy milk and yogurt for a chocolate alternative.

</comment><comment><USER59> Fat, sugar, and salt. The former head of the fda has been writing about how we are biologically predisposed to get even hungrier and crave more when we eat something with fat sugar and salt together. That's why applebees can serve a 1500 calorie appetizer that they know will make you even hungrier. So you can make vegetables and fruits a crazy craving by following the same logic.

</comment><comment><USER60> -always eat breakfast

-never eat too much

-never add sugar to anything

-don't use too much salt

-eat your salad with nothing but a little olive oil

-eat as little processed food as possible

-eat as little sugary food as possible

-never drink soda

-never go to mcdonalds etc

-never go to starbucks

-enjoy what you eat! :)

<comment><USER61> Why starbucks, what is wrong w/ coffee?

<comment><USER62> It's not the coffee, it's the gallon of milk they add to it

<comment><USER63> What is wrong with milk ? .

<comment><USER60> nothing, imho. Imho the problem is all the sugar they add to their frappuccinos etc, not milk.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER64> The most surprising hack I've heard about it from Seth Roberts, the self experimenting UC Berkeley professor.

He says that drinking a glass of water with three spoonfuls of refined sugar or refined oil midway between meals suppresses appetite. People say it works.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/11/magazine/11FREAK.html>

</comment><comment><USER65> Pour a bowl full of frozen peas. Run hot water over them until the peas no longer freeze together and the water stays hot. Let them sit like this for a couple minutes. Dump the water off. At this point they will taste like they just came out of the pod. Easy, quick, health, and tasty. I do this with frozen corn too.

</comment><comment><USER49> Personally I eat as much junk food as I want, with one exception: don't eat junk food when you're hungry. One piece of chocolate isn't bad but if you are hungry it's more likely that you'll want to eat a whole bar. Just make sure that you always have an alternative for when you're hungry (fruits for example).

</comment><comment><USER66> Keep a spreadsheet of everything you eat. Include the total calories. Pick a max calories per day. This will make you start to think in terms of good taste per calorie- "that snickers bar looks nice, but I'd rather have an entire meal".

</comment><comment><USER67> I've sought out healthier substitutes so that I can 'bait-and-switch' my cravings.

My best switches: \- PBJ with sliced strawberries instead of jelly and on wheat bread (I actually like it better this way) \- Diet Dr. Pepper (best Diet soda I've found)

</comment><comment><USER68> I've been building a recommendation engine that takes what you eat and gives healthier substitute recommendations. <http://foodmarkit.com>.

Still in alpha mode, any feedback would be appreciated.

</comment><comment><USER69> The easiest rule of thumb is to only eat from the outside edges of the grocery. All of the food that has limited shelf life is there for easy egress and all of the long lasting processed stuff is on the interior.

<comment><USER70> Good rule of thumb, but I would have to break it for tinned tuna. And muesli.

</comment></comment><comment> mkr-hn I eat a bowl of oatmeal with a little butter and brown sugar for breakfast if I found myself having a lot of cravings the previous day. That usually covers me for a few days.

</comment><comment><USER71> 1) Eat in small "chunks" and often... about 5-6 times a day.

2) Take water often so that you never fill thirsty.

3) Say a big NO to eating unhealthy food whole days.

4) Get more than 25 grams of protein daily.

5) Enjoy the healthy life.

</comment><comment><USER72> Buy organic chips. Figure out WHY you are craving specific things and address that underlying issue.

Some examples:

For me, drinking lots more sodas at work is usually due to an allergic reaction to something at work that day. I have generally gotten myself healthier and generally consume less caffeine because of it, which is something chocolate and soda have in common. A craving for chips can be due to a craving for salt which can suggest adrenal problems. A good quality sea salt and other nutritional support for the adrenals and thyroid can help.

<comment><USER70> > A good quality sea salt

Is there often a difference between various sources of NaCl? ;)

<comment><USER40> You don't exactly get pure substances in the world. Soo, very much so, there are differences. Get a couple sorts of salt. Dead sea, Mediterranean, and the generic stuff, and you can certainly tell. Whether or not they have health benefits...

<comment><USER70> So the body is craving for salt, or craving for impurities?

Feed it the one it needs. If the body needs impurity x, which is tastily packaged with salt product y, advising to eat y seems like the sort of behaviour the OP is trying to avoid.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER73> Learn how to cook and learn enough about nutrition that you can cook relatively healthily. Goes a long way toward improving your diet.

</comment><comment><USER74> Stop thinking about every meal like a treat. Sometimes you just gotta stuff some fresh spinach in your face.

</comment><comment><USER75> paleo diet. start here:

<http://www.paleonu.com/get-started/>

<comment><USER76> Any personal experience you can share?

<comment><USER75> I've been enjoying a paleo lifestyle for the past three years. I'm leaner, stronger, and healthier than ever. I find it easy to fast for 18 hours, and do so most days, then I eat my fill of meat, veggies, and a bit of fruit. While fasting I have good concentration and energy. I tend towards a high fat, low carb paleo diet, but in the summer I increase my fruit and veg intake. Given that I don't eat out at work, I make the majority of my meals myself. My mainstay protein is ground beef which is cheap and delicious. I don't follow any fitness routine, but often go for lunchtime walks and sometimes I swim on the weekends. The most understated benefit in my opinion is the freedom from modern dietary dogma. Many of my family and friends are also doing amazing with this way of eating. Feel free to me ask specific questions. Take care.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER77> The answer to this question tends to greatly depend on whether you overeat / eat in an otherwise unhealthy way such that it's causing you harm or if you merely don't like the idea of eating junk, so you want to cut back.

For instance, I'm just finishing a medically supervised protein-sparing modified fast where I lost 70 pounds in 5 months by eating only prescription liquid foods and only about 800 calories a day. This has the effect of "rebooting" your cravings. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to some fresh vegetables and fruit right now, and I used to be a big junk food craver. Having said that, you'd think 5 months of not eating anything except protein pudding would be difficult, but it was incredibly easy, and I enjoyed it a lot. And it mostly unscrambled the signals to my brain that said, "Eat all the cookies you can find," that ran 24 hours a day.

If that sounds like you, and your weight or other stats like triglycerides / cholesterol / liver enzymes / blood sugar are unhealthy, you should see a doctor and ask about medical weight management right away. I can tell you from experience that it's a lot easier to lose 20 pounds than it is to lose 70, so you can't win by waiting. Also, a great book on the subject is David Kessler's "The End of Overeating." He goes into great detail on the psychological and chemical triggers that induce hypereating.

Now, on the other hand, if you're just prone to snacking on junk in fairly moderate ways, you ought to exercise a little environmental control:

\- Shop at farmer's markets for veggies and corner grocers for milk and staples.

\- Don't go to the supermarket. If you do go to the supermarket, only shop the aisles with wholesome foods, and never buy anything on the eye-level shelves (the worst, most processed stuff).

\- Don't bring junk home. If you buy something junky, buy only one serving. If it only comes in multi-serving packs, take one serving out, then freeze the rest. Make it harder to dig into.

It's also useful to keep records of your eating. If you have an iPhone, I had a lot of success with the app LoseIt. Studies show that people keep off 50% more weight when they keep records than when they don't. If you're mindful of what you're eating and how you're eating it, you create brief openings in which you actually have a choice to eat or not rather than to just eat mindlessly. It also helps to know what macronutrients (fat, sugar, protein, fiber, salt) you're consuming and in what balance. If it's out of balance, shop in a way that balances it out.

Consider foods that induce satiety. Protein has the highest satiety value - <USER3> you have to snack, try a protein pudding or shake first, let it settle in your stomach, and see if you're still hungry. Add water on top of that, because thirst often feels like hunger.

Finally, if you seem to be resolving your hunger, but you still feel an overwhelming urge to eat in spite of not being physically hungry, see a doctor or psychiatrist who specializes in eating behaviors. Most people who compulsively eat have no idea they're doing it because A) it snuck up on them over a number of years and B) everyone around them does it too (consider how many startups we've seen full of thin young folks who turned into chunky folks while they worked together).

Good luck!

</comment><comment><USER78> Your body craves what it is used too. It takes some length of time before your body adjusts what it's used to. In my experience this is 1-2 months depending on how radical the change. Every month you go on with a given diet seems to amplify the effect.

So the real trick is to spend 1 month suffering (don't eat a single bit of candy) and then make the much easier choice to limit yourself to some reasonable amount (1 per week, for instance).

<comment><USER79> A few years I cut out all processed/fast foods and at first it was hard. My Body was used to easy to digest, high fat, high sugar, high salt foods. Now I find those foods unpalatable. I'm sure over time I would get used to them again.... and maybe even crave them.

BTW I'm not claiming I'm healthier now, I'm just saying it's easy to get addicted to those foods but as you say a month or so of avoiding it helps to break the cycle.

</comment></comment><comment><USER80> "Food hacks" nooooooo. Please, no more, I can't take it anymore. Let's all "hack" our diets so we're healthier.

Y'know what I did last night? I hacked my eyes. That's right, these glasses right here are hacking my eye-sight. Wicked.

When did hacking start meaning rational common sense? Or just the verb of putting effort towards something? I'm not in love with the word hack, but it's annoying when I want to figure out how to hack my home router and there are articles about eating more fibre so you can hack your stool.

<comment><USER17> because the social norm is so deranged, the good advice could be repeated 1000 times without ill effect.

</comment></comment><comment><USER81> The best thing you can start with is to always have simple-to-prepare, healthy snacks on hand. See this excellent, free minimalist "cookbook" - <http://thestonesoup.com/blog/2010/06/a-free-e-cookbook/>

Eat lots of vegetables. If you don't like them, there are ways to teach your body to like them, with calorie signalling - if you persistently eat something, along with a high calorie load, your body will be conditioned to like it. (As a reward system.)

Also, seriously, try the Shangri-La diet. Despite the redonkulous name, it's based on scientific research that _really_ strongly suggests that the body's hunger/craving systems are controlled like a thermostat, that you can reset by giving the body the right kind of "food cue" as to the environment around it/food available. Research paper:

<http://www.sethroberts.net/science/>

You're not craving chocolate, nachos & soda because your body needs something - you're craving them because sugar creates an addictive cycle in some people. (Not all - SOME.)

You should also see a doctor and get your fasting blood sugar checked because it's entirely possible that you have a blood sugar-related disorder, aka Syndrome X, insulinimia/insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and so on.

</comment><comment><USER82> Use real butter, in moderation.

It gives you the fats and nutrients your bodies crave, and in moderation, it won't harm you.

It also makes virtually anything tasty, including terrible bodega mac n cheese.</comment>


Show HN: SearchIT – A simple Chrome extension to make searching easier - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/IanBurgan/SearchIT <comment><USER2> It's really useful, but I would add the highlighting of the search query in the result page, sometimes you search for something and you still have to ctrl+f the text in the page.</comment>