How to Kick a Craving Right in the Nachos
Give yourself a fighting chance at staying on track!
Cravings. We all get them. Sometimes they’re totally acceptable, like my craving for some delicious blueberries. But other times, that craving will totally derail you and make you feel like crap if you buckle to it. Like when you dive into a giant, family-sized bag of Doritos right before bedtime. Or when I pull into a drive-through after work, even though I have a perfectly good meal waiting for me at home.
Cravings and food urges seem to come out of nowhere and ruin a perfectly good day.
If you’re like me, letting the wrong craving win opens the floodgates. Give that inner pig an inch of cookie, and then he wants a footlong hot dog. The squealing doesn’t stop until I’m stuffed.
But.
There are ways to defuse a craving.
You don’t have to be at the mercy of your inner pig. When he squeals for treats, you can try one of these methods to get him to shut up and go lie in the mud.
For most of us, we only need to withstand a craving for about 10 to 15 minutes, and it will subside.
Give these a try. Some will work for you, and some won’t, but we’re all individuals and need different tools in our toolbox.
What if you tell yourself, “Okay, before I decide to have that [pizza/cookie/industrial-sized bag of Doritos], I will try one of Tim’s Anti-Craving Tricks, and then I’ll choose!” Then, if you still decide you are going all in on that craving, you took control and MADE IT A DECISION.
HI. I’m Tim from Time2Thrive, a newsletter that helps people find simple ways to get healthier, eat with intention, and care for their bodies.
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Tip #1. Drink More Water
Thirst can be confused for hunger, especially if your body is confused by years of low hydration, processed food, addictive eating, or dieting. We don’t always understand the body’s messages. Are you hungry, or maybe just thirsty? One way to figure it out is to get a glass of water.
The more dry, powdery, processed foods you eat, the more water you need. When we chew up bread, cookies, crackers, biscuits, bagels, pizza crust, or croutons, these foods need more moisture for your guts to process. We’re making a slurry inside. If there isn’t enough moisture, you’re gonna plug right up!
Where does the water come from? It gets sucked right out of the gut and surrounding tissues. That can dehydrate you. Just imagine, you’re basically shoveling in powder, and your body has to come up with a bunch of water to deal with it.
That water could have been used for other things. Like hydrating your cells. So, depending on what you eat, you'd better be making up for it by drinking the good stuff: H2O.
Most people could use more fluids. Especially if you are a frequent caffeine drinker. Chances are high that you are suffering from H2O deficiency. Fortunately, this supplement is super cheap and doesn’t have any side effects. Except extra bathroom breaks!
Tip #2. Eat Fiber & Protein Early
What if there were a way to stop the craving from ever happening? It’s a well-researched fact that veggies and protein early in the day will keep your blood sugar and insulin levels from spiking. No spike, no craving.
It all starts in the morning. You’ve been programmed to eat the SAD diet, so, of course, you grab that cupcake, or that bowl of cereal, or that toast. But guess what, there’s no protein in a dumb old cupcake, or a bowl of insidious breakfast dessert flakes. Even a cereal that sounds healthy has been mulched, chemically treated, and twisted so far from being food that it should be a crime.
These foods are all carbs and sugar! If it comes in a box, bag, or packet, has a long list of hard-to-pronounce chemical ingredients, and could be eaten 10 years after the apocalypse, then it isn’t safe to eat AT ALL.
Instead, try to get in some whole food fiber, protein, and healthy fats. Skip the carb-heavy breakfast, and you will stay full longer, maintain stable blood sugar levels, and get all the nutrients your body needs.
This is a no-brainer, people! Protein + fat slows digestion, and fiber keeps glucose from spiking.
Here’s what this would look like:
Protein first (20–40g target)
Add fat to stay full
Fiber from plants/seeds (not cereal)
Keep sugar low (look out for yogurts, smoothies)
Breakfast Ideas:
Veggie Omlette - Eggs (protein + fat)
Spinach, mushrooms, peppers (fiber)
Feta or goat cheese (fat + flavor)
Avocado on the side (healthy fats)
Greek Yogurt Protein Bowl
Plain Greek yogurt (high protein)
Chia seeds or flax (fiber + omega-3s)
Walnuts or almonds (healthy fats)
Small handful of berries (keep sugar low)
Add cinnamon to help with blood sugar control
Avocado and Eggs
2–3 eggs (any style)
½–1 avocado
Optional: toast
Cottage Cheese Bowl
Cottage cheese (high in protein)
Cucumber, tomatoes, or peppers (fiber)
Olive oil drizzle (healthy fats)
Seeds or nuts
Tip #3. Distract Yourself
Are you hungry and snacky, or are you just a little bored? Maybe you could distract yourself from the craving by doing something for a while to pass that 15-minute mark.
Go for a walk (but not past a store with junk food!)
Play with your dog or kids
Listen to music
Do a mini-workout
Call a friend (gasp! A phone call?) and catch up
There are thousands, if not millions, of interesting activities that don’t require eating.
Tip #4. Preplan Your Meals
One thing that works for some of us is to have a meal plan for the day.
For example, this morning I took 2 burger patties out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge, and I already have cut veggies and dip ready to go for my after-work snack. So when I leave work, I have everything ready for me to cook.
There’s no need to listen to my inner pig squealing when I pass through the bullshit corridor of fast food and convenience stores all the way home. I can just keep driving because everything is in place and waiting for me.
Meal prepping on the weekend can also be a good way to set yourself up for success.
Tip #5. Avoid Extreme Hunger
This goes along with tip#2. If you eat a sufficient amount of nutrient-dense foods early in the day, your body won’t be searching. Get that protein, fat, and fiber in you!
It’s important to know yourself. If you skip a meal, do you tend to go whole hog on the fast food to compensate? Maybe meal skipping is a trigger for you. Once you know about it, once you’re aware, you have a chance to break the cycle.
Eating more (of the right foods) can help you avoid eating too much (of the wrong foods.)
Tip #6. Reduce Stress Levels
Most of us eat more when we’re stressed. Once we get past a certain threshold and our willpower and give-a-fuck are beaten down, we start shoveling in the food. Anything handy goes down the hatch, especially if it has salt, sugar, and fat. So having a stress reducing hack primed and ready to go can help dodge a craving.
Breathing exercises
A ten-minute guided meditation
Walk outside
Do something you enjoy for a few minutes, like a mindless phone game
Connect with a friend
Find a clown or a mime and beat them black and blue with a bunch of bananas (don’t actually do this! Unless you put it on TikTok and share the link)
Tip #7. Get More Sleep
Sleep-deprived individuals are more snacky than those who get plenty of rest. I know it isn’t easy, but if you make sleep a priority, you might be able to fit in more. When you feel good and aren’t sagging with tiredness, you won’t need that snack to keep you upright.
“Ok, Tim, but how?”
Start by reducing caffeine intake. And don’t be that guy who tells me, “I can drink a pot of coffee at 9:00 PM and still sleep, no problem!” Because, you’re full of it. It does affect you. You’re just too numb to know.
Cut the caffeine early, stop eating by 7:00 PM, top up your magnesium, slow down on the booze, do boring things at the end of the day like reading a book, and go to bed a bit earlier. Once you’ve done these things, you might be able to fit in a few more minutes of sleep.
Tip #8. Decide What to Have in Case of a Craving - and Bring It With You
Is there a healthy snack you would like to substitute for whatever craving you are trying to avoid? Then prep that snack and have it ready.
beef jerky
nuts
baby tomatoes
(insert whole food snack here)
One thing I love to bring is pecans or walnuts (see tip#21). I put them in baggies and keep them in my vehicle in small servings, ready to grab. What don’t I do? I don’t keep a giant Costco-sized sack of pecans in the vehicle. Because I’d eat the whole thing!
Tip #9. Plan a Reward
Some snack-avoiding geniuses defuse their snackiness by planning a reward meal, where they will enjoy some decadent delights. Then, when their inner pig is squealing, they can tell it to shut its snout and wait for Friday night (or whenever the reward meal is planned).
A reward meal can help, and there’s no point in outlawing food fun. That kind of strict rule might backfire hard.
So, plan a date with yourself, and choose when and what you will have. Use awareness and intention. You are the one in control, if you decide to be.
Tip #10. Pantry Purge
This is a hard topic for most food hoarders, but maybe it’s time to clean the shelves up a bit. Consider not having those snack foods around the house. If you have a pantry stuffed with delicious snackery, that’s all you’re going to be thinking about.
Take all of those things you know you shouldn’t have and donate them to the neighbors, your relatives, or something.
Tip #11. Make it Inconvenient
If you’re going to have piles of snacks around, make sure you keep them in the least convenient place so you have to do a bit of work to get them.
Lock the Doritos in the gun safe
Put the chocolate on the top shelf of the pantry behind the boring old pasta
Stuff the "fun size” bars in the freezer under the regular food.
Tip #12. Shop Smart - Don’t Bring It Home
When you’re out shopping, don’t buy family-sized bags of chips and cases of cookies and chocolate bars. If you don’t have it around, you can’t eat it at 3 AM.
If you buy single-serving sizes instead of the family pack, you can’t eat a family-sized snack by yourself. I’ve done this so many times. And don’t bother bringing home the big box of mini-chocolate bars. That’s a trick to get you to eat an entire box of them.
“I’ll get the fun-sized bars because I’ll only eat one. I’ll never eat the whole box. Ha! That would never happen. I will only eat one per day, I promise!” The truth for me is, I’ll eat 10 or so at one sitting. more than a regular-sized bar…
Sure. You can have a reward. One individual serving. Not a sack of potato chips the size of your upper body. And not 40 mini-snacks!
Tip #13. Brush Your Teeth
I’m not sure why, but I know it works. Brush your teeth, and you’ll forget about that craving for a bit.
Tip #14. Keep an Honest Food Journal
If you record what you eat on paper or in an app, then you’ll be more aware of what is going in your mouth. That will make you more likely to pick something other than junk food. Awareness of your actions is a great first step to making improvements.
Tip #15. Inhale Peppermint
Researchers have found that if you sniff peppermint extract every couple of hours, you will eat up to 350 calories less in a day. Easy to pack and easy to use.
I’ve got a small roll-on peppermint applicator that I use on my wrist. This is supposed to be able to help with headaches, too.
Tip #16. Drink Something Hot (without sugar!)
A cup of tea, coffee, or herbal tea can diffuse a food craving just like that. But make sure to avoid drinking piles of empty calories with sugary drinks.
I really like caffeine-free chai tea. It has the spice, and it gets rid of hunger pangs with a nice soothing heat.
Tip #17. Get Help!
Outsource your willpower. You don’t have to struggle through this alone. A health coach like me can help you reach your goals with sustainable accountability.
A personalized plan is the best way to get the results you’re looking for, whether that’s weight loss or another health outcome. Hit the button below for a quick, no-pressure chat to learn about your goals and see if coaching is a good fit. No obligation, just clarity on next steps.
Do you have any craving busters to share? Have you tried any of these yourself? Let me know what you think.
Okay the peppermint factoid is fascinating! I never knew. And I have it all over my house in little bottles because I love it.
I have also read that if you're a salty/crunchy snacker, eat a dill pickle when you're craving. Apparently it kills most cravings!