Nancy Dell: Cutting cravings

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) -  

I eat well, but crave sweets around 5pm everyday. Why? How can I kill the cravings?
Jackie, Internet

There may be many reasons you crave sweets.

It could be due to a drop of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is our feel good brain chemical. It starts out high in the morning and reaches a low around 4 PM. Carbohydrates and sweets raise serotonin so you may crave them when serotonin needs a boost.

You may also crave sweets simply because you see them. You see a commercial for a chocolate bar or see the cookies hidden in the back of the pantry and naturally, your brain starts to think about how good it would taste. It is especially hard to fight off the signals if you are tired at the end of a busy day.

In addition, a stressful day may also trigger the craving because sweets are comfort foods. If any of these cues happen regularly at 5 PM, your brain is rewired to automatically crave at 5 PM.

So how do you cut the cravings? Remember "out of sight, out of mind." Keep your house and your work environment clean of the sweet temptations. Researchers find it helps to write why you do not want to eat sweets and post it on the fridge to interrupt your thoughts about sweets.

Also, you can crush a craving with exercise. Researchers studied chocoholics and found those who walked for 15 minutes when they craved chocolate had a dramatic decrease in cravings compared to the couch-potato group. The activity releases feel-good brain chemicals that cut the craving. Practice these tips and your resistance to cravings get stronger just like a muscle.

What about the idea of having just 1 bite of the food you crave? You may be able to have 1 bite if there is only 1 bite in the house. But the most recent research shows, 1 bite of ice cream or chocolate caused people to overindulge 25 minutes later.