By Dr. Leslie Van Romer

Americans are well-aware of common addictions: smoking, caffeine, alcohol, amphetamines, prescription pain meds, and sleeping pills. However, most of us are blind to this country’s biggest addiction of all: Food. The shocking truth is that too much weight now kills more people than cigarette smoking.

Yes, food is addictive – as we all can attest. Whether it’s a physical, mental, emotional, conditional, cultural, or all-of-the-above addiction makes no difference. We’re hooked, and that’s why it’s so tough to beat those cravings that loudly lure us in, no matter how much we try to think or talk ourselves out of them.

For some of us, it’s sweets that woo; for others, it’s salt. It can be greasy chips we choose, or diet pop we gulp. Bread soothes, meat rules, cheese pleads. Countless combos connive to command and control. And let’s not forget the dark devil himself, a seductive master who leaves us weak in the knees and vacant of sense…chocolate.

Whichever cravings hold you hostage, these seven strategies can help you escape – freeing you to lose weight, sidestep diseases, and build health.

1. Satisfy Your Hunger Drive

You must control your hunger drive to lose and maintain ideal weight – a mythical cultural mantra you may believe. When you fail to control your hunger and give in once more to your cravings, you feel inherently weak, lacking will power and self-control. Delete that myth from your brain. Your hunger drive cannot be controlled. It is a natural instinct, and, like all human instincts, it keeps you alive.

When you’re thirsty, you drink. When you’re sleepy, you sleep. When you’re hungry, guess what? You should eat. Simply fill up on the right foods that satisfy your hunger drive (see Strategy #2). Yippee! You are now free to eat until you’re full.

Remember to listen to your brain and stop eating before your stomach begs for mercy. And when you’re hungry again, truly hungry and not just needy for emotional comfort or relief from boredom, eat! Who would have thunk it? You get to eat when you’re hungry!

Cravings, triggered by hunger, can be crushed, if you stop waging war with your hunger drive and start satisfying it by filling up on the best-for-you foods.

2. Fill Up on Good-Guy Carbs

For all the carb confusion, there is one glaring fact. All carbs are not created equally. The good-guy carbohydrates, sourced by whole, fresh fruits, vegetables, unrefined grains (brown rice, not breads) and legumes, satisfy your hunger drive, thereby calming cravings. When one of your goodies, but baddie screams at you, whether mid-afternoon or during evening T.V. viewing, eat and fill up on nature’s best-for-you foods first, and be amazed by the fading of the craving.

Hint: For cravings to disappear, you must eat enough of the best-for-you foods to really and truly fill you up.

3. Ditch Bad-Boy Carbs

On the other hand, the bad boys incite cravings. Steer clear of them. Scout them out and ban them from your house, workplace, and car. As experience teaches, the more refined sugar, desserts, baked goods, breads, salty snacks, and chocolate you eat, the more hooked you get. If they are out of sight, they are much easier to avoid.

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