Finding a regular pattern of eating that satisfies you whilst remaining within your needs. Appreciate it’s not super easy otherwise we’d all just do it!
I tried a number of different things, then eventually worked out that low carb meets my natural wants (eg I like whole fat, veg, meat, I’m not all that bothered about things like pasta or sweets). I did have major hormonal chocolate cravings before which just disappeared when I went low carb, I think it’s because low carb is naturally low sugar (sugar being a carb) and sugar seems to beget the desire for more sugar. So the massive reduction in my sugar intake hugely helped reduce/remove cravings.
Also need to reflect on why you eat, or, why you eat what you eat. I read a blog ages back on this, and in summary it challenged readers to think about what they really want to eat, trying to listen to their bodies more. Again not the easiest thing particularly if, like me, you’ve spent a lot of time not listening! But I realised that I had a tendency to eat a lot of things I thought I wanted rather than what I actually wanted - like having chocolate because I craved it so often, even when I wasn’t actually craving it and would rather have had some berries, or having takeaway just because I was tired, even though I didn’t want it, just because it seemed easy when I could have just as easily had some cold cuts or leftovers.
Just had a baby and pregnancy messed with my eating a fair bit (hormones and HG
) so I’m now getting back into the swing of eating this way again and I feel much better for it.