Studies Show Junk-Food Cravings Can Be Stopped in 15 Minutes

Guess what you can do to stop food cravings brought on by stress? 

Take a 15 minute walk of moderate intensity.

It's true. Studies say so.

In "normal weight" people, the study found that "high-calorie" snack cravings are reduced after "physical activity." Same with "overweight" people.

So, it stands to be true that even some moderate physical activity can be a huge key for us in maintaining (or reducing) our weight.

Apparently, some folks were asked to not eat their usual comfort (junk) foods for a period of time (3 days) and then they were given a test to increase their stress levels.  

The folks conducting the study then gave the participants a sugar-laden snack to hold but not eat. The people would be be over-ready to indulge since they weren't allowed to do so as usual for a period of time before they were put in a stressful situation, but the participants who were made to walk on a treadmill afterwards had significantly lower cravings than the ones who only sat down.

Conclusions: 

• Acute exercise reduces chocolate urges. 

• Exercise reduces the urge for sugary foods, and reduced stress-related cravings.  

If you're anything like me, you know the almost intolerable urge to bite into something sweet. Sometimes, it's enough to drive you mad.

Trying to do your job and that overwhelming urge to locate sugar asap kicks in. You  suddenly can hardly continue focusing on the task at hand because some tiny red fella (he's gotta be red because we know he ain't wearing no halo!) keeps nagging at you in the back of your mind until his nagging becomes yelling.


"Find sweets and devour them now... Or else I'll devour you."

Before you know it, that vein in your temple is bulging and you feel the first knocking of a headache showing through. 

Now you're downright irritated and you furiously rip open your snack drawer, tear the wrapper off whatever your hand finds first and start chomping down, almost mindlessly. 

You hardly even taste that damn snack you're cramming into your mouth to feed (and shut up) that hungry, incessant a-hole who won't leave you alone until you devour the sweets.

All you know is you must stop the craving that continues to threaten you. 

Now you can finally focus and get back to work.

Only sometimes, if you're a lot like me, that first snack only makes you crave more. 

If you've been around here at Ribbons & Pearls with me for long, then you know that one of my many documented struggles is sweet cravings. 

Sometimes I'm not even certain that it's not those irritating, incessant cravings consuming me. If I had it my way, I wouldn't be consuming them at all, but they love to keep their claws tangled deep within...somewhere.

You may have read all about my adventures in trying to remedy the intense cravings-monster. I've used virtually everything imaginable. Shake the Crave (a chocolate-y shake mix that can help tone down the viciousness of some of those cravings sometimes) is my current form of removing some of that urge. 

When I'm having a late work night (like I will be tonight) and I've already had dinner, but the sweet cravings-monster won't subside and just let me work, I'll often turn to my trusty ol' chocolate Shake the Crave.

I've also taken up the famous Garcinia Cambogia supplements, another journey I'm currently documenting, which can be read about here. 


That's not even close to all the remedies I've tried, though. Those are just my current two, and they appear to be having somewhat of an impact.


Even more recently, I tried adding in another "weight loss" supplement known as raspberry ketones, and just quit taking them a few days ago when I put 2 and 2 together and realized that they seemed to be causing my innards to feel... swollen and inflamed and bloated.


I was actually beginning to think I was putting on weight until I skipped the raspberry ketones supplement for a night and noticed my stomach was totally flat and comfortable the next day. I wondered if perhaps it was the raspberry ketones having a less-than-positive affect on me, so I skipped my dose again the next night, only to wake up with a flat, comfortable belly. 

So I've now given the raspberry ketones up and have had no bloating and swelling of my innards, my stomach is flat and not distended. 


I have a long, ugly history of IBS, candidiasis, and endometriosis, so this could be part of why my body reacted negatively to the ketones.


Now, I think I'll go add a burst of jogging in place to my day before I start off to work! 

Reading that interesting study that said bursts of physical activity could lessen cravings really gave me another ray of hope. 

Oh, for those of you who are closely following my journey, I have been meaning to share that I read sometime a couple weeks ago that walking 10,000 steps a day amps up the calorie burning, so I began walking in place, and also walking back and forth through the house when I get the chance. 

 Just standing in front of the TV while having my daily coffee, I was able to get in 500 steps before I'd ever even come close to finishing my cup of coffee! Talk about super multi-tasking: having my coffee while watching a few minutes of my favorite show (Criminal Minds) and getting in some calorie-burning exercise! That's my kind of productivity, and the perfect start to my day.  

What types of physical activity/exercise do you guys try to fit into your day? Have any of you used any weight-loss supplements? Please take a minute to share your own journies, experienced, and goals with me in the comments section!

 

Details of the study, found within PLos ONE Journal

Research has shown that acute exercise reduces urges for chocolate in normal weight people. This study aimed to examine the effects of an acute exercise bout on urges to consume sugary snacks, affect as well as ‘psychological and physiological responses’ to stress and a ‘sugary snack cue’, in overweight individuals. Following 3 days of chocolate-abstinence, 47 overweight, sugary snack consumers were assessed, in 2 randomly ordered conditions, in a within-subject design: 15-min brisk walk or passive control. Following each, participants completed 2 tasks: Stroop color–word interference task, and handling sugary snacks. Urges for sugary snacks, affective activation and valence were assessed. ANOVAs revealed significant condition x time interaction effects for: urges to consume sugary snacks, affective valence and activation. Obtained data show that exercise reduces urges for sugary snacks and attenuates urges in response to the stress situation and the cue in overweight people.

Source:  PLoS ONE Journal ( Ledochowski L, Ruedl G, Taylor AH, Kopp M (2015) Acute Effects of Brisk Walking on Sugary Snack Cravings in Overweight People, Affect and Responses to a Manipulated Stress Situation and to a Sugary Snack Cue: A Crossover Study. PLoS ONE 10(3): e0119278. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0119278)