Conquer Your Cravings For Comfort Food

Nothing makes you crave comfort food more than the long, dark, cold days of winter. Combined with stress, all you want to do is put on your warm pajamas and cozy up by the fire with your favorite comfort food in hand. One thing I’ve learned is to be careful, or you’ll quickly pack on the pounds and feel even worse than you did before you started eating.

After I had lost 40 pounds by giving up my favorite foods, I realized that I missed them. I struggled to keep the unwanted pounds off because I couldn’t stay away from my favorites. I wasn’t willing to gain the weight back, so I needed to figure out a way to eat what I loved, and still lose weight. The solution? Follow the Leaner Lifestyle tips and tricks.

Plan for it and expect to indulge; it’s only a matter of time. If you plan ahead, you can offset the “not so good” calories not by starving yourself, which can slow the metabolism, but by boosting your metabolism instead. This simple little trick puts your body in a fat-burning mode so when cave into your cravings you’ll be able to control the food versus it controlling you. Prevention is the cure, and it’s also the best way not to gain weight.

How do you boost your metabolism safely, so you don’t gain weight when you aren’t eating so clean? It can be as easy as drinking a metabolic boosting whey protein shake, which is by far your best option, or having two egg whites for breakfast, so you start your day off on the right foot.

Why is protein so important when it comes to controlling our cravings?

• Protein is the #1 nutrient that women don't eat enough of (it's also why you crave)
• Protein contains essential amino acids that your body requires
• Protein regulates serotonin, so you feel better fast when you drink the protein shake
• Whey protein blocks cortisol (the stress hormone) that makes your cravings so intense that it makes you spiral out of control
• Whey protein boosts metabolism by 25 percent and switches the weight gaining switch off

Now that we have the science of why we crave out of the way, we can talk about controlling what is on the other end of the fork when we do crave. Doing so will allow you to keep off the pounds and get into the best shape of your life. This is the very reason I wrote The Metabolism Solution and filled it with over 100 delicious thermogenic recipes that your family will love.

Every diet book tells you what not to eat, but they never tell you what you can eat—At least not the kind of foods you like. Let’s be honest, no one craves steamed tilapia and Brussel sprouts. But everyone loves meatloaf and potatoes. The good news is you can eat something hot and eat a lot.

THE DINNER TRICK: Make over your comfort food meal using thermogenic foods such as lean ground turkey instead of red meat. Swap out starchy mashed potatoes that spike insulin levels and cause rapid weight gain with mock mashed potatoes made with cauliflower instead. Replacing the usual high fat, high carb ingredients with thermogenic ingredients instead is a sneaky way of tricking your brain into speeding up your metabolism.  

CAN I HAVE DESSERT? Yes! You don't need to give up sweet tooth cravings with a diet. You just need to step outside the box and provide your body with the nutrients it needs (hint: whey protein) to give your metabolism a boost. 

Here is a low-fat, low-calorie apple crisp recipe that's sure to cure your sweet tooth craving.

Replacing the usual high fat, high carb ingredients with thermogenic ingredients saves you hundreds of excess calories, fat, and carbs, so you can cheat more often.

More information on metabolic boosting exercise and thermogenic eating can be found in The Metabolism Solution.