How to deal with PMS cravings?

Japandreams wrote: »

I've tried the Questbars in the past, I love the cookies and cream one, but oh my god is it just a European thing or is the bars super expensive? One bar costs around $10 at the store! We don't have anything else from their range in Sweden either because we are a deprived country of cool stuff pretty much... I'd love to try the chips!

Hi sweetie, I'm in the UK and I order my Quest bars from Amazon - it works out at about £1.80 per bar... So not great, but OK. You could also check eBay prices. Quest bars are fantastic for PMS cravings! I also like fruit - gives me my sugar high, for not too many calories. But really it's a high fibre/protein diet that gets me through that particular week and often, instead of 3 meals a day, I have 6 or 7 smaller ones. I'll munch my way through the day and still stick to my calories that way. Exercise during TOM is awesome - you burn more calories than you normally would AND it suppresses your hunger. Another tip: drink plenty of water (so you're not dehydrated - which can trigger hunger) and have a multivitamin tablet that includes an iron supplement in the mornings. xx

Surprisingly, I noticed that I have been having a lot fewer PMS cravings since I started getting back into the habit of logging (this round's cravings have been for sweet potatoes and steak-which is perfect, because I'm always low on my potassium and iron goals). One of the things that has helped is to make healthy alternatives easily available for when cravings strike and make accessing the less healthy foods a lot harder. For instance, if I am craving chocolate, I might keep the pre-portioned coco-dusted almonds out on the counter and ready to grab once cravings strike, while I might keep the chocolate squares hidden in an empty lancet box at the very back of my diabetes supply counter. If I really really really want the chocolate instead of the almonds, then I would have to work to get it (of course, being the lazy person I am, the idea of pulling out all my dia-junk to get to the chocolate is unappealing, and I will go with the almonds instead).