I have difficulty controling cravings!

Exericise more and it will make up for extra snacking.

You can eat anything, but you have to track what your feeding yourself, then exercise more if you need to. A 1/4 of a brownie can still be tracked. A handful of fries can still be estimated. You'll see that it still adds up, to quite a bit. One day, you'll get tired of adding all these little bites and you're brain will say, I don't need this, and you will gain some control. You don't have to track it, if you don't eat it. Thats a NSV (non scale victory) that will give you a sense of accomplishment and control that you didn't think you had in you, and it will drive you to further successes.

I too have worked in a kitchen and had cravings. I baked cakes and tarts for a cafe and it was a nightmare.

I found there were a few strategies to beating the temptation.

The first was to have something else on standby, in my case fresh apple slices. I'd have one of those instead.

The next was to always halve what I would have had. So it if was one slice of pie, it would be half a slice of pie. Or alternate. "Not this one Marvell", but let myself have the next one.

The next was to eat a good breakfast before work and have a healthy lunch at work.

Finally, I'd have mints. This was largely after a cigarette break. It made the nice food taste weird, so I didn't want it so much. That was a happy coincidence, rather than a strategy.

It also turned out that I started drinking the right amount of water whilst I was in the hot kitchen. That kept hunger at bay, but I know that you don't have to hungry to want a custard tart

Have fun on holiday

Been there so many times! Probably failed more than succeeded initially. Thank god that's turned around now.

You are doing the first step - remaining aware of the dangerous food situation in front of you.

Perhaps consciously reprogram your brain to exchange food with the word "fuel". Those foods tempting you are highly dense energy packed foods - too packed for our biological bodies to handle on a regular or even semi-regular basis. FOOD IS FUEL NOT A REWARD. Therefore, change up your vocabulary. You are no longer eating but fueling; not longer sitting down to a meal or snack but refueling. You get the drift.

Then, pay attention to the type of fuel you ingest, just like you pay attention to the type of fuel you put in your vehicle. Quality fuel equals a better ride in your car or your body.

Once you make yourself aware of your INTENTIONS - the intention to take back your sovereignty in regards to what you put into your body - then you will increasingly lose the temptation to indulge in low-grade highly refined fat or sugary products. It won't happen overnight but you'd be surprised by how quickly you can change your mind. Trouble is, if you allow yourself to slip back into old ways of thinking, your mind also will lose the new habits you've formed in less than six days of breaking the new habit!

PRACTICALLY, to get into this new way of thinking while controlling your cravings, I use a blend of herb tea: I mix a bag of nettle with chamomile or mint (peppermint leaves are especially healing). I can drink that all day for three days sometimes for the cravings to subside for good. Of course, I'm exercising vigorously for 40 min daily and eating healthy things at the same time. . .this helps tremendously also.

Good luck. Hope this helped.

-Debra

I bring plenty of healthy snacks, and WALK AWAY from the temptations. The more distance, the better.

How do you control your cravings?

I found out I was gluten intolerant and can no longer eat things that I haven't made myself or at least seen the ingredient list. It sucks, but it has absolutely curbed my snacking!