Cravings strike terror into many a person working to lose their weight and keep it off.

It’s not always possible to prevent every single craving every single time, but you can dramatically reduce them by addressing common causes.

Let’s go through the five most common causes of cravings, and how to conquer them.

#1 – Lack of sleep.

If you think staying up until 1 AM watching Netflix isn’t impacting your weight loss, think again.

Besides the fact lack of sleep stalls weight loss, it also leads to sugar and carb cravings, as well as hunger.

See, when you ignore your body’s signals that it needs slip, it’s wired to believe you aren’t sleeping because falling asleep would endanger your life.

Since you “must” need to stay awake, your body helps you out by sending hunger signals, along with cravings for food with a lot of glucose (because glucose is an instant source of energy).

It has no idea that you getting three hours of sleep due to watching Netflix all night isn’t the same as staying awake to escape a predator.

Solution: Get to sleep!

Not only will sleep help with weight loss (and help your body repair itself), it will reduce (and maybe eliminate) those persistent cravings.

If you need tips to help you sleep, read this: https://support.coderedlifestyle.com/portal/en/kb/articles/sleep.

#2 – Not enough quality salt.

That’s right–sugar cravings may be a symptom of you not eating enough quality salt.

Notice I said QUALITY salt. Not the bullcrap Morton’s Table Salt.

Solution: Eat more quality salt!

Salt and sugar operate in the same pathway in your brain, which means sugar cravings can often be eliminated–and prevented–by eating enough quality salt, like Redmond Real Salt.

Add it to your food and water. It’s that simple!

#3 – Not enough fat.

Starchy, high-carb foods may be satisfying in the moment, but it doesn’t last. Same with sugary foods. If you eat a lot of these foods, you’re gonna be hungrier, and crave them more often.

Solution: Eat healthy fats and reduce carbs and sugar!

Healthy dietary is satisfying when you eat it, AND it keeps you full for longer.

Plus it helps regulate hormones (which is good news, since the sensation of hunger is just a hormonal reaction, as is the sensation of being full).

#4 – Emotional or habitual cravings.

Most people have programmed themselves with tons of emotional and habitual cravings.

In both cases, it’s where you associate an outside circumstance with either food, or eating in general.

For example, let’s say you’ve spent the last two decades walking in the door after work and going straight for the fridge.

Getting home from work is gonna trigger a habitual craving.

If you grew up eating Grandma’s chocolate drop cookies, and you crave those cookies every time you think of Grandma, that’s an example of an emotional craving.

Solution: Use a redirect.

The best thing to do with these cravings is redirect the craving to something that isn’t food-related.

In the work example, go straight to a different activity when you get home. Make it something you enjoy at least as much as you enjoy eating.

In the Grandma example, think about an experience you had with her, or an activity you both enjoyed, and do that instead of eat chocolate drop cookies.

#5 – Hormone fluctuations.

I don’t just mean female menstrual hormones, either.

Those are one example, but anyone, regardless of gender, can experience cravings caused by the release of hormones stored in their fat tissue.

As you lose weight, those hormones are dumped into your bloodstream, and you may feel haywire because of it.

It’s really individualized, but crazy periods and cravings are two possibilities.

Solution: Strap in and hang on.

It’s temporary, so hang on. You’ll be glad you did.

Get your sleep, eat quality salt, chew sugar-free gum, stay busy, and drink hot tea to help you ride out the storm.

Also remember this: Cravings are just physical sensations. They can be distracting and uncomfortable, but so what? Ain’t nobody gonna die from a little discomfort.

Besides, are you REALLY gonna let something THAT trivial stop you from taking your life back?

If cravings are driving you crazy, follow the tips in this post.

You can do this!

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