Cravings are hard to control and even harder to ignore. So what does one do, when it strikes at the most inappropriate time? A new US research shows that cravings for chocolates, ice cream or even cigarettes may be effectively suppressed by repeatedly imagining the act of consuming it. So, we spoke to a few “health” conscious people, who have devised their very own methods of dealing with cravings. Here are some of the funniest and strangest things people have done in the name of curbing cravings.
“Cheating while on a diet is inevitable. It’s like bumping into Hugh Jackman on your ‘we were on a break’ night. But to control that urge depends on how hell bent you are to lose that flab. In my case, if it’s chocolates I crave, I take a whiff of the good old Cadbury and feel happy,” says HR consultant Vidushi Johari.
She further adds, “Smelling chocolates works for me. It calms my senses and the brain registers that the ‘craving’ has been met. I am not sure about the imagining part though. If I imagine that I am indulging in pastas, pizzas, butter chicken or chocolates, it will make me crave for it even more. I rather have my mind think and imagine something else to keep my diet steady.”
Agrees Gaurav Sharma, senior designer, at an online portal, who says, “Repressing any craving has more to do with your strength of resisting any sort of temptation. Imagining that you are actually consuming it may keep you away from it for sometime, but not for long because I believe that will tempts you even more.”
Any method to curb craving is all right so long as it’s in moderation, avers psychologist Dr Geetanjali Kumar, who points out, “Not just visualisation but also rationalisation if used together can certainly suppress cravings. For example, many of us when stressed visualise a pleasant situation or place and it helps us de-stress. Similarly, a thought of happy food secretes saliva. Whatever method used, it must be in moderation.”
Substituting one craving with another may or may not give the same result. As Anu Majumdar, MBA student realised how her method of substituting craving resulted in giving up her favourite drink altogether, “I love drinking rum and I used to mix coke with it, as a result I put on quite a lot of weight. So, I switched on to Diet Coke that did not help much. Then again, I switched back to rum and water and I hated it so much that I gave up drinking rum altogether.”
Some people confess to have even done bizarre things to meet their cravings. Ankita Kanojia, who worked with an airline previously shares, “Once in the middle of the night craving for a chocolate pastry made me drive upto Terminal 1D to 24-hour eatery Fast Track as they have this choco chip pastry, which I asked them to heat up and within five seconds the craving was gone. Another funny incident that comes to my mind is when all my friends drove up one night to Terminal 1B just to have sweet paan from this particular shop.” For Pawan Hora, co-founder, Wishbox Studio, who’s been successful trying to quit smoking for the past six weeks shares, “I do feel the craving especially after dinner, but I don’t imagine myself consuming it. I start thinking about problems that I faced because of it like shortness of breath, and it made me realise that nothing is more important than my health.”