Nutrition

Unlike run-of-the-mill hunger, cravings – intense desires for certain foods – seem to be linked to our brain's reward system. Emotions, situations or pleasant associations can trigger a craving, says Dr Susan Roberts, director of the Energy Metabolism Laboratory at America's Tufts University.

When you eat a food you crave, your brain releases dopamine, a natural chemical related to pleasure. It’s the same reward system you get from sex or illegal drugs, "but it’s at much lower concentrations," Roberts says.

So what to do the next time you start dreaming about a muffin when you’re already stuffed from lunch?

The following strategies will boost your ability to just say no...

Accept Defeat

Playing head games isn’t the only way Forman and his colleagues torture dieters in the name of science. They gave 98 study participants a questionnaire to determine how susceptible they were to food urges, then loaded them up with transparent boxes of chocolates they had to keep with them at all times for the next 48 hours. Those who proved most successful at fighting temptation used an acceptance-based strategy they had been taught: acknowledge the craving, accept it, and choose not to act on it.

When you’re struck by the desire for that double-fudge brownie, practise what Forman calls cognitive “defusion”: instead of trying to ignore the craving, admit that you want one. It works on the same principle as getting the hots for a colleague when you’re in a great relationship: recognising that you’ll always be attracted to cute guys (or yummy food) prevents you from acting on the feeling every time it comes up.