Summer is Coming, Kill Your Cravings and Look Bikini Ready

I don't normally watch the Dr. Oz show, but the other day I stumbled upon an interesting segment on food and those damn cravings we all experience throughout the day. Here's what I learned: we are basically hard-wired to crave food (especially junk food) because sugar, salt and fat trigger pleasure chemicals in our brain.  So what can you do to resist those cravings?

• Know your vice; Dr. Oz says that we all have different cravings. Some of us want salt, some of us want sugar .... some of us (like me) want that awesome sweet/salty mix that the Gods at Chex make! The point is, if it's hard to resist then don't make it available so you're not tempted. Seems simple and it is, if you can't resist then don't buy/make it. To put it another way, if you're an alcoholic, you don’t hang out in a bar and if you're a cookie monster, you don't have cookies in the cupboard. Which lead to his next point...

• If you must have junk food in the house (for whatever reason) then at least keep it out of sight. You've heard the saying "out of sight, out of mind,” so run with it and keep those chips and cookies as far away as possible.

• Finally, Dr. Oz says, "find another way to deal with stress." Call a friend or your mom; it may seem lame, but research shows that hearing the sound of a close friend or relative's voice creates the same "soothing" chemicals in the brain as all that salt and/or sugar.

If you're still not convinced, there's always the sweet/salty Chex Mix - it'll never let you down! :-D