I Can’t Get No Snackisfaction

Article at a Glance
• Our bodies are programmed to crave sugar, salt, and fat.
• If we want to stay healthy and feel great, it is important to reprogram our cravings.

Your kids come home from school and within minutes are begging for potato chips or a bowl of ice cream. And to be frank, you wouldn’t mind a bowl of ice cream yourself. So why does our body always seem to want what we shouldn’t be eating? Our bodies are naturally programmed to love sugar, salt, and fat. Unfortunately the comfort food we crave doesn’t provide much comfort at all. After we have stuffed ourselves on junkfood, the buzz doesn’t last long. We still feel stressed, a little icky, and guilty about how much we just ate.

Luckily we can retrain our bodies as we develop healthy habits.

1. Toss out the junk food and replace it with healthier options. Make sure there is a lot of variety so that you don’t get bored with the same old thing.

2. Make healthy food easy to get to. When we are hungry or bored, we tend to grab whatever is in front of us, so keep healthy snack options out where your kids can easily get them.

3. Find feel-good substitutes to junk food. If your kids are begging for junk food, distract them with a walk to the park or put on their favorite music CD and dance!