How Can I Overcome My Meat Cravings?
Since more and more people are realizing the need to maintain a healthy diet, a lot of people are making a turn to vegetarianism. But the problem is that not too many people find it easy to make the change from having meat in their diet to completely taking meat out of their diet and replacing it with vegetables.
Experts recommend that switching to a vegetarian diet should be done gradually. The transition period should last several months, and can even stretch to a year. The length of the transition period depends on the individual, although there are some ways for a person to deal with meat cravings.
By nature, our body is used to a certain diet. Changing this diet drastically by taking out all meat dishes overnight won’t work. Instead, it is recommended that a person substitute one vegetarian meal in place of a meat dish every week. Having a Saturday dinner allotted for vegetarian dishes would be a good start. The routine would stretch to a month and a half, until the person gets used to having vegetarian meals instead of meat dishes.
According to several experts, there are to kinds of cravings: physiological and psychological.
The first type is triggered by a decrease in the level of blood sugar. It creases light-headedness, tired feeling, and shakiness. These cravings will remain and must be satiated since is the body’s manner of telling us that we lack something we require. In overcoming these cravings, it is important to eat foods rich in protein like cottage cheese, legumes, and soy-based food.
On the other hand, psychological cravings are often temporary and will pass in about 20 minutes. Some of the factors that trigger these cravings are the smell of food, stress related to work, boredom, personal concerns, and excitement.
