Fighting Cravings

• Work in progress*

Cravings frequently occur shortly after quitting meat or other animal products, and particularly within the next six months (with diminishing frequency).

The most successful approach to going vegetarian or vegan is to do it gradually which helps you both discover new vegan foods and defeat cravings for foods in phases rather than all at once, but the "cold turkey" approach works for many as well, and either way skills for fighting cravings are important.

In this domain, we can learn a lot from existing works and advice on cravings related to cigarettes[1], wherein most of the tips are applicable to food cravings as well.

New vegans have an advantage over both quitting drugs and fighting cravings for a weight loss diet, because we are only battling habituated food addiction and not battling a chemical addiction and we do not by necessity have to contend with the cascade of starvation hormones produced during weight loss.

Hunger

Hunger increases food cravings, and makes them harder to fight. Try to avoid being hungry, especially when you're out and will be exposed to these triggering foods.

Ideally, carry some snacks with you which are filling like nuts or a protein bar.

Be sure that your diet is providing you enough calories by tracking your nutrition for a few days.

A more whole foods vegan diet can be a great weight loss tool if you need to lose weight (and weight maintenance is arguably the most important component of good health) but if you DO need to lose weight and are having trouble going vegan, it's probably easiest to switch to an iso-caloric vegan diet (same number of calories you were eating before, hopefully from healthier sources) first so you aren't doing battle on two fronts, and then once you are accustomed to new foods and past the majority of the cravings, then you can work on eventual transition to a lower calorie whole foods vegan diet for weight loss (this is the more difficult battle, but may be easier once you've learned to prepare some healthy and more filling protein and fiber rich vegan meals).

Nutrients

In some cases, inadequate vegan diets may exacerbate cravings from a deficiency of nutrients, or even just a drastic change in the macronutrient ratio your body is used to.

Be sure that you are consuming an adequate vegan diet, and be familiar with the Nutrients of Concern. Also consider plugging in what you used to typically eat into a nutrition tracking application and aiming for a vegan diet that reaches the same calorie and macronutrient ratios. If you were eating an unnecessarily large amount of protein or fat, try to keep doing that from plant sources. While intuitive eating is not generally credible from a health perspective (people with iron deficiency are known to crave ice, which contains no iron), and there is no reason to believe there is anything wrong with your new diet (if adequate) that would require animal products to correct, that doesn't stop changes in diet from exacerbating cravings.

Alternatives

Mock meats, etc. can help satisfy cravings for some

Distraction

Cravings usually only last a few minutes, distracting yourself can be a good practice and is recommended for smokers.

Reflection

Reflect on your reasons for going vegan.

Avoidance

Avoiding being in the presence of triggering foods can be very difficult and socially problematic, so it's probably a last resort, but may be helpful in the early stages. Ideally you will learn to handle cravings in the presence of these foods, but if you can not you may be able to find ways to avoid unnecessary exposure.