Best Time to Satisfy a Craving

Hear that cookie calling your name, just begging to be eaten? If you're going to cave in to its siren call, do it early. The later in the day you crumble, the more you'll probably eat.

Yep, timing is everything when it comes to feeding a yen. Research shows that our capacity to feel satisfaction from food is stronger in the morning and grows progressively weaker throughout the day. In other words, thanks to the way that your body's natural rhythms work, you may have to eat more cookies at night to satisfy a craving, compared with the number you'd need in the morning. That's great for Nabisco, not great for the button on your waistband -- or your risk of cancer, or your ability to stay young and enjoy sex. Can't get to sleep without a snack? Try these healthy nighttime nibbles.

And if you're going to eat something that's bad for you, at least do this: Enjoy it, savor it, roll it around in your mouth. Notice its texture, and pay attention to every bite. Learn how to get more satisfaction from fewer bites.

Do you cave in to cravings more often than celebs go to rehab? Take away the "don't." You'd think that repeatedly telling someone not to eat too much, not to smoke, or not to download pictures of naked women to their work computer would be enough to get them to stop. But the brain -- specifically the insula, the part that influences cravings -- hears "don't smoke" and reacts as if it hears "smoke." And that stimulates the craving for it. The fix: Switch the message. Instead of "don't eat cookies," say "have a handful of nuts." And if the cookies still win, have ‘em early -- but not often. Try this trick for an easy escape from chocolate cravings.