Sandra Roycroft-Davis explains why restriction backfires: your brain perceives dieting as a threat, making cravings worse. She offers three steps: loosen food rules, practice self-compassion, and pause to check if you're actually hungry or eating from stress or habit.
Cravings are not a lack of willpower. They are very often a side effect of restriction. And if you've ever tried dieting, you'll know exactly what I mean. You tell yourself you're going to be good, and then suddenly all you can think about is the very thing you're trying to avoid. In fact, in a survey for my Sunday Times bestselling book, 75% of people said that they experienced cravings. So what's really going on? I'm Sandra Roycroft-Davis, Harley Street weight loss and behavioural change specialist, creator of the clinically proven Slimpod programme, and author of The Weight's Over—Take Back Control. And in this video, I'm going to explain why cravings happen, why dieting makes them worse, and what you can do instead. When you diet, your brain doesn't see it as being healthy. It sees it as restriction, and restriction to your brain can feel like a threat. So it responds by increasing your focus on food, especially foods high in sugar, fat, and salt, because they provide quick energy. At the same time, your brain's reward system becomes more sensitive. Food becomes more tempting, harder to ignore, and when you do eat it, it feels more rewarding. That's why cravings can feel so intense. Then there's something else happening: decision fatigue. We make around 200 food-related decisions every day, and every decision uses mental energy. So by the end of the day, your brain is tired, your willpower is low, and resisting feels so much harder. And then comes the emotional part. You give in to a craving and almost immediately guilt shows up, and that's where the spiral begins. I've ruined it. I'll start again on Monday. And suddenly one moment turns into a pattern. So if cravings feel overwhelming, please hear this. It's not because you're weak, it's because your brain is responding exactly as it's designed to. The answer is not more restriction. In fact, more restriction usually makes cravings worse. After almost 20 years of working with overweight people, I've seen again and again that the real issue isn't food itself, it's the conflict that dieting creates in your mind. Diets try to control your behaviour from the outside, whereas my SlimPod programme works from the inside. It helps retrain the subconscious mind where habits and automatic responses are formed. Because cravings don't start in your stomach, they start in your brain. And when your brain no longer feels restricted or deprived, something changes. The intensity of cravings begin to reduce, the constant thinking about food starts to quieten, and making healthier choices feels more natural. So here are 3 simple things that you can start doing today. Number 1, loosen the rules. The more you tell yourself you can't have something, the more your brain wants it. When all foods are allowed in moderation, cravings lose their power. Number 2, be kind to yourself. Cravings are part of being human, especially if you've spent years dieting. When you respond with compassion instead of criticism, you reduce stress and make it easier to move on. And number 3, pause and check in. Ask yourself, am I actually hungry or is something else driving this? Stress, boredom, habit. That small moment of awareness can make a really big difference. You can also support yourself by shaping your environment. Keep nourishing foods visible, remove tempting ones and put them out of sight, and surround yourself with people who support you. And most importantly, remember this: cravings are not proof that you're broken in any way. Very often they are proof that restriction is backfiring. And if this resonated, there's a full chapter of cravings all about the whole thing in my book The Weight's Over, where I explore this in much more depth. And if you're ready to stop dieting and start changing your relationship with food in a more natural, sustainable way, you can explore the SlimPod Programme below.
