deconstructing cravings

Good morning!
I have been getting a lot of questions lately about cravings. How to stop them, what to do if you just can't stop eating sugar, etc...
First of all, let's keep in mind that there are SO many reasons your body would be craving sugar (or anything else.) Dehydration, unbalanced diet, lack of vegetables, too many artificial sweeteners, too many white carbs, boredom and loneliness, just to name a few. Every person has to look into their own diets and lifestyles and see what is out of balance. The fact that we are having cravings is an important signal from the body that something isn't right, and it shouldn't be ignored! So putting yourself on a no sugar diet, without looking into the real cause of the craving, will lead to disaster. It will never help to just have will power and ignore your cravings if you don't know why you are having them and what you need to do to fix the problem.
Secondly, before you delve into yourself and try to figure out what's amiss, the first step is always "crowding out". This means that whatever the cause of your cravings is, you should be crowding out the junk food with lots of vegetables, fruit and water. So for example, before you decide to stop eating a donut everyday for breakfast, just try it on Monday. And in the place of a donut eat some very sweet fruit with a big cup of water instead. You can slowly work your way to two, three and four days a week until you have successfully crowded out your craving for donuts. And then the introspection can start, and you think about why you might be having them in the first place. This is a rule that anyone and everyone can easily follow to start the process of deconstructing cravings! (You can do this at any time you might be craving something sweet. Grab some green grapes and a big cup of water and wait 15, then see if you're still aching for the chocolate bar!)

I thought this step of "crowding out" would sound a lot more do-able and a lot less scary then "stop eating sugar"!

Let me know how it goes,
Mishi