Health care professionals, organizations, the media and the weight loss industry tend to emphasize what, when and how much to eat. The Craving Change® approach has redefined healthier eating expertise by focusing on the more important question of why we eat the way we do. Most of us know that eating an apple is healthier than eating chocolate cake, so why do we often choose the cake despite our best intentions?
The Craving Change approach helps clients explore the various factors that could be triggering their food cravings and to use thinking and behavioural strategies to make healthier choices more often. Notably, the co-founders of Craving Change Inc recognize and acknowledge the substantial research identifying the social determinants of health. This research is well-established beyond Canadian borders, but for a good summary by the Public Health Agency of Canada click here or here for a recent series of articles on influences and disparities in the Canadian health care system published by The Lancet. Health, and health behaviour change, are directly influenced by a number of contextual factors that extend beyond individual choices, including physical environment, trauma, and income. The Craving Change approach is one tool to help health care professionals and clients begin to consider some of the environmental and psychological influences influencing their relationship with food and how they use food. Making sustainable, healthy changes is hard. This program provides education, practical suggestions, and support in that journey.
The four key concepts of the Craving Change approach help your clients:
- Understand why it’s hard to change their eating
- Identify their personal triggers for problematic eating
- Learn to respond to their triggers differently
- Maintain these changes
The Craving Change approach encourages non-psychotherapeutic health care professionals to teach this information. It is “stepped care” in action. Stepped care is a health intervention delivery model that encourages the use of general interventions offered by non-specialists as a first step in client care. Please refer to our References FAQ to read more about stepped care and disordered eating.
Craving Change can be applied in interdisciplinary settings to manage chronic health conditions such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. The curriculum is complementary to non-diet, mindful and intuitive eating methodologies.
The Craving Change program:
- addresses emotional eating
- applies to individual and group counseling
- encourages self-efficacy and self-management
- focuses on cognitive-behavioural strategies
- considers different learning styles
- promotes interdisciplinary practice
For a summary of the evidence underlying the foundations of Craving Change, download Roots and Outcomes
