I just ate dinner 3 hours ago, trout hubby and I caught, brown rice, and veggies. I'm now feeling like I could go eat out the fridge! I tried to suppress it with a handful of cherries, but I still feel hungry. Does anyone have any tips on how to deal with time of the month cravings?

I have to plan ahead for hormonal munchies. Birth control pills help me keep it under control, but a few months ago, medicare stopped paying for my bc, and the one I had to switch to doesn't help quite as much.

Still, it's better than me on no bc (hubby calls me werewolf, because of my mood swings and cravings for red meat. He used to tell his friends he had to throw burgers into the apartment and wait until he heard munching for it to be safe for him to come into the house - sadly not much of an exaggeration).

For me, planning ahead is essention. I can go through an entire party tray of raw veggies and dip (or the equivalent). To save money
and calories, I make my own. I make ranch dressing using ranch dressing mix powder I buy or make (using an online recipe that uses common seasonings). I use Hellman's Canola oil mayo (45 or 50 calories per tablespoon), light sour cream, and low-fat milk or buttermilk to thin the dip, so that it's runnier (so it goes further).

I always include carrots, but I also use a lot of even lower calorie veggies too. Celery, green pepper, green onion, cucumber, cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, turnip, radishes....

I also make big batches of sugar free jello, and diet drink mix.

I make no alcohol stawberry daquiris and strawberry sprbet with frozen strawberries, diet Mountain Dew, and a pinch of splenda in the blender or a food processor.

Drinking a lot of water, or sugar free lemonade helps with the water retention too (I add lemon or lime juice, usually fresh to Crystal Light pink lemonade - really seems to flush the water retention, even faster than plain water).

Eating a lot of raw cruciferous vegetables should help a lot, the fiber will even help with weight loss, and many of them have a 'negative' calorie effect, giving you an added oomph.

i am big on celery and also 10 calories weight watchers jello!

also recently i have been freezing a lot of different foods: like yogurt, grapes and bananas...it takes longer to eat and it tastes so so so yummy, plus because it takes longer to eat you have the chance of recognizing you're actually full.

last week was a nightmare. I would have to agree with lieber508, frozen grapes are a great way I have found to supress my crave for sugar during that time!

ah I am going to have to try the frozen grapes! I like these tips!