End carb cravings

Whether you crave fat or sugar, are always hungry or can’t close the kitchen, we’ve got a solution

1 Outsmart fat cravings with rhodiola

If fried chicken commercials make your mouth water, you could be short on

neuropeptide Y (NPY), a hormone that nixes the urge to eat greasy fare.

■ The fix: a daily 250-mg. dose of rhodiola, an herb shown to rev NPY release for 60% of us, cutting snack attacks in half, helping you shed up to 24 pounds in one year.

■ Important: Check with an M.D. before starting a new supplement.

2Tame a sweet tooth with pink grapefruit

Insulin shuttles glucose to brain cells. The problem: Some of us have brain cells that have become insensitive to insulin and so refuse the “delivery.” The result: a brain that screams for a sugar fix.

■ The fix: Eating half of a pink grapefruit at meals could cut sugar cravings 43% in a week. Grapefruit has compounds that help brain cells uptake insulin-bound glucose.

3Fill up faster with the sun

The hormone leptin KO’S hunger pangs as soon as your tummy is full, unless your brain can’t absorb this hormone. The fix: Getting 10 minutes of midday sun activates enzymes that help your brain use leptin for 24 hours.

4Stop late-night snacking with walnuts

If cravings for sweet or salty carbs kick in around 10 p.m. most nights, you’re likely overproducing the hunger hormone ghrelin. The fix: Eat a half cup of raw walnuts every afternoon. Walnut compounds will tamp down your ghrelin production, reining in the nighttime munchies!