Watching a favourite show on TV and suddenly the urge to eat ice-cream is so strong that we are prepared to leave our warm, cozy home to satisfy the fix.

Since there is no such thing as perfect eating, succumbing to an occasional food craving is not a big deal, but when we are regularly feeling that our cravings are controlling us, that might be the time to take action.

Though specific food cravings, like the ones experienced during pregnancy, may be due to hormonal shifts, more common are cravings that are a result of food habits we've developed over time.

These habits program our brains to seek out different tastes and flavour sensations. A classic example of this is when we regularly enjoy a sweet treat with a cup of tea, or after the evening meal.

Once this pattern becomes entrenched over weeks, months and years, the brain will be looking for this sweet sensation whenever you revert to that same scenario and environment.

So when you find yourself having a cup of tea at a similar time of day, chances are the brain will continue to seek out sweet stimulation which will in turn drive the craving.

Such cravings are largely behavioural and can easily be broken when we work to alter the neural pathways we have established.

This might involve doing something different after dinner, such as going for a walk or having a shower.

A study published in the journal Appetite found that a significant number of participants lost their craving for chocolate altogether when they had to go for a walk before they could indulge.

Another simple strategy is to never feed a craving with more of the same type of food as you are likely to excite the brain and continue to eat far more than you need.

The foods we most commonly crave -chocolates, ice-cream, cake and potato chips - all have a rich taste and mouth feel along with a particularly strong flavour, whether it is sweet of savoury.

Behavioural research has repeatedly shown that the more intense the flavours we are exposed to, the more we can eat and hence the explanation for polishing off an entire bag of potato chips or a tub of ice-cream.

Instead, try to limit yourself to a small quantity of the food you are craving before you change the taste in your mouth entirely, whether it is via a cup of green tea, ice-cold water with a lemon slice or via sugar-free mints and gum.

And, of course, brushing your teeth is a time-proven technique.

The psychological approach we take to cravings may be the most important.

If we deal with our cravings as if they are in charge of us, and we keep rewarding ourselves with the exact types of foods we are trying to cut back on, cravings will continue.

But if we work towards accepting that cravings will come and go and manage them via proven strategies, including distraction, a change of environment or simply waiting a brief period of time before you indulge them, you will be surprised how quickly they disappear.

■ Susie Burrell is an accredited practising dietitian and the creator of a commercial diet plan.