Should you cave to a craving?

Just a tiny taste of a treat — like those M&Ms you've been thinking about all afternoon — and you'll be able to put a craving out of your head for good, right?

Nope. Leave the ice-cream carton in the freezer (or better yet, at the store). Put the bag of chocolates down. In a study, just one taste of a treat triggered more indulgences a mere 25 minutes later.

Once people had a taste of an indulgence — such as a chocolate truffle — it awakened a need for more goodies. And things snowballed. They started craving things like ice cream, pizza and potato chips. And only once the urge to indulge had been satisfied (which, in real life, can be anything from one bag to the whole grocery shelf) did the study's participants focus once again on healthy foods, like carrots, whole-wheat bread, low-fat yogurt and pears.

So what can you do instead of cave?

Eat better in the morning. People who ate eggs (even egg whites) for breakfast were able to bypass junk-food cravings better than people who downed bagels at that meal.

Have a handful of walnuts. Eat six halves 25-30 minutes before a meal, and you'll fill up faster and stay fuller longer.

Take away the "don't." A part of your brain, the insula, is wired in a way that when you say "don't" do something — as in, "Don't eat cupcakes" — all it hears is "eat cupcakes." You see the problem. Instead of telling it what not to do, tell your brain what TO do — like "eat juicy watermelon or a crunchy apple."

The YOU Docs, Mike Roizen and Mehmet Oz, are authors of the "YOU: Being Beautiful — The Owner's Manual to Inner and Outer Beauty." To submit questions, go to RealAge.com. Distributed by King Features Syndicate.

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