Sourced from Livestrong by Kim Conte February 3, 2020
Craving french fries, steak, or a chocolate shake simply means that you want to eat these foods RIGHT NOW, right?
Not necessarily!
According to a New York based registered dietitian-nutritionist, Tiffany Mendell, these are several physiological reasons behind your
cravings. The severity and frequency of your food hankerings can be affected by a combination of unhealthy lifestyle factors, such as
being dehydrated, lack of sleep or an unbalanced diet.
Making sure that you are eating enough healthy fat, protein, and complex carbs to satisfy you is important to keep the cravings at bay. Stress can also play an important role. Mendell says it is hypothesized that cortisol, one of the body's stress hormones, may affect the reward system in the brain with food and cravings, making it more difficult for a person to resist a craving.
Insufficient sleep can also have an effect in altering the body's hunger hormones and causing us to produce more hormones called ghrelin (which increases hunger and appetite) and less of the satiety hormone, leptin.
So let’s take a look at the real reasons behind your cravings.
CRAVING 1: Salty foods indicate you may be dehydrated.
Whether you drank too much alcohol last night, or were on a long flight, or are experiencing other thirst inducing situation — dehydration can come with serious cravings for salt.
Sodium is a major electrolyte in the body. These electrolytes help to maintain the lfuid balance in the body. Dehydration is a loss of electrolytes and fluid can occur from excess swearing, heavy alchol intake or vomiting. A craving for salt could indicate dehydration as
the body is looking to restore electrolyte and fluid balance. Some research has even shown that salt cravings can also indicate a mild calcium deficiency in the body. More research needs to be done in order to solidify the connection between salt cravings and a need for calcium rich foods.
CRAVING 2: Fatty foods indicate you may need more sleep.
Not catching enough sleep? Sleep amounts can also alter the body's hunger hormones. There's also research showing that sleep deprivation can cause a person to eat an average of 385 extra calories the next day.
What's more is a lack of sleep can also have a direct effect on cravings. Insufficient sleep can also raise the blood level of chemical compounds called endocannabinoids. This increases the reward value of food and causes cravings for high-fat, calorie-dense foods. If you struggle with intense food cravings, try to focus on improving your sleep habits and hygiene.
CRAVING 3: Sugary foods are a sign that you may need a more balanced diet.
Sugar cravings can happen for a few reasons. Repeated exposure to overly sweet foods skews people's taste buds. It makes less sweet foods like fruit and vegetables seem less palatable. And this is bad news for those who eat a lot of artificial sweeteners, (like diet sodas and sugar free snacks) which are 200 - 600 times sweeter than table sugar.
If your diet is too high in refined carbs, it can cause a rapid spike and drop in blood sugar levels. You will crave sugary foods in order to raise your blood sugar again.
The BIG bottom line on cravings
is that when it comes to resisting cravings, it's not always about willpower. Foods that are high in sugar and salt, processed foods, have a powerful effect on our brains that keeps us wanting more.
It's difficult to stop eating a bag of pretzels while a bag of carrots is obviously an entire different story. Our taste buds are very malleable and repeated exposure tends to influence our taste buds to prefer certain foods.
If you want to stop craving processed foods that are high in sugar and salt, start with a diet of mostly unprocessed foods, and your taste
buds will adjust accordingly.
