Our bodies are very smart. They know what is best for us and what we need deep down. They tell us when we are not feeding them properly.
Just like a plant orients its leaves towards the sun, our bodies always tell us what is best for our health and happiness.
In today’s society, it is often very hard to listen to our bodies, though - there is too much noise everywhere.
Society pressures us to look and act a certain way; there are innumerable books out every year on different diets. So, it is hard to quiet the chatter and listen to ourselves.
Listening to ourselves is, however, where the answers lie.
So, the next time you crave a certain food, pause and pay attention, and ask yourself what it is that your body trying to tell you. Don’t judge yourself, just be curious and try to understand what exactly is it that you are craving. It can very well be that the food you are craving, or perhaps the nourishment you are seeking, is not food related but it has to do with your emotional state.
Our bodies are always trying to seek balance, and experiencing a craving is an indication that some form of nourishment is needed to rebalance ourselves. An example is that you may crave a nourishing warm soup when you are feeling under the weather. So, don’t ignore cravings. Listen to your body and mind and see what is it you are needing.
Here are some of the reasons you might be craving a certain food, and not all of them have to do with food!
Ø Dehydration
Sometimes we are just thirsty and not hungry! Drinking water throughout the day will help not only alleviate cravings for coffee, soft drinks, and other unhealthy drinks, but also curb food cravings. When you get a strange craving, reach first for a glass of water and see how you feel.
Ø Deprivation
In today’s society, being slim is seen as an ideal of beauty and health. This ideal often is pursued to extremes where some of us end up hungry and deprived in an effort to lose those pounds and look like that (extremely slim) ideal. It is then common to experience food cravings. Your body is telling you that you are not feeding her enough. Finding our own ideal of beauty and health, without being influenced by what are often unhealthy ideals, and eating enough to nourish our unique bodies is where the answers lie.
Ø Lack of sleep
When you don’t sleep enough, your tired body needs energy to go on, and therefore craves high-energy, nutrient-dense foods. This is your body’s attempt to restore balance and bring back well-being. When we are sleep deprived, we tend to eat more snacks and more calories generally. This is one more reason to honor our need for restful sleep.
Ø Excess consumption of sugar and flours
When we eat lots of sugar and food items with refined flours, sugar spikes in our blood, which in turn causes an insulin spike. That insulin stores away all the sugar in the blood, creating a sugar low, and after some time we are hungry again and crave food. Processed foods often contain excessive amounts of sugar and refined flours, so eating whole, non-processed foods will help balance sugar intake and therefore blood sugar, which in turn will help with cravings.
Ø Lack of nutrients
When you eat a lot of processed foods that are full of sugar, salt and fat, your body tells you to eat more. The reason is because those foods are nutrient poor - they are lacking protein, vitamins and minerals. As a result, your body becomes malnourished. It is lacking essential nutrients for proper functioning. Eat foods that are high in nutrients and low in calories, like vegetables, including dark leafy greens, whole grains, as well as leaner cuts of meat. If you eat plenty of these healthy, nutrient-dense foods, it will become harder to eat too much processed, unhealthy foods, as your body can only consume so much. And once you start to reaching for healthy, nutrient-dense foods, your body will begin craving them, as she knows and feels how these foods satisfy the need for all the nutrients in the body.
Ø Unhealthy gut microbiome
Out gut microbes communicate with our brain; our gut is actually our second brain! These microbes influence our eating behavior. Some bad microbes crave sugar, for example. Diversifying our microbiome will reduce the prevalence of these bad microbes and therefore the cravings. We can diversify our microbiome by eating probiotic rich foods such as fermented products like kimchi or kefir, by eating prebiotics like plantains or onions, and by eating a nutrient-dense diet.
Ø Fluctuating Hormones
Fluctuating hormones, especially testosterone and estrogen, may cause unusual cravings. For example, you might experience a chocolate craving right before or during your period. That is because your body is craving higher amounts of magnesium during this phase, and chocolate is one of the best sources of magnesium. However, chia and hemp seeds as well as almonds are good sources of magnesium too, so nourish your body with these, and you will crave less chocolate. Other hormones like the stress hormones also may cause cravings – when these stress hormones are imbalanced, other hormones such as insulin are impacted and fluctuate as well, causing a loss in balance, which will lead to experiencing cravings.
Ø Lifestyle Imbalances
We often experience imbalances in our lives, whether that shows up as being in an unhappy relationship, not exercising according to our needs (either too little or too much exercise), being bored, stressed, being in an unfulfilling job, not having a spiritual practice – these can all contribute to emotional eating, where eating is used as a substitute for entertainment or to fill a void. Food intake becomes a form of relief, or even an escape from an unhappy situation. Addressing the root issue of these imbalances instead of succumbing to eating food is a better and healthier way of dealing with this. Maybe all you need is a hug from a loved one, a friend to talk to, perhaps a walk around the block to release tension, or just a cup of warm tea and a cozy blanket. Find the balance you are craving by attending to your true need, and realize and accept that food is not the permanent solution.
Ø Food memories
Sometimes we crave foods we recently ate, or foods eaten by our ancestors, or foods from our childhood. We are basically trying to recreate a positive experience. One way to satisfy these cravings is to eat healthier versions of the same foods. To address the cravings from foods we recently ate, you can use a tongue scraper and clean your tongue daily. Food particles remain in your mouth long after you eat them, and your taste buds will remember that food days later. Your body will manifest it as a craving. By removing those food particles, your taste buds won’t keep the memory.
Ø Food Imbalances
When we eat a certain kind of food in excess, we often crave foods with opposite characteristics. For example, if we eat lots of bread, crackers and other baked foods that are dry, these create stagnation and dryness in the body, and we start craving creamy, relaxing foods such as ice cream, milk products and oil-rich foods. Try finding healthier alternatives, while still acknowledging and satisfying this craving – drink water, make a porridge with whole grains, for example. On the other hand, if you are craving something crisp and dry, perhaps you are drinking too many liquids. You can address these cravings also by reaching for healthier versions of crispy foods such as home baked sweet potato chips or kale chips. If you are craving heavy foods, maybe you have been eating lots of salads and fruit, so reach for healthy choices of heavier foods like fish or beef. Our bodies naturally want to be balanced. We’ll crave the opposite foods so that we regain balance.
Ø Seasonal
Often the body craves foods to balance the elements of the season. In the Spring, we might crave detoxifying foods like leafy greens or citrus foods. In the Summer, we might crave cooling foods like raw foods and ice cream. In the Fall we might reach for comforting and grounding foods like squash, onions, and nuts. In the Winter, we might crave hot and heat-inducing foods like meat, oils and fat. Other cravings, like turkey, eggnog or sweets, can be associated with holiday season. Acknowledge these cravings and reach for healthy versions of the foods your body is craving.
Ø Self-sabotage
When things are going extremely well, sometimes self-sabotage syndrome happens, and we crave foods that throw us off balance. We then have more cravings to balance ourselves. When things are going well, sometimes our bodies and minds revert back to when things were not going as well, because that is what is familiar to them, as we often spend a lot of our lives in that unhealthy space, and we are most likely not ready to let go of old habits. If this happens, be gentle with yourself and realize that what matters is the progress, not perfection. Just acknowledge and accept yourself and get back on your heathy journey.
To finish up, the key message I’d like to leave you with is that it is in our best interest to pay attention to our cravings and not mask whatever is going on by either succumbing to eating food to numb ourselves out, or by totally ignoring the craving and going against our natural instincts.
Going against our instincts and ignoring cravings usually ends up with a backlash later on, with terrible consequences.
Cravings are not weaknesses - they are important messages that help us maintain a balance, whether that is a nutritional balance or a behavioral balance.
We need to trust our bodies and not see cravings as enemies that we are to ignore or to defeat.
At any given time, you may choose to eat the food you were craving or you may choose to nurture yourself in another way, but this time it will be your own educated decision, not a mindless reaction.
When we learn how to deconstruct our cravings, we reclaim a sense of harmony.
We must pay attention, listen and develop a dialog with our bodies. This is because our bodies love us, and they know what is best for our health and happiness.