What Food Cravings Mean and How To Control Them
Is this what happens when “The Crave” hits?
Craving: an intense, urgent, or abnormal desire or longing
We’ve all been there. You have a sudden, intense urge to eat something sweet or salty. It’s never broccoli. It’s probably not a salad. It’s nearly always chocolate. Or ice cream. Or pretzels. Potato chips. You name it…if it’s unhealthy, there’s probably been a time when you just had to have it. Where do these cravings come from and how can you keep them at bay without devouring the entire pumpkin pie?
It’s What You Crave
The big thing to note about a craving is that it’s not just a desire to eat. It’s not mere hunger. A craving is for a very specific food and nothing else will satisfy your need. When your stomach is growling and you’re famished, any food will do. When your brain is saying “I NEED THIS!,” only that particular food will work. Or will it?
A sharp, intense craving typically means that your body is lacking in some essential nutrient. It may be a particular vitamin or mineral or if you’re having a hypoglycemic response to a high-sugar meal, it may be glucose that your body demands. Here’s a list of commonly craved foods, many you may crave at some point in time, and what they may be saying about your nutritional status. Even better, here are much more healthful foods that will shore up those nutritional deficiencies.
[TABLE=6]
The complete list is here at 2nd Wind Body Science. What you’ll notice by looking over the list is that the very foods that serve as healthful stand-ins for the craved foods are invariably Real Foods. Organ meats, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seafood, red meat, legumes, and a couple mentions of grain (which I’ll let slide). Nearly everything on the list that you should be eating is unprocessed.
Controlling Your Cravings
It’s funny, I no longer find myself having cravings for sweet and salty snacks for the most part (unless I have a couple drinks too many, then it’s anybody’s game). In fact, if I eat too much junk, I find myself going “I just want a big ol’ salad to get back on track.” As evidenced by the list above, a big part of controlling food cravings is eating a nutrient-rich, Real Foods diet. As we’ve seen, cravings are often the result of the body’s desire for specific vitamins and minerals. So it follows logically that a diet full of the necessary vitamins and minerals is going to knock down most cravings.
Here’s a trick that has been proven in a study to improve willpower: take a picture. This article by Douglas Robb of Health Habits shows that dieters taking pictures are less likely to overeat.
One volunteer told the researchers: ‘I had to think more carefully about what I was going to eat because I had to take a picture of it. ‘I was less likely to have a jumbo bag of M&Ms. It curbed my choices. It didn’t alter them completely but who wants to take a photo of a jumbo bag of M&Ms?’ Another volunteer said the photo diaries actually improved the quality of his diet.
Personally, I’ll stick with just eating a high-quality diet that keeps me from needing to worry much about willpower. But the photo trick is interesting nonetheless.
Do you have specific foods that you crave? How do you deal with your cravings?
About Scott
Scott Kustes loves to cook and loves to eat. He started Real Food University to help you get maximum enjoyment out of the meals that you eat. To find out more about how he has rebelled against the fast food culture and counting calories or carbs, join the Real Food Revolution.
21 Reader Comments
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Interesting stuff. I agree that the picture exercise is a bit over the top. I agree that if I’ve eaten well in general my cravings are subdued. But, then there is the pyschological connections like popcorn and the movies, wine with cheese, etc. that I find difficult to avoid. Especially on weekends.
Linking cravings to mineral deficiencies? This is some very interesting stuff. I am going to have to trace back the origins of this information and do some more reading up!
What can I say, awesome post and it’s something I have always wondered about. Will have to put the foods to test next time the cravings strike……by the looks of things I need to up my protein, I often crave fruit though….
Very interesting. I think this is a great post for for us to understand that cravings are not temptations but way of our bodies ringing the bells.
As for taking photos, I have heard about the study and I think it might be a good exercise in the process of changing your eating habbits altough I would argue its practicality.
As opposed to the picture taking, try a dieting blog that tracks your foods intake and shares them on the blog? Clock my name for a site that allows just that – you enter your foods into the log, and as part of your blog, visitors will be able to see what you ate, and what your nutrititonal intakes are, as well as your progress in your weight loss.
I find my cravings are more for the texture and mouth feel, not necessarily the nutrient component. I haven’t found anything to compare to a nice chewy, crusty baguette. But nuts for crunch and a slab of beef for chew is a moderate substitution.
[...] out this interesting post from Modern Forager and get some answers. Also check out the five hotdogs that will kill you. What [...]
The only cravings I ever get are for jars of peanut or almond butter (natural, of course)…any remedies for those? I can eat a whole jar in one sitting.
I remember the first time I came off a PSMF, I was craving nuts and seeds like mad. The saltiness was to die for, likely as a means of adding water back into my cells. Creatine seems to keep that at bay, as would any osmolyte.
Great post.
Best,
Skyler
Great article, having a list of healthy substitutes is helpful to put it mildly. Thanks for the info.
Yegin, I can’t argue with you about the impracticality of taking pictures. It is interesting nonetheless.
Gregg, are you just starved for calories and find the high fat content of the nut butters works well?
Cheers
Scott
My major craving over the last few years has always been sushi… can’t figure out where that fits on the list though.
The cravings have mostly gone away, except for the nostalgia ones, as I’m eating whole foods and no grains now. The sushi one still hits on occasion, but the local restaurants are so dissapointing that we haven’t gone for close to a year.
#1 craving is usually sugar for people…and it could be either the body’s way of wanting natural sources like fruit (which also help to replenish liver glycogen and help the liver work better….which is our greatest fat burning organ). Also it could be a total gut imbalance with more bad bacteria, as they survive on sugar. Some people find relief with probiotics if that is the case. All in all, the body is definitely trying to tell us something….we just need to realize what the real message is.
[...] article on Modern Forager refers to a list of common cravings and the likely nutritional deficiency associated with them. The [...]
I’m really glad you posted this as I can’t help but wonder what some cravings mean. I was craving some bread the other day, but instead of reaching for nuts r meat, I had myself a banana. Also I am curious, sometimes I get up in the middle of the night and need a little bit of sweet. Since there is coke in the house aI live in I usually need one sip. Does this ever happen to anyone? It only happens occasionally.
I think the whole point of taking pictures is that it IS impractical. Anything that makes a person stop and think about what they are doing can break a faulty line of logic or irrational thought and put them back on saner territory. Taking a picture forces a person to see the object of the craving from a different perspective, in addition to serving as “evidence” of what they ate. And given how ubiquitous digital cameras and cell phone cameras are these days, the financial and time cost of taking a picture is virtually nonexistent. This would have been far more impractical back in the days of film.
Interesting stuff Scott. I also find that since I have started eating a lot better overall I get less cravings. It’s only when I let myself fall into bad habits that the cravings resurface.
I think you are ignoring the fact that alcohol, chocolate, coffee and tea (and simple sugars found in bread) actually stimulate dopamine release in certain parts of the brain (creating a feeling of wellbeing). Cravings can come from learning this response to certain foods and doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with mineral deficiencies. Some of these cravings are “tricks” from drugs in the foods, some are legitimate and should be satisfied (my wife craves broccoli when she’s premenstrual because she is losing iron), and some are legitimate but our access to the craved foods is too easy, so they shouldn’t be satisfied.
Angel, good points.
Adam, I had an interesting discussion with a reader via email a few months back in which she discussed her previous alcohol dependence. Now, there’s no doubt that these substances are causing hormonal release that the body is craving. But here’s where it’s interesting…she cleaned up her diet and got healthy and got over her need for alcohol. And she claims to be able to have just a drink or two, which an alcoholic/recovering alcoholic is supposed to not be able to do. Perhaps these substances are used as a crutch by the body, driving from the same primal cravings as discussed above. It’s interesting to consider.
Cheers
Scott
[...] Cravings get a bad reputation for nothing. Laird see’s them as a signal your body wants something and is looking for a certain nutrient. Listen to your body and learn to figure out what you really want, If Laird get’s a craving for something sweet he turns to tropical fruit like papaya or pineapple instead of junk. [...]
Great Post! Very informative. It is also very beneficial to have a list of healthier alternatives. Thanks