We have all experienced this moment before – that unrelenting desire for a piece of candy, a slice of pizza, a bag of potato chips, anything, you name it. Food cravings can be frustrating and sometimes even painful to bear, especially for those trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy diet.
Though it might seem like it, cravings are not just random pangs of hunger, but rather, our body’s way of communicating with us!
Non-specific Food Cravings
Stress:
Do you often find yourself mindlessly shoving food down your throat when you’re feeling stressed? Stress – or emotional – eating is a very, very common thing and is your body’s way of using food to relieve negative feelings.
Stress prompts your body to release cortisol, aka the “stress hormone.” Cortisol in turn increases your body’s appetite for calorie-dense foods that are high in sugar and fat, or in other words, junk food. Ongoing stress can increase your body’s reward system for food and make you even more prone to overeating.
Sleep:
It is of no surprise that adequate sleep is of the utmost importance for almost every aspect of our health. What is lesser known is that sleep actually affects hunger too!
Sleep helps regulate your body’s hormone levels. In particular, inadequate sleep causes a hormone called ghrelin to spike, and another hormone called leptin to decrease. Ghrelin helps to stimulate appetite while leptin works to decrease it. Inadequate sleep literally makes you more hungry! Along with that, a lack of sleep raises a lipid known as endocannabinoid in your blood. Endocannabinoids play a role in your body’s reward response and work to make food more pleasurable. And of course, we all know that inadequate sleep depletes us of energy; to counteract fatigue, our body craves calorie-dense foods for energy.
Water:
Are you hungry…or are you thirsty? Though this might sound like a no-brainer, the two actually get mixed up more often than you might think.
Dehydration and hunger produce very similar sensations on your body. Sometimes, a craving for food may just be your body’s cry for water. In addition, dehydration may lead to a reduction in blood volume which may cause a drop in blood pressure. If you ever experienced fatigue after a long period of minimal to no water, it is because there is not enough oxygen being supplied to your vital organs. Dehydration sends a signal to your brain for more energy and your mind interprets that as hunger – particularly cravings for energy-dense foods.
Habit:
Do you have a tendency to snack on popcorn and potato chips while watching TV? Reward yourself with a piece of chocolate after a long day of work? Well turns out, a lot of our cravings actually stem from our eating and drinking habits, many of which we are not even aware of!
When you make a routine – whether you realize it or not – to eat or drink something at for example, a specific time or a specific occasion, your mind and body begins to expect it. This explains why many of us find ourselves craving certain foods at certain times or situations even though we might not necessarily be hungry or thirsty. This automated process is rather dangerous because in most cases, we are not even aware of it!
Specific Food Cravings
Chocolate:
Chocolate helps boost two very important chemicals in our body: dopamine, the “feel-good” chemical, and serotonin, the “happy” chemical. Chocolate contains trace amounts of tyramine and phenylethylamine that promote the secretion of dopamine, and tryptophan which promotes the production of serotonin. This explains the mood-boosting effects of chocolate and our tendencies to crave it while we are stressed or down.
To all the ladies out there, this may be of interest to you. Approximately 50% of women in the U.S crave chocolate during their menstrual cycle! Currently, research has found no link found between psychological changes during the menstrual cycle and chocolate cravings. A recent study, however, found that exposure to American culture increased the likelihood of menstrual chocolate cravings, suggesting the craving may be a cultural construct, perhaps as a way to justify its consumption.
Salty Snacks:
Cravings for salty snacks may stem from a lack of sufficient sodium in the body. For those who are constantly active, live in humid conditions, or are heavy sweaters, excess sweating can actually also lead to salt cravings. This is because sweat contains salt, so sweating decreases sodium levels in the body. Sodium deficiencies are actually quite uncommon here so another plausible explanation is dehydration! Salt tends to hold onto water, so when your body is dehydrated, it will tend to crave more salt. This is why staying hydrated is so important!
Salty food cravings can also stem from an already high-sodium diet – this is especially pertinent here in the U.S where high-sodium diets are not uncommon. After all, we crave what we already eat.
Sweets:
Sugar is quick energy, so what happens when your body needs quick energy? It craves sugar! This occurs when you deprive your body of food – i.e fasting and unhealthy dieting. Along with a food deficit, a magnesium deficit also can contribute to sugar cravings. Magnesium fuels over 300 processes in our bodies, and a deficit can deprive our bodies and force it to crave sugar for energy.
For most of us, sweets have been associated with feelings of celebration, reward, and happiness from an early age – cupcakes at birthday parties, fresh cookies at grandma’s, and desert after finishing dinner! This association might explain why many of us seek out sugary sweets or baked goods for comfort during times of stress or emotional turmoil.
