What Your Food Cravings Might Be Telling You

Maybe it’s just the time of year with pumpkin spice deliciousness and Halloween candy everywhere or Count Chocula staring you down in the cereal aisle, but do you ever feel like you’re craving all the things? Are these cravings random or is your body actually trying to tell you what it needs? I think sometimes it could just be that we smell the pumpkin spiced lattes in Target or walk by a Cinnabon making us crave it, but often times our bodies actually are on to something!

Chocolate

Craving chocolate is usually a sign that we’re low in magnesium! This could be because dark chocolate is high in magnesium. It also and has less sugar than milk chocolate so it can be a good option. Some other foods we can get magnesium from are nuts and seeds, legumes, and fruits. We can also get magnesium by taking a bath with some magnesium flakes in it, which sounds like a treat in itself, right? Here's the kind I use. So treat yo self with some dark chocolate and a bath, maybe some Fleetwood Mac and some candles too? 😉

Sweets

This can range from more than just chocolate specifically but also candy, cookies, you-name-it sweetness. This craving could mean that we’re low in chromium which can be found in broccoli, grapes, cheese, liver, and chicken. Chromium is needed for carbohydrate metabolism and can help improve insulin sensitivity! Which is ironic because the more sweets we eat, the more chromium we need in order to metabolize those carbohydrates! It could lead to a vicious cycle, so try to add in some of the foods mentioned above to get that added chromium in and hopefully stop the craving for sweets!

It could also mean we need more carbon in our diets which can be found in fresh fruits or phosphorus which can be found in chicken, beef, liver, fish, eggs, dairy, nuts, and grains. Phosphorus is important for our cell membranes structure and since our body is made up of millions and millions of cells, this is a pretty important nutrient! It’s also needed in forming strong bones and teeth (sweets tend to do the opposite) and to build and repair muscle tissue.

Craving sweets could mean that we need more sulfur in our diets. This is found in cranberries, onions, eggs, garlic, and protein rich foods. We need sulfur to synthesize glutathione which can protect our cells from free radical damage since it’s a powerful antioxidant.

Tryptophan is found in cheese, liver, lamb, raisins, sweet potato, meats, and spinach. Tryptophan is used in the body to help make melatonin, and serotonin (the good mood chemical in our bodies). I wonder if sometimes our body craves sweets because it triggers a release of dopamine giving us a temporary “high” of feeling good, when really, we just need some tryptophan in order to make serotonin to provide a more stable good mood!

Bread

Confession. I’m with Oprah on this one. I. Love. Bread. I love bread. So, what does this craving mean?

This is a sign that we’re low in nitrogen. We get nitrogen from high protein foods like fish, meat, nuts and beans. Nitrogen plays a role in protein synthesis, hormones, and even our brain functions and immune system. Craving bread can also be a sign of yeast overgrowth in our gut. Those yeast microbes live off sugar (which bread breaks down into glucose/sugar in the body), so a yeast overgrowth can make us crave bread and other refined carbohydrates and sugars too! The more we eat bread, the more we are feeding those yeast microbes and potentially multiplying them, making us crave bread more and more. Try to break this cycle by adding in more fats and proteins with each meal or snack! Also adding in probiotic rich foods like sauerkraut, yogurt or kombucha can help balance the healthy bacteria in our gut against bad bacteria or a yeast overgrowth.

Fatty foods

Craving fatty foods could mean we’re low in calcium which we can find in dairy foods like milk and cheese (possibly why we crave ice cream), broccoli, kale, and turnip greens. Craving fatty foods could also be a sign that we’re not eating enough fat in our meals throughout the day. So, if Ben and Jerry are calling you at night, try adding in some eggs for breakfast, avocado on your sandwich or salad at lunch, and lots of butter with your potatoes at dinner! Fats are what keep us satiated so we don’t have crazy cravings!

Coffee or tea

I love a good cup of coffee. I don’t know if it’s the boost of energy I get from it, or just the comforting feeling of holding a fresh hot cup of coffee knowing it’s probably going to make my day, or maybe it’s just the fact that I have a darling 6 month old who still loves to see me multiple times at night… but this is a big one for me.

There are a few nutrients specifically that we can be low in if we’re craving coffee. First, it can mean that we’re low in phosphorous or sulfur. Remember how important these are for our bodies from our sweets category? Craving coffee can also mean that we are low in iron. Iron is needed for our red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout our bodies. If we are low in iron, we may experience a lot of fatigue. So instead of reaching for a cup of coffee to give you energy, try including more iron in your diet from things like beef, fish, poultry, seaweed, greens and even black cherries!

I think we can look more into why we are craving that cup of coffee and if we are drinking it for nutritional deficiencies or energy deficiencies. If we are low on sleep and energy but are just trying to push through the day (because let’s face it, sometimes stuff just needs to get done whether we feel like it or not), caffeine will give us that boost of energy by pumping cortisol and adrenaline out from the adrenals to break down glycogen to glucose for that pick me up! I don’t think this is a bad thing every now and then, but if we’re constantly drinking coffee to get more energy, we’re wearing out our adrenals that can eventually lead to adrenal fatigue and even hormone imbalance or thyroid issues if we keep it up. So, if you’re craving coffee, try to get to bed an hour earlier or sleep in a little bit longer or even take a power nap on your lunch break!

Salty foods

Whether it’s chips or French fries or salt and vinegar chips, craving salty foods could mean that we’re low in chloride. We can find chloride in goats’ milk, fish, and of course salt. Chloride is needed to keep the right balance of water and pH in our body. Instead of hitting up the nearest McDonalds for some French fries, try using some Pink Himalayan or Celtic sea salt with your meals. This kind of unrefined sea salt has more minerals in it than table salt, even though table salt does have added iodine which is needed for healthy thyroid function.

Cravings before your period

This seems to be a common time for women to get cravings! This could mean that we’re low in zinc which can be found in red meats (especially organ meats), seafood, leafy veggies, and root veggies. Zinc is needed in many different ways in our bodies. It’s needed to make hormones and keep them balanced as well as boost our immune system and even create DNA in every cell! To have a healthy menstrual cycle there are many nutrients that our bodies need for ovulation and continuing on to produce adequate progesterone. This could be why we’re craving different foods, because our bodies need a lot of nutrients to have a healthy cycle. Also, if you’ve been stressed or eating and drinking more sugar and coffee than usual, these are things that actually deplete nutrients, making us need even more of them. Start by adding in more real foods throughout the day. Real whole foods like eggs (with the yolks!), butter, fresh fruits and veggies, meats and cheeses are all nutrient dense, so you get a lot of bang for your buck! Getting in these nutrients should help give our bodies the nutrients it needs and help us feel satiated so we’re not always craving something!

So next time you’re craving something, take minute and look through this list and see if there is a specific nutrient you might be lacking and add in more of those foods. Then do your best to add in more real foods with each meal to give your body all the good things it needs to thrive!