Food Cravings; The Why And How
Imagine going about your normal day when out of nowhere a craving hits for something salty, sweet, or maybe even salty and sweet. You can’t focus on your work because all you can think about now is a bag of salty and crunchy chips. The craving gets stronger, and you finally find yourself snacking on a bag of potato chips.
Cravings are not the same as hunger. They come and go throughout the day and can be resolved through different methods. If you are having hunger pains due to not eating, your body will intensify the need for food until it is fed. When you are hungry you will want to eat anything and everything. While cravings are for a specific food and only that food.
Pretty much everyone has experienced food cravings at one point or another. They can be intense or subtle, but the majority of cravings will always be for something salty, sweet, and fatty. Why do we get cravings and why are they always the same across the world?
Why we get cravings and what you can do
Some of the main reasons we experience cravings include:
Stress
Lack of sleep or poor quality sleep
Low calorie intake
Unsatisfying meals and/or poor quality meals
Hormone changes
Food marketing
Stimulus conditioning
Stress - When you get emotionally or physically stressed you may find yourself craving specific food. Typically, this is your personal feel-good food, but it will always consist of something fatty, sugary, and/or salty.
This combination targets the feel-good receptors in our brain and makes us temporarily feel better. Just think of a time when you ate a chocolate candy bar after a stressful meeting or being yelled at by your boss. It almost makes the whole issue go away for a brief moment.
The Fix - Find a way to destress your body and mind. Anything active such as a walk, run, bicycle ride, etc. will help reduce the stress through decreasing the stress hormones in our body.
Other great options to reduce stress are talking with a friend, meditating, reading a book, coloring, word searches or other mindful activity.
Sleep - When you are tired because you didn’t sleep well or maybe not at all, you may find yourself craving something sweet. Certain stress hormones are increased when we have not had adequate sleep leading us to grab those feel-good foods.
It has nothing to do with our body wanting to raise its blood sugar as this is well regulated. It is more of a matter of our body wanting to combat the stress hormones by stimulating the feel-good areas of our brain.
The Fix - If you find it hard to fall asleep try giving yourself a wind-down hour before bed. Put away the phone and instead do something that helps relax you.
If you are having trouble staying asleep on a regular basis it may be a good idea to discuss it with your physician.
Low calorie intake - Not eating enough at each meal or skipping meals can increase our hunger hormones. If left unchecked for too long our body responds by craving those high calorie foods. You may notice that your cravings increase in the evening if you haven’t had much to eat earlier that day.
The Fix - Make sure you don’t skip any meals if possible and don’t skimp on the calories early in the day. If you’re looking to cut back calories, it’s best to cut them back in the evening as this will lower the possibility for cravings throughout the day.
Unsatisfying meals - If all you had for lunch was a simple garden salad with a light dressing you may be left unsatisfied. Most likely you will find yourself craving something more satisfying later in the day. The high palatability of fats and instant gratification of sweet/salty foods is hard to escape at this point.
The Fix - Make sure your meals always have a protein and healthy fat source. Protein and fat are highly satisfying and will keep you feeling fuller for longer. If you are limited in choices, try packing a protein shake. These can be used between meals as a snack or with a meal as a dessert. Either way they will help curb those evening cravings on your way home.
Hormone changes - Everyone one experiences hormonal changes, but the most obvious example are the cravings experienced during a menstrual cycle or pregnancy.
The Fix - These types of cravings are more difficult to impossible to resolve. A good plan when a craving hits due to hormonal changes is to choose the healthiest option. If you’re craving something salty, try making stove popped popcorn with coconut or avocado oil. If it’s something sweet, opt for fresh and ripe fruit.
Food marketing - The marketing professionals are really good at what they do. You may find yourself craving a soda or hamburger after seeing a commercial or advertisement about it. When you combine this marketing with any of the prior reasons for cravings it can make the craving even more intense.
The Fix - This is a tough one to get away from as marketing is everywhere and they are really good at it. Try to ignore food advertisements and be aware that when you get a craving after seeing one it should pass in a few minutes. Try distracting yourself from the craving by taking on a mindful task.
Stimulus conditioning - We can condition our bodies to crave snacks with certain stimuli much like training a dog to respond to a whistle or click. This is most often seen in the evening when you sit down to watch TV but can happen with any repetitive stimuli.
Our mind and body are conditioned that when we watch TV it will get food. In response to the TV being on it starts to prepare itself for digestion. This increases certain hormones leading to cravings despite us not being hungry just a few min ago.
The Fix - You will have to change your habitual patterns to resolve this craving stimulus. Instead of watching TV in the evening, try to find a new way to relax. Reading a book, crafts, taking an easy walk, etc. will break you free from the conditioned response to your current routine.
If you still want to watch TV in the evening, try to do something at the same time that will help keep your mind distracted. Word searches, drawing, coloring, handheld crafts (e.g., cross stitching, knitting), folding laundry, etc. are some ideas to help keep your mind off the conditioned craving response.
The Takeaway
Cravings happen for many reasons and each reason will have a different method of resolving it. Remember that cravings are different from being hungry. If you are hungry, everything will sound good to you at the moment.
When you get a craving for a specific food, take a moment to check in with yourself why you are getting the craving. Being aware of why you are getting cravings is the first step to changing your daily routine to prevent future cravings.
If you are struggling with food cravings, working with a dietitian can help identify why and how to best resolve your cravings. If you are ready to curb those pesky cravings, schedule your free consultation with Dietitian2Go today!
Written by: Adam Skowyra MPPD, RDN, LD
