What are Cravings?

Food craving meaning? An intense or uncontrollable desire for specific foods, stronger than normal hunger. The types of foods that people crave are highly variable , Cravings are one of the biggest reasons why people have problems losing weight and keeping it off.

Food cravings can be caused by several factors

• Physical
• Mental.

Being aware of a craving for food may help you identify which factors specifically trigger them.

Physical causes

Leptin and ghrelin imbalances.

An imbalance in these hunger and fullness hormones may cause certain people to experience more food cravings than others.

Pregnancy

Hormonal changes in pregnancy may influence your smell and taste receptors, in turn, causing you to experience more intensified cravings .
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS). The changes in the hormones estrogen and progesterone that occur right before your period may intensify cravings, especially for carb-rich foods .

Lack of sleep

Too little or poor quality sleep can disturb your levels of the hormones responsible for regulating hunger, fullness, and sleep-wake cycles, possibly intensifying food cravings, especially in the evenings

A nutrient-poor diet

Nutrients like protein and fiber can help you feel full. A diet that’s low in these nutrients may cause you to feel hungry or experience cravings, even if you have otherwise eaten enough calories .

Poor hydration. Ingesting too little fluids can intensify feelings of hunger or cravings in some people .

Your gut flora. There is some evidence that the type of bacteria present in your gut may influence the frequency and type of cravings you may have.

Physical activity. An increase in your level of physical activity, even if just by walking more, may help reduce food cravings. Similarly, moving less than you usually do may cause you to experience more food cravings .

Highly processed foods. There is some evidence that highly processed foods rich in added fat and sugar may cause addiction-like symptoms, in turn, possibly increasing cravings

Mental causes

Stress

Stress can increase your levels of the hormone cortisol. High cortisol levels may be linked to hunger, cravings, and a higher likelihood of stress- or binge-eating behaviors .

Your personality

Some evidence suggests that people who are more impulsive or have higher scores on measures of addictive personality may also have a higher likelihood of experiencing food cravings .

Eating context

Your brain can associate eating a specific food to a specific context — for instance, popcorn and a movie. This may cause you to crave that particular food the next time the same context comes around.

Your mood

Certain moods may trigger cravings for specific foods. For example, negative moods appear to often spark cravings for comfort foods .

Types of cravings

There are two types of food cravings:

• Selective
• Non selective.
  

Selective cravings

Cravings for specific foods, such as a person’s favorite chocolate bar, a particular burger from their favorite restaurant or a bag of potato chips of a certain flavor.

Nonselective cravings

Hunger is the desire to eat anything. It may be the result of real hunger and hunger pangs, but it can also be a sign of thirst. Drinking water may help with intense nonselective cravings.

Food cravings meaning

Craving salt

"Salt - or sodium - is needed for muscle function among other things in the body. For the vast majority of cases, a salt craving is merely a just a preference in the moment for something savoury and is absolutely nothing to worry about .

Craving sugar and sweets

We all know we have too much sugar in our diets, but when you’re desperate for a mid-morning doughnut just to get you through to lunch, it may be a reflection of your blood sugar.

Sweet cravings are most likely to be because of low blood sugar  Sugar, or carbohydrate, is the most efficient way for your body to produce energy, so when you are low in energy you may crave carbs - or something sweet. The trouble is, that when you reach for a sweet snack, it can then make your blood sugar spike, which is then followed by a sugar crash, triggering another sweet craving .
To avoid this happening,trying to eat "slow release carbs regularly through the day to keep blood sugar even. If you do have something sweet, try to have it as part of a meal so that the sugar enters the bloodstream more slowly which will reduce the risk of a sugar spike.

Craving carbs - bread, pasta, potatoes

Aside from the fact carbohydrates often equal comfort food, craving for them might be yet another indicator of low blood sugar. Carbs equal energy so a carb craving is usually because of low blood sugar. Cravings mainly occur when people try to cut out or cut down on carbohydrates, leaving the body in need of some quick energy, Aim to include a fist-size portion of starchy carbs like rice, pasta, bread, potatoes etc with each meal.

Craving fatty or fried foods

If chips Fries is turning into a daily affair, it’s time to look at your diet. These kinds of foods aren't exactly healthy for us and a lot of us try to avoid eating too many of them, But if you're craving them, the reason why might be more psychological than physical.

A craving for fatty foods may just be a kind of emotional release from the restriction - we always want what we can't have, Having said that, if we have eaten a lot of low-fat, low-calorie food, there may be a biological drive to seek out some calorie-dense, high-fat food.

Always denying food cravings usually leads to feeling as if the person is in dietary jail and, eventually, everyone wants out. Hence having portion control and avoiding strict food fad diets and becoming a mindful eater will be helpful in the long run .