We have certain cravings for different types of foods, be they sweet, sour, bitter, or fatty in nature.

There can be multiple reasons for why we crave these, ranging from physical, emotional, or social needs.

Such as having:

Suppressed thoughts: Like when you go on a diet and you want what you can’t have

Context association: Past experiences with a food drive our desires to provide pleasure

Specific moods: Feeling down tends to drive the desire for comfort foods

High stress: More occurrences of cravings are seen when we are under high stress

Insufficient sleep: Disrupts hormone levels like serotonin which drives cravings

Poor hydration: Causes metabolic desire for food due to systemic imbalances

Low stomach acid: Prevents the breakdown of your food into its micro-nutrient particles

Imbalanced nutrition: Typically due to eating nutrient-poor foods

Looking at cravings from a nutritional point of view, the majority of the time they can be linked to a lack of key vitamins, minerals, or nutrients, such as:

1). Salt: Lacking trace minerals like iodine, sodium, potassium, copper, magnesium, zinc, etc

Look to sea veggies, sea salt, fermented foods, olives, or bone broth

2). Sweets: Imbalanced blood sugar or missing chromium in your diet

Look to raw onions, broccoli, mushroom, green beans, tomatoes, or cinnamon

3). Dark chocolate: Lacking magnesium

Look to pumpkin seeds, grass-fed dairy, leafy greens, avocados, or wild-caught fish

4). Dairy: Lacking essential omega-3 fatty acids EPA, DHA & ALA or calcium

Look to healthy fats like chia, flax, hemp, grass-fed beef, or wild-caught fish

5). Red Meat: Lacking iron, B12, zinc, and essential amino acids

Look to grass-fed beef or wild game, organ meats, Swiss chard, or spinach

The key here is to always look to eat a well-balanced, nutrient-dense whole foods diet and you’ll be setting yourself up for success.

I don’t typically recommend tracking your daily food intake, but if you are following this approach and still finding yourself craving foods…..

A great way to double-check your nutrient intake is to try tracking your diet for a week using the Chronometer app at https://cronometer.com/

This app not only tracks your macros, but tells you where you fall in terms of meeting % daily needs for essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.

By seeing where you are you can then increase your intake of foods rich in those nutrients.

You can help nip your cravings in the bud the next time they come up, ideally by preventing them in the first place.

f you’d like to dive deeper into this to Re-Root Your Wellness To Live Life, please click LINK IN BIO to set up your free 30-minute discovery call with me.

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