Why we have cravings… and what to do about them.

Chocolate, chips, dessert, junk food, midnight cereal, cheese, unicorn frappuccino, caffeine, candy, pop, fried food …

Everyone experiences cravings. We all have had food favourites at some time or another. Cravings are a natural response that have very little to do with willpower. This article will go over just some of the mechanisms behind our experience of cravings, why they happen, and how we can eliminate them for good!

Let’s get the easy culprit out of the way first. The food and beverage industries have always applied huge sums of money into research that focuses on two questions: How do we make processed products look, taste, smell and feel like real food, and still have the longest shelf life? How do we make processed food-like products so delicious that consumers will want to buy more?

Millions are spent on research to identify how certain ingredients, and in what amounts, are needed to trigger greater dopamine (pleasure-reward) responses in the brain. Ingredients consisting of fat, sugar, and salt, as well as various artificial additives, are shown to be addictive in high amounts, because they increase our tolerance and change our taste buds. They also influence our hormones, neurotransmittors, gut microbiome and blood sugar levels, which compounds their effects on the body and brain. If, for example, a product triggers an inflammatory response in the body, stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline are upregulated for a short time, and influence levels of dopamine as well.

This gives us a false sense of pleasure an excitement, which quickly fades as the stress hormones drop again. The result? The body is left feeling crummy, and so it figures that if it can get that same food that spiked those same hormones, it will feel good again. Not so, but this is a common reason as to why you might crave the same food product shortly after. These are learned responses that the brain and gut microbiome record for the future.

Ultimately, the recommendation here is to cut these ingredients entirely from the diet to avoid ongoing cravings and adverse effects associated with their consumption. Notice how as we cut these products out, our cravings intensify for a short time, as the body tries to grasp for the items it has associated feeling pleasure or reward! Thankfully, these cravings usually last only a few minutes, triggered especially by our hormone called ghrelin. Read on to know more…

Hormones? What?

So, speaking of hormones, let’s talk about those that are most influential in our experience of cravings. First, there’s insulin. Insulin is a hormone created in the pancreas that helps to regulate blood sugar levels as food sources (energy) enter the body. It determines what is to be used for energy in the moment by the body, what is to be stored for future energy (as fat), and what needs to be discarded.

Then as previously mentioned, there is ghrelin, our hunger hormone. It resides primarily in the lining of the stomach. Based on stomach emptying, blood sugar fluctuations and the body’s need for energy, ghrelin will tell the brain that more food (energy) is needed. Ghrelin can also be triggered by sensory cues such as delicious food smells, the sight or thought of food, emotional hunger and disregulated blood sugars or inconsistent eating habits.

Leptin, conversely, signals to the brain that the stomach is now full (of food), or that the body has received enough food to meet energy requirements. There are many more hormones, co-factors and enzymes involved in this whole process. But just these three hormones are enough to demonstrate the importance of physiological regulation.

Examples to promote better self-regulation are: routinely eating at the same times for optimal digestion and blood sugar regulation, identifying emotional and sensory triggers and our learned associations to food, consuming a greater diversity and nutrient-dense diet over calorie-dense processed foods. We as adults are no different from children- we thrive from routine and predictability, because the body can better regulate itself (eg. hormonal fluctuations, gastric fluids and blood sugars).

Mindful eating is also so important, as we can better feel connected to how much energy or food our body truly needs, and develop a deeper understanding of these physiological cues.

First hormones… now emotions!

Emotions and psychological associations to food are also predictors of cravings. The way we’ve grown up and learned about eating habits from our parents, our cultural values and what we were exposed to eating all contribute to these behaviours as well. If you grew up having dessert after every meal, and associate it with positive, celebratory experiences, chances are that you will associate eating dessert with positive emotions, and crave dessert when you are searching for positive sensations or relief. Sometimes, these memories are associated with cravings that do not contribute to our health and wellbeing over time.

Emotional eating and stress cravings are by far the biggest hurdle for nutrition clients, because they are so ingrained in our identity and our coping strategies. The first method in overcoming emotional eating is to spend some time reflecting, journaling and observing to identify the following:

When I crave foods, how am I feeling? What are my thoughts? How do I feel while I eat the food I craved? How do I feel after eating that food (immediately- 48hours after)? What does that food remind me of, why do I enjoy it? What are the possible benefits of eating this food, and what are the possible consequences if I continue? What do I need instead?

By this point in the practice, it usually becomes clear that the craving is attempting to meet a need that is not being met. Counselling may be useful, because of underlying experiences that need to be identified, worked through, and resolved or let go. Further, I often suggest to clients to write down a list of 10 things that they feel supported by, and to keep this list in the kitchen, in their wallet, on their phone.

Examples are: calling a friend, going for a walk or some fresh air, getting exercise, taking a nap, journaling, enjoying a bubble bath or massage, getting support from a spouse, using a creative outlet or having a creative project, etc.

Because chances are, the foods that you are craving and eating are not fully supporting you in the ways that you might actually need. Moving forward, how can you best meet your own needs?

Intuitive eating

What if my cravings are just my body telling me that I need this? Yes! Absolutely, it is important to listen to those cues as well. A popular example is the cravings a woman might have for red meat, chips and chocolate just before or during her menstrual cycle. Some common nutrient deficiencies implied in these cravings could be minerals such as magnesium, iron, Coenzyme Q10, and B12.

From an eastern medicine perspective, we may want these foods to help create a grounded, expansive effect to anchor ourselves, our blood and our emotions. However, sometimes the cravings stem from addiction or emotional triggers, as previously described. It can be useful to develop an understanding of what value the craved foods might have, and what they could mean in your case.

Chocolate? Are you needing more fats, magnesium, energy? Do you need to rest, or call a friend for support? How can you best meet your body’s needs for these things, without necessarily deriving them from a chocolate bar? This can be a fun and very useful process to discovering how to best manage cravings and also meet your emotional and physiological needs.

Depletions in our foods

Unfortunately, many of our foods today are depleted of nutrients. This is due to poor soils, synthetic fertilizers, transportation and harvesting before ripeness; due to less diversity in our diets when it comes to produce and unrefined foods, poor digestion and malabsorption issues that run rampant in our society, erratic eating habits, chronic stress and other medical conditions, the list goes on.

The nutrition that our bodies need today are significantly greater than 100 years ago, because of the nutrient-poor diets that we consume, and because of our elevated stress and environmental assaults on the body (which deplete our resources further). Cravings can indeed be influenced by certain nutrient depletions, as aforementioned. There exist plenty of tests to detect nutrient deficiencies, and of course there is supplementation.

The most successful way to ensure optimal nutrient balance long-term, however, is to consume a diet that is rich in a variety of colours, flavours, textures. Every food has a unique nutrient profile, and this is playfully demonstrated by how they look and taste! Sticking primarily to local seasonally-grown produce, organic as possible, will easily increase the quality and nutrient density of the produce. Finally, making sure that we are addressing other aspects of health, such as digestion, absorption and stress, are going to influence whether you even assimilate these beautiful, healthy foods.

Keep it up!

It should be clear by now that cravings are derived from a number of psycho-physiological elements. And there is so much that we can do to eliminate this experience in healthy, sustainable ways! It takes some understanding of how your body works, what your habits and routine are like, what your emotional associations have been to help meet certain unmet needs. It takes a few small changes to your lifestyle and food choices to create a positive outcome that will have you feeling in control of your wellbeing and enjoyment of nourishing foods.