Understanding Food Cravings

I am sure most if not all of us have been there – you’re worried about work, or a loved one, maybe work is horrible, a relationship isn’t going so well, you’re bored, or you are grieving a loss – and you find yourself craving foods like there’s no tomorrow. 

This is normal and to some extent isn’t a problem.  We’re just trying to soothe our upset selves and food can help do that.  However it can be a problem when it becomes the only self-soothing strategy we have, and when it becomes more about numbing our feelings long-term or when it is impacting on our health.  I think out of all the different foods I’ve craved during difficult times the one I have gone to most consistently is layered vanilla ice cream and chocolate Milo in a glass.  It also needs to be in a specific (and very ugly) glass and I use a specific long-handled spoon. Guess we’ve all got our quirks!

Maybe your cravings are about not having eaten enough, or not enough of sustaining foods.  Interestingly, if you have been stressed for a long time then you may find it harder to miss meals, or experiment with intermittent fasting than other people and you might end up feeling starving, shaky, weak, have brain-fog or get cranky.

Does any of this sound familiar?  To help address your cravings you need to know what is happening and why, so here are some triggers for food cravings and suggestions to help manage them.

The messages are getting muddled

We sometimes crave food for physical reasons not about hunger.  We can crave carbs, especially simple carbs like sugar, when we are really tired and just need a boost to get through the rest of the day.  We may crave sugar, but really we want and need fuel or rest.   One of the most nurturing and positive things we can do for ourselves is to learn to listen to our body’s cues – what is it really trying to tell us?  Next time you feel a food craving ask yourself:

• Am I tired? Have I been sleeping ok?  Fatigue can change our appetite-suppressing hormones, making us more likely to crave carbs and fat.
• How active have I been? Oddly enough, when we need to move and be more physically active, that also confuses the hormone and chemical messages and can cause cravings.
• Am I stressed? Sometimes we have been living with stress for so long we don’t even recognise it anymore! Do you spend time just relaxing; do your family comment on your stress?  When stressed we release more cortisol and this can cause an increase in cravings, as well as affecting thyroid function and blood glucose levels.
• When did I last have a drink of water? When you’re busy it can be easy to forget to drink enough water, and dehydration can feel like hunger.  Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to have a drink as you are already a bit dehydrated by then.  Instead try to drink regularly throughout the day and if you are hungry but haven’t had a drink, then have a drink and wait 20 minutes to see if that does the trick.  Being dehydrated also makes you feel tired and it makes it harder to concentrate, so if in doubt, start with a glass of water.

You’re not eating enough, or eating inconsistently throughout the day

You might be busy and miss meals, you might need to leave early to get to work and prioritise that extra 10 minutes of sleep over breakfast (I get that!), or maybe you aren’t sure what foods you need to feel good all day long and end up going okay until the afternoon or when you get home at night and then you feel a bit out of control and you eat whatever is in sight.  Getting some help with meal planning can help fix this.

You have removed lots of foods from your diet

You might end up craving food because you’re simply hungry, especially if your diet is very restrictive.  Alternatively, the foods you are eating might be joyless and you want more and more because they simply aren’t satisfying taste, comfort and pleasure needs.  Food is for nourishing the body and the soul.

You’re surrounded by temptation

Again, eating chocolate is fine, but if you are surrounded by it and begin to feel tired or stressed, you might end up focusing on and craving the sweet or fatty food.  Check in with how you feel and see if you can change your environment to have no food if it isn’t necessary (e.g. on the desk at work) or have a bowl of fruit or healthier snacks available.

Who is hungry – your stomach, your mouth and nose, or your emotions?

Another way of thinking about this is to ask yourself: is my hunger below my neck or above my neck?  Stomach hunger is below the neck.  Mouth and nose hunger is craving a taste, smell or sensation – the richness of mud cake, the saltiness of crisps, or the fat of hot chips.  This is in part about pleasure and in part about comfort.  If you are stressed then recognising that and using other strategies to manage that can help, and if it is about flavours and scents it can be helpful to include more foods in the range, for instance, the aroma of mango or curry, the taste of fresh raspberries or tea.

If your hunger is because you are bored, distressed or stressed, then identifying what is happening can help you feel more in control of how you respond.  If it is intense or ongoing it may be helpful to get support in learning new ways of responding to these triggers.

Lastly, sometimes a craving may indicate a deficiency of a nutrient, so this may be worth checking out as well.

Don’t beat yourself up because you have a lot of cravings or because you respond to them – you’re human and what is happening is understandable even if not always desirable.  Recognise that your cravings are trying to tell you something, such as you haven’t eaten for 6 hours or that you are feeling really unhappy about a situation.  Check in with how you feel physically and emotionally, review what you’ve been eating and what’s been happening in your life, and then you can make some choices about managing things differently.