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Monday 26 October 2020

What These Seven Food Cravings (May) Say About Your Health !

Chocolate is a common food craving
this chocolate cake is keto and low carb friendly
please see more details here

Nicole Cieslak is a functional nutritional therapy practitioner and certified personal trainer specializing in gut health and hormone balance, she writes:

"We’ve all had a hankering for a specific food before. But before you just simply give into temptation and eat that chocolate, first use it as a tool to better understand your body. Food cravings are often a sign from our body telling us that it needs a certain nutrient. Cravings can also be linked to blood sugar and hormone imbalances, but not always, and sometimes those are also connected to certain nutrient deficiencies.

Our bodies are incredibly intuitive and they know when something is wrong. We also crave the foods we are sensitive to, such as gluten or dairy, because our body gets a kind of “high” from eating those foods. At first, it’s bliss, but then you experience a host of negative side effects, including inflammation, digestive distress, acne, and skin rashes on top of more cravings, creating a vicious circle!

But if your food craving isn’t related to a sensitivity, then you could be deficient in something. One of the most common ways to deplete nutrients is stress. Chronic stress depletes essential nutrients like zinc, magnesium, B vitamins, vitamin C, and vitamin E. Secondly, if your digestive process isn’t working properly because of reduced stomach acid or digestive enzyme secretion, then you won’t be able to absorb the nutrients from your food. This can eventually lead to something called leaky gut, which is where the gut lining is compromised and has cracks in it. When this occurs, our food seeps into the bloodstream where it doesn’t belong and can’t be absorbed properly, creating systemic inflammation and nutrient deficiencies.

Lastly, if you have pathogenic infections like parasites or candida (a type of fungal yeast), then you are also at risk of depleted nutrients like zinc, copper, and iron. These freeloaders steal your nutrients for themselves so if you’re eating enough food, but still missing essential vitamins and minerals, you might need to rule out parasitic infections.

So what are some common food cravings, and what do they mean?

1. Chocolate
Chocolate is a common food craving that indicates a possible magnesium deficiency. Usually, ladies crave chocolate around their menstrual cycle time, and that’s because magnesium is depleted from the body. Magnesium is nature’s muscle relaxer, and so when this mineral gets low, we get irritable, crampy, and have trouble sleeping. You could snack on some dark chocolate to curb the craving, but better options are raw sprouted almonds and pumpkin seeds, beans, and spinach.


2. Ice Cubes
Ice cube cravings may seem strange, but if you find yourself chewing on them frequently, then you might be dealing with low iron or potential anaemia. There’s a name for this, and it’s called pagophagia. Good foods to focus on are organic grass-fed red meat, poultry and fish, seaweed, dark leafy greens, and black cherries to restore iron levels.

3. Cool Drinks
Cool drinks are another frequent food craving. If you just have a hankering for cool drinks, but not ice cubes, then you are likely low in manganese, a mineral used by our pituitary gland in our brains that’s important for hormone function! Eat food like walnuts, almonds, pecans, pineapple, and blueberries to bring up your manganese levels naturally. 

4. Bread
Bread or toast cravings indicate a need for nitrogen, which is found in high protein foods like wild-caught fish, grass-fed and pastured meat, and organic sprouted nuts and beans. 

5. Salty Foods
Salty food cravings could mean you are in need of chloride, an essential mineral that is part of the electrolyte family. If you are craving salty foods, try adding a pinch of unrefined sea salt or Himalayan sea salt to your water and incorporate foods like raw goat milk and wild-caught fish into your diet to help up your chloride intake, especially if you sweat a lot.

6. Sweet Foods
Sweet cravings like candy could mean you have a candida overgrowth, but could also signal deficiencies in chromium, carbon, phosphorus, sulfur, and tryptophan. Focus on high-quality organic animal proteins, cranberries, cruciferous veggies, liver, spinach, and sweet potatoes to help with those nutrient deficiencies!


7. Fatty Foods & Carbonated Drinks
Fatty foods, soda, or carbonated beverage cravings could mean that your calcium is low. Carbonation contains phosphoric acid, which depletes both calcium and magnesium from your bones and therefore negatively affects bone health. To restore calcium levels, eat things like mustard and turnip greens, broccoli, kale, legumes, cheese, and sesame alongside vitamin D-rich foods like fish and eggs to optimize absorption.

One thing that is important to keep in mind is that we can also crave foods based on social, cultural, and psychological factors. While you can use your food cravings to play nutritional detective, you also want to step back and ask yourself “why” you are craving something. Is it a sign from your subconscious that you are lacking a specific nutrient, or have you been influenced in some way to spur a craving?

The best way to achieve optimum health is always in balance! Sometimes we have to eliminate certain foods while we heal, but in general, addressing underlying infections and eating a diverse diet rich in colourful veggies, organic proteins, and complex carbohydrates as well as practicing mindfulness and stress management techniques can help reduce nutrient gaps long-term."

The above words/article can be seen in full with all relevant research links here


You will find a variety of articles/recipe ideas, within this blog. It is important to note, not all may be suitable for you. If you may have any food allergies, or underlying health issues these must always be taken into account. If you are a diabetic and not sure how certain foods may affect your blood sugars, test is best, i.e. use your meter.

All the best Jan

39 comments:

Pam said...

Cravings do show a lot of things that the body is trying to yell at you. I knew about the ice. Chocolate....the all time best! I love choc....haha. Hoping all is well in your area of the world. Rainy in Nashville TN today, cool and wet. Gotta run a couple of errands in a bit.

Tom said...

...interesting!

Valerie-Jael said...

Thanks for this informative post! Have a great week, Valerie

Martha said...

Interesting, I didn't know many of these. Have a great week :)

DVArtist said...

Great post and information.

Elephant's Child said...

This is fascinating and I will explore more later. Thank you - and thanks for the link.

R's Rue said...

Interesting

Sandra Cox said...

Wow. This was fascinating.

Christine said...

Thanks for this info, the cake looks delicious!

My name is Erika. said...

This is really fascinating. Seeing I often crave chocolate I think I better get some magnesium. Thans for sharing!

happyone said...

Oh my chocolate cake - my favorite.

Kim said...

Oh no, Jan...I crave almost all of these things lately!!

Jenn Jilks said...

Cravings are an interesting topic!

Lee said...

I wish I had a couple of cravings. Lately, there is little that has been tempting my taste buddies. They've been disinterested in pretty much everything. I need something really tasty and interesting to kick-start them! :)

Yaaaa! For fruit...my good old stand-by, I say!!

Dom Geracia said...

Wow, I had no idea that a chocolate craving could be a sign of magnesium deficiency! I started supplementing with Mg when I started Keto and it was a gamechanger. I love that it gently lulls me to sleep and even helps with constipation.

Carla from The River said...

This is interesting!! I crave sweets a week before my cycle, I found the other cravings interesting as well.
Thank you for sharing,
Carla

Victor S E Moubarak said...

I must have a permanent menstrual cycle !!!

God bless.

mxtodis123 said...

This is great info to have. Lately I have been on a chocolate kick. I also suffer from night leg cramps so that says it all.

Debbie said...

such an interesting read!! i don't crave certain sweets like most people, i crave certain foods like bread or mashed potatoes. or i will crave a thanksgiving dinner...that's what i crave. and right now, i am craving a pot roast!!

Sally said...

I've found that over time, my cravings differ. Sometimes, chocolate; other times salty. Thank you for posting this, Jan. Certainly gives us something to think about. :)

xoxo

Sue said...

This is very interesting, I have such a weakness for chocolate, I can make myself go for months without any, but I can't just have a little bid. Take care, Sue xx

This N That said...

The first picture is right up my alley...Yum..Interesting post..

Bill said...

I crave salty items sometimes. Good info to know!

Divers and Sundry said...

Fascinating, thx!

Salty Pumpkin Studio said...

Good information about cravings.
Thank you

Fun60 said...

What an interesting post. But when I want chocolate I always give in to that craving.

Snowbird said...

That's interesting. I always have to have salt.xxx

Angie said...

Jan - very interesting. My most common craving is salty foods. Be well!

aussie aNNie said...

No salt for me, great post. x

Judee said...

Excellent post . I learned a lot.. Lots of food for thought!

Jeanie said...

This is really interesting. I never really thought about cravings as something to fill a physical lack but an emotional one instead. Very thought-provoking.

Sami said...

Great article Jan. I sometimes crave salty food.

Khaya Ronkainen said...

This is such an interesting informative. While I knew about other cravings, especially chocolate, some were new. Thank you for sharing!

Rose said...

This really makes me wonder about my food cravings...it is all interesting.

Joseph William said...

This is a useful article,
For Top 7 Low Carb Fruits and Vegetables Printable List
a Fantastic read

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

What great information. We all have cravings and it's nice to learn foods to substitute. I have a sweet tooth but can't eat sugar. It's amazing at how sweet fruit tastes though when you don't eat refined sugar. Thanks for sharing so much!

baili said...

how can one thank you for incredibly useful and helpful sharing dear Jan !!!!!!!!

i am thankful for your blog my friend ,it always helped me to understand my body and how can i better it with your amazing posts :)
THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN!
keep blogging and stay blessed !

Martha said...

Very interesting information! I didn't know any of this.

https://linsartyblobs.blogspot.com said...

My weakness is chocolate. I'd not heard of sprouting almonds so I looked it up.