What are you Craving?

Did you know that your body is a bio-computer? It knows when to go to sleep, when to wake up, and when to go to the bathroom. It maintains a temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, repairs itself when wounded, and knows the miracle of pregnancy and childbirth.  Your heart never misses a beat. Your lungs never miss a breath. The body is a super computer, and it never makes mistakes.

Look at the foods, deficits, and behaviors in your life that are possibly contributing to your cravings. Many people view cravings as weaknesses, but really, they’re important messages, there to guide you in maintaining balance.  When you experience a craving, deconstruct it.  Ask yourself, what does my body want and why?

Here are 8 reasons you may be craving certain foods:

1. Stress and Emotions - Are you having trouble with a relationship in your life? It doesn’t have to be a relationship with a person. What about your relationship to exercise or to your career? Being dissatisfied with a relationship or having an inappropriate exercise routine (too much, too little, or the wrong kind), being bored, stressed, uninspired by a job, or lacking a spiritual practice can all lead to emotional eating. Eating can be used as a substitute for entertainment if your social life is lacking or to fill a void.

2. Hydration – Are you mistaking the signal for thirst for hunger? A lack of water can send the message that you’re thirsty and on the verge of dehydration. Dehydration is mistaken as hunger for many unsuspecting people. One of the first thing to do when you get a craving is drink a full glass of water.

3. Traditional Chinese Medicine Yin and Yang - Certain foods are more yin (These are expansive foods that are cold and fresh like vegetables that refresh the body.) while other foods are more yang (These are contractive foods that warm the body like meat, sugar and spices.). It is thought that eating foods that are either extremely yin or extremely yang can lead to cravings, because your body naturally tries to maintain balance. For example, eating too many raw foods (yin) may cause cravings for heavily-cooked warm foods and vice versa.

4. Follow Your Heritage - Often, cravings come from foods we’ve recently eaten, foods eaten by our ancestors, or foods from our childhood. A clever way to satisfy these cravings is to eat a healthier version of your ancestral and childhood foods.

5. Seasonal - The body often craves foods in accordance with the season. In the spring, people crave detoxifying foods like leafy greens or citrus foods. In the summer, people crave cooling foods like fruit, raw foods, and ice cream, and in the fall, people crave grounding foods like squash, onions, and nuts. During winter, many crave heat-producing foods like meat, oil, and fat.

6. Lack of Nutrients - If the body has inadequate nutrients, it’ll produce odd cravings. For example, high stress levels trigger salt cravings because nutrients are used faster during times of stress. Chocolate cravings can be due to a lack in certain minerals!! Overall, inadequate nutrition leads to cravings for temporary sources of energy, like caffeine.

7. Hormones - When women experience menstruation, pregnancy, or menopause, fluctuating testosterone, progesterone and estrogen levels may contribute to unique cravings. Lack of sleep can also throw off hormones that regulate our hunger signals!! Getting enough sleep is important to hormone regulation and to keeping cravings in check!!

8. De-evolution - When things are going extremely well in life, we’ve been able to lose some weight, we’re sleeping better, we’ve been working out all week, self-sabotage can happen. It’s common to tell ourselves stories to throw us off our goals. We crave foods that set back all the effort we’ve put in, thus creating more cravings to balance ourselves. This often happens from low blood sugar and may result in strong mood swings when we are “dieting” or trying to restrict ourselves!!

I am guilty of not recognizing several of these triggers multiple times in my life!  We all get busy and we all have LOTS going on.  Do you want to get even healthier? Are you curious about the cravings you experience in your life? Let’s chat about how health coaching can help you make your own healthy changes so that you aren’t having crazy cravings? Schedule an initial complimentary consultation with me today—or pass this offer on to someone you care about! Visit www.noshoesnutrition.com and sign up for a FREE consultation.  I work with women from all over the world individually or in groups so don’t let anything hold you back!