Food Cravings

What are Food Cravings? Are they real, or are they all in our minds? Will they just pass away if we ignore them? They sure seem real. We can be fine one moment, and then be bombarded with a need for a specific food so powerful, that we can’t think of anything else.

Cravings are a physiological, and emotionally intense urge to eat a certain type of food. They are different for all of us, with different root causes, but we can all agree that they are very powerful and have brought down many a dieter!

Food cravings seem to hit us in the afternoon and evenings and are often brought on by:

• Seeing a food - The sight of food can cause you to crave that food. You see a food and you can taste the food and you must have it and nothing else. You might see the food at the grocery store, on television, in the break room at work, on your coworker’s desk, in your cupboard at home. Food is everywhere! You see the food and need it.



• Smelling a food - Food smells bring on powerful cravings for that food. This is a known fact used by malls, restaurants, bakeries, and grocery stores. If you smell that food then you will crave it and buy it!



• Stress - When people are under stress, they tend to crave carbohydrates to relieve their stress.



• Starvation - If you skip meals, especially breakfast or lunch, you might be faced with intense cravings in the later part of the day. Hunger is known to bring on cravings.

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There is much debate on the causes of food cravings, and which strategies work to end your cravings. If they are physiological in nature, then they might be helped by our diet, timing of our meals, and food choices. If they are psychological in nature, then it might be better to correct them with behavior strategies, like relaxation and distraction.

My personal belief is that cravings are a combination of both, but I am leaning more to the physiological camp with all of the new research that is emerging.

"The Diet Cure - The 8 Step Program to Rebalance Your Body Chemistry and End Food Cravings, Weight Problems, and Mood Swings-Now", is a must read by Julia Ross M.A. She specializes in nutritional psychology, so her book includes a vast array of interesting topics that include: Identifying Eight Imbalances, Correcting Your Imbalances, and Your Master Plan for the Diet Cure. I loved it and found it full of helpful, practical information that is useful and not just the same old thing said differently. It is a must for those of you dealing with food cravings! 

For additional information on Cravings, please see the following:

• Meaning of Food Cravings


• Ending Food Cravings


• Carbohydrates and Weight Gain