Listen to your body when you have cravings

Those pesky cravings – the most common reason I hear for people derailing themselves with healthy changes!

So, what the hell are cravings, and why are they so bloody annoying?

1. In my opinion, food should be a fuel but also enjoyable and often diets are based on cutting stuff out – and at times, in an extreme way – your body, therefore, needs what its lacking and therefore it tells you in the form of a craving – carbs, proteins, fats are all essential for a balanced, healthy diet.

2. It could be all in your head – recent research shows that certain areas of the brain responsible for memory and sensing pleasure are partially to blame for cravings – it remembers the feeling linked to the food you are now removing. If food is your major comfort/ stress reliever in life, then look for others ways to cope with these feelings – exercise is a great one.

3. Emotions – cravings often kick in when we are under stress (in need of that glass of wine?), bored (finding something to occupy ourselves), and other similar emotional states – emotional eating is a big factor in what we crave.

4. Dehydration – Thirst often manifests itself in you feeling/thinking you’re hungry.. instead you just needs some water!

5. Similar to point 1 – In order to operate at our optimum capacity, we need to nourish our bodies every day with a variety of macronutrients and micronutrients. If the body doesn’t get enough nutrients, it will send messages in the form of cravings. For example, inadequate mineral levels produce salt cravings, and overall inadequate nutrition can lead to cravings for non-nutritional forms of energy, like sugar or caffeine.

6. Bad balance – food has a yin and yang effect – some are expansive, others contractive – eat too much of one type, and your body will crave the others to restore balance.

So, if you are on the path to better health and finding those cravings are pulling you off track then one of the reasons above may be why not simply because you can’t stick to something or have no will power! If you want some help to find that balance, that doesn’t include crazy diets and deals with the cravings then drop me a line.