• Cravings: Satisfy or Resist?

    edited by Alexander Becker on November 15, 2006 | Link

    An overwhelming urge. A consuming desire; a yearning, a strong wanting of what promises enjoyment or pleasure.

    A food craving is an intense desire to consume a particular food, as opposed to food in general. Food cravings are especially common in people following structured diet plans, and often interfere with the best of intentions to adhere to a particular style of eating.

    Give in to cravings or employ all the willpower it takes to suppress and eventually defeat the longing? Is it about indulging in the forbidden fruit or about replenishing the desperately needed fuel?

    The basic question about cravings is whether they are a sign of a lack in nutrition or a deprivation that has to be responded to and taken seriously or whether the yearning for specific foods is a mere trick of the mind that can be safely overridden, without compromizing physical health.

    Research Material:

    The taste test is an interesting and easy way to determine deprivations and provides background about the connection between cravings and lacks of specific minerals, for example --

    Chocolate cravings often indicate low magnesium levels.

    On the other hand, given food cravings and what they mean, consider this --

    If people craved what the body needs, we would all eat more broccoli and less chocolate.

    Coping with food cravings discusses the medical and nutritional as well as potential psychological triggers of cravings --

    Some researchers speculate that cravings arise in an attempt to supply the body with nutrients it lacks. For example, carbohydrate cravings commonly reported by dieters may be due to a diet too low in calories. Carbohydrate cravings can simply be from hunger because your blood sugar levels are too low.

    When some people count calories, they end up getting most of their calories from fat and then the carbohydrate portion of their diets is too low. Likewise, carbohydrate cravings experienced by heavy exercisers could result from depletion of glycogen stores, which carbohydrates replenish.

    Most people don't crave just carbohydrates; very few want potatoes, bread or pasta. Most want some sweet, high-fat food.

    [...]

    If foods with pleasurable tastes and textures are used as a reward or to provide solace, a practice commonly begun in childhood and continued throughout life, then the psychological component for craving such foods grows even stronger.

    For example, while also tasting pleasant, foods such as ice cream and cookies rank high as "comfort foods" -- foods eaten in an attempt to soothe away troubles. The desire for such items may reach stronger proportions during stressful times.

    The deprivation of dieting also is believed to underlie cravings for certain foods. While following diets that prohibit rich, high-calorie, often-favorite foods, dieters frequently report overwhelming desires for these foods. Unable to resist, they usually give in to their cravings. And once they give in, they frequently overindulge.

    By trying to totally avoid certain foods, people instead tend to overconsume them in the end.

    Research shows that food cravings are satisfied best by the actual substance that is craved. Forget the carrot sticks and have a reasonable portion of ice cream, if it's ice cream that you really want. In moderation, favorite high-calorie foods can help you stay within a well-balanced diet and achieve a healthy weight.

    One step further, described with strikingly similar terms, is the addiction --

    Addiction is now narrowly defined as "uncontrolled, compulsive use"; if there is no harm being suffered by, or damage done to, the patient or another party, then clinically it may be considered compulsive, but to the definition of some it is not categorized as "addiction". In practice, the two kinds of addiction are not always easy to distinguish. Addictions often have both physical and psychological components.

    The Conclusion? What about this: Do not convince yourself that a certain food that you and I normally consider junk food, is exactly the magic supplier of those ever so important nutrients you need right now... It's the combination of common sense and moderation that will guide you and show you the difference between hunger and appetite.

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