Food Cravings: What They Really Mean

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Food Cravings: What They Really Mean

June 13, 2007

Cravings can get the best of us. Nothing is worse than craving a big hunk of yummy dark chocolate and then realizing it is completely unattainable (i.e., there is no dark chocolate to be found in your pantry). What about a substitute? NaturePathyWorks.com has come up with a great list of foods we crave, what the craving is really saying we need and how to get it healthfully.

If you crave this...	What you really need is...	Here are healthy foods that have it...
Chocolate	Magnesium	Raw nuts and seeds, legumes, fruits
Bread/Toast	Nitrogen	High protein foods
Oily Snacks, Fatty Foods	Calcium	Mustard and turnip greens, broccoli, kale, cheese, legumes
Chewing Ice	Iron	Meat, fish, poultry, seaweed, greens, black cherries
Cool Drinks	Manganese	Walnuts, almonds, pecans, pineapple, blueberries
Burned Foods	Carbon	Fresh fruits
Pre-menstrual cravings	Zinc	Red meats (especially organ meats), seafood, leafy vegetables, root vegetables

To see the full list, visit NaturePathyWorks.com.

Food Cravings What Do They Mean

17 Comments

thetappingman 5 years 46 weeks

Here's a great free article on using EFT to handle your cravings.

leeluvfashion 5 years 49 weeks

Interesting article Fit! I'll have to try some of these tips since I'm always craving one of the foods listed above.

sailing chick 5 years 49 weeks

sounds interesting enough but from a science background I'm a not so sure

rubialala 5 years 49 weeks

Cooooooool, maybe I can get rid of my cravings for unhealthy foods by eating the healthier alternatives. P.S. I did crave laundry detergent when I was pregnant (don't worry, I didn't eat any!), and the doctor said it was because I was iron deficient. Which made sense becuase I have a tendency to be anemic and it was worse during pregnancy.

RrebeccccaaaT_xo 5 years 49 weeks

thanks! this is helpful :)

RrebeccccaaaT_xo 5 years 49 weeks

thanks! this is helpful :)

pk9000 5 years 49 weeks

In med school we learned people with an iron deficiency can develop pica where they crave non nutritional items such as ice, dirt, etc. that do not contain iron. This craving usually lasts for a month or longer to be considered pica, so just wanting to eat ice doesn't mean you're lacking iron.

Daisie 5 years 49 weeks

Neat list! I will have to try it out and see if it works for me. Thought from what Nikolem says, it won't! Either way, I always thought my chocolate craving was because I wanted sweet and yummy. ^^

thewordisberry 5 years 49 weeks

Nikolem2, I agree with you! I think cravings are often psychological. It is a nice idea to try to substitute unhealthy foods with better options. There is something to be said for "listening" to your body, but most of the time it's not any deficiency, but just a glass of water we need. Especially if you're craving sweets, you may just be dehydrated. Anytime you crave something, just drink a glass of aqua and see how you feel after 10 minutes. :)

am 5 years 49 weeks

That's really neat. But does anyone ever _crave_ ice? I never have. Actually, wait...just thinking about it makes me crave it for the first time ever...hmmm. I guess thinking about ice reduces my iron... I think in concept this is a very interesting idea. Maybe the details still need to be hashed out by fancy scientists.

melda 5 years 49 weeks

I hate baroccoli and kale ....... always crave fatty foods!

JBlondie 5 years 49 weeks

That was really interesting and helpful! Thanks! Now where is the kale when you need it?? :)

DesignRchic 5 years 49 weeks

Crave foods/drinks mentioned above that is :)

DesignRchic 5 years 49 weeks

Usually if I crave foods, it's because I'm stressed.

nikolem2 5 years 49 weeks

Actually, nutrition research has not found any correlation between food cravings and nutrition needs. A lot of people come up with ideas like this, but food cravings actually have nothing to do with your body's true needs and more to do with cultural norms, triggers, your own thoughts, etc. I think you can tell by looking at the list that it doesn't make any sense. If your body NEEDED calcium, why would you crave foods without it (fat, oil)? From an evolutionary standpoint, that's nonsense.