Surely, to each and every one of us, at some point in our life, we have felt the fervent urge to eat a particular food, from the typical chocolate bar to, more strange but not impossible, a piece of broccoli. What is characteristic of what we call cravings is the need we feel to indulge is so great that we can hardly continue living if we do not satisfy that craving. We could say that it is a very intense feeling.
The problem lies in the fact that we have this need frequently because, contrary to what we may think, these so-called cravings never disappear completely. Succumbing to temptation will only cause us to relapse again and again. Anyway, that’s another issue.
Cravings = lack of nutrients?
The intention of this article is to comment on the possible relation between the whims of our body and the possible lack of nutrients in it.
The page Naturalife explains that, recent studies have shown that the reason why we have cravings has to do with a lack of specific nutrients which vary according to the type of food we want to consume, this means that cravings could be a symptom of some deficiency in our organism.
Watch out! We do not confuse the fact of being very hungry with having a craving. Normally, the type of food you crave contain the nutrients you need at that moment.
So where lays the problem?
The problem is that normally, we do not crave a piece of broccoli, but rather a complete variety of “junk food”. In those moments a four cheese pizza is more palatable than a vegetable stir fry…
Meaning of each craving
As we said, there is some food that we want with more recurrence, such as cheese, pasta, red meat, chocolate, sweets in general and carbonated drinks etc. Therefore, let’s find out what our body is trying to tell us when we feel the need to consume some of these delights.
Cheese
A platter of good cheeses; this may mean that we lack essential fatty acids.
Pasta
Is one of those dishes that almost everyone likes, young and old, however a very strong craving for pasta may denote chromium deficiency, an unknown but very necessary mineral.
Red meat
It is well known that red meat is rich in iron, so a deficiency in this mineral (sometimes protein) can induce us to want to eat red meat.
Chocolate
It may simply be that we love chocolate, in addition to being delicious it is also addictive, but it can also mean a lack of magnesium.
Sweets in general
As we said, sweets are very yummy to eat and it´s difficult to find someone who does not like them. A craving for sweets may have to do with the lack of whole foods and a balanced diet.
The list can go on and on, so if you want to expand your knowledge with this information and, above all, see how healthy foods can replace these cravings, you can take a look at the document created by the naturalife.
