What Causes Us To Have cravings?

Our bodies are amazing.

The body knows when it needs rest, when it needs to go to the bathroom, how to maintain 98.6 degrees, how to recover from a cold, and how to heal cuts or scrapes. The body knows the miracle of pregnancy and childbirth. The heart never misses a beat and the lungs keep to the rhythm of the breath. The body never makes mistakes.

With such inner intelligence, why would the body experience unhealthy cravings? Many of us view cravings as weakness, but really they are important messages meant to assist us in maintaining balance. Our bodies are designed to always heal and maintain balance. Even the unhealthiest of cravings contains something that the body needs.

If we pause long enough to deconstruct our cravings, we can figure out how to meet the body’s needs in a healthier way.

Cravings Caused By Physical Aspects

Dehydration: Most people do not think to drink enough water and walk around in a constant state of dehydration. Our thirst mechanism is impaired which often mistakenly translates a craving for water into mild hunger.
Water has a very light and expansive energy to it. If your body is too tight or tense, or you suffer from stress-related disorders, the body will search for the light expansive energy of water. Sugar has a similar energy to water, both causing us to feel ‘lighter’. Often the body’s signal of dehydration will be confused with the cravings for sweet treats. A glass of water may subside the craving.

Nutritional Deficiency: If our diet does not contain the various needed nutrients to maintain health, we may be driven to overeat in search of the required fuel. Salt cravings, for example, may indicate a lack of minerals. Adding more leafy greens as well as seaweeds to our diet might calm the craving. If our diet lacks nutrients due to a low variety or high quantities of processed foods, we may find ourselves constantly thinking about food as the body remains unsatisfied. Commonly this type of deficiency is tied in to a dependency on caffeine or sugar. Be sure to incorporate all macronutrients and an abundance of micronutrients in your diet. 

Hormonal (women): the female body goes through cycles of fluctuating testosterone and estrogen levels that may cause strange cravings.

Cleansing: As we take better care of ourselves, our body goes through a cleansing process. As part of this process, the body clears out old cellular memory, surfacing old memories or experiences. This may cause a craving for a certain food that once we start eating, does not actually taste as great as we remembered. In this case, stop eating and let yourself cleanse out the old, making space for a healthier you.

Addictions: Similar to an alcoholic or a smoker,we may be craving what is harming us most; convinced that is the only thing that is going to make us feel better. Common food addictions include caffeine, sugar and dairy. Do you have foods or people that you are addicted to in your life? 

Cravings Caused By Emotional Aspects

Emotional Dissatisfaction: When we are not truly satisfied in our relationships, not inspired by our career, or have not found a spiritual practice that gives us a sense of peace, we may turn to emotional eating to fill the void.

Fear of Change: Change is scary. Sometimes when things are going extremely well, we find ourselves self-sabotaging. We resist letting go of old ways even if we know that they do not serve our greater self. While we may recognize that old habits are preventing us from moving forward, these are the ways in which we have come to identify ourselves. If we let go of what we know, who are we? The process of self-improvement involves trust. Create a supportive environment for yourself so that you feel excited to grow in new directions.

Craving Caused By Energetic Effects

The Energetic Qualities of Food According to the Modality of Yin and Yang:
Yin & Yang present a system of opposites: Yang being a more masculine, grounded, contractive energy and yin being a more feminine, uplifting, expansive energy.
For example; drinking coffee, eating sweets, or drinking alcohol all provide a lighter and more expansive energy, making them yin. Eating a diet rich in red meat, salts, eggs, or hard cheeses, provides a denser and more grounded feeling, making them yang.   
Eating foods that are either extremely yin or extremely yang cause cravings of the opposite to maintain balance. A common craving is the sway between sweet (yin) and salty (yang). Another example is seen in people who enjoy a diet rich in dense animal proteins (yang) and experience cravings for sugar or alcohol (yin).

Stress: When looking at cravings through the modality of yin and yang, it is not only our diet that will create cravings for the opposite. If we are easily and commonly stressed out, we are in a contracted state of yang. Such a state of being will create a craving for yin foods to make us feel lighter. If most of our day is spent in a yang state of being, we can easily get hooked on yin. Examples of this would be the craving for alcohol at the end of the workday, sugar while at work, or perhaps ice cream late at night. Learning to balance our stress levels and decompress in healthier constructive ways is what is needed to eliminate such cravings.

Cravings Caused By Environmental Aspects:

Seasonal: Often the body craves foods that balance out the elements of the season. During spring, the earth produces detoxifying foods like leafy greens, as our body naturally goes through a post-winter cleanse. In the heat of summer, the earth produces fruit and vegetables that help cool our body temperature. In the fall the earth delivers warming foods like winter squash. During winter we may crave hot foods with heat-producing ingredients such as meat, oil and fat.
We feel different in each season, but when we are in tune, our cravings will change accordingly. This correlates with the system of yin and yang; craving cooling foods when we are hot, and vice versa.