Cravings are signals our bodies send us and there’s often a message behind them. By looking at the message, you can create awareness around what may be missing—in your diet or even in your life. For instance, emotional eating often results from a lack of nourishment in other areas of our lives—in our work, relationships, spirituality, or physical movement. It can lead to reaching for food in order to fill a void.

Deconstruct the craving and you may be able to diffuse it. Ask what does my body want and why? To do that it first helps to gain some insight into how your body may be speaking to you and whether you could be suffering from a dietary deficiency or merely a case of nostalgia.

Chocolate 

If you’re regularly craving a specific sweet like chocolate, you may have magnesium deficiency as chocolate happens to be high in magnesium. 

The Solution

Try adding magnesium-rich leafy greens, nuts, and avocado to your diet. Cravings for sweets are often tied to wanting love and the result of an overall environment that isn’t nourishing; you can also to quench the feeling by doing something other than eating like spending time with a friend.

Salty Foods

Salt cravings indicate that you’re low in overall mineral levels. 

The Solution

Try snacking on seaweed chips or consider a multi-mineral supplement. Salty, crunchy foods also create heat in the body so if you work in a cold environment and regularly have these cravings, you may simply need to bundle up more or sip on hot lemon water or tea.

Caffeine

If you eat a highly processed diet, you tend to crave more caffeinated beverages. Junk food can also leave you constantly hungry because there’s no nutritional value. You’re craving caffeine to provide your body with energy it needs. 

The Solution

Add colorful whole foods into your diet for healthy energy.

Late-in-the-day munchies

A common craving influenced by a hormonal imbalance is when your cortisol levels are elevated. You’ll crave foods late in the day or evening because you’re intuitively trying to relieve stress. 

The Solution

See if a stress-relieving activity like a yoga class or an Epsom salt bath diffuses it. 

Carb-laden foods

This can mean that your gut flora is imbalanced. The majority of your serotonin is produced in your gut so you may instinctively be reaching for carbs that aid in the production of it. The problem is that this negatively impacts your flora further, setting you up for a vicious cycle. 

The Solution

Eating Greek yogurt, kefir, kimchi or supplementing with a probiotic can help.