Why do I have food cravings?

Bella goes hard all day. She’s up early to squeeze in time for herself and to knock off some of her to-do list before work and mothering even begin. During the day, eating is uneventful for her. Until 4 o’clock. When cravings take over.
Willpower often works, but on the trying days, her cravings win. Justification in the moment turns to guilt and resolution to do better, afterward.
Bella is tired of the fight and wonders, “What. Is. wrong with me?”

Are you Bella?

Let’s chat and turn curiosity about cravings into solutions worth trying.

Where do cravings come from?

Have you ever had a craving for something, and started eating it, only to be interrupted by a text that led to a task and forgetting all about the snack? Did you notice when you come across the snack later, the food tends to be less appealing? Let’s get curious about that. Why crave it then but not now?

Cravings come in waves. Strong at first, peaks for a bit, and then slowly diminishes. They actually only last on average for about 20 minutes.

And, good news – we know from science that there are definite triggers for cravings that we can manage beforehand. To lessen the chance cravings even happen at all. Or at least take the tsunami wave and turn it into a nice gentle beach wave. Are you exhaling a deep breath like me at that serene thought?

Before we get into it, let me, with all compassion, encourage you to get professional therapy if the cravings are better defined as binges and you feel out of control. Or, if the craving is constant and cannot be satisfied, please seek medical attention. For example, if you crave salt, ice (or another non-food item), or fluids and the craving cannot be satisfied no matter the quantity, it could be an underlying or urgent medical condition. Terms and conditions of this site.

Why do we crave particular foods?

You know me, I want to know WHY our cravings are happening in the first place. Otherwise, we are just doing a trial and error approach which can become discouraging and leave us feeling:

1) There is no solution or
2) We are the problem.

Spoiler – It is not you!

We are learning to work with our body’s amazing design. And being curious about what is leading up to the craving. It’s different for each one of us.

When we know why, we can be intentional in our approach to squelch cravings.

Look through this list and see what resonates:

Reasons Why We Crave

Biological Reasons:

• Skipping meals
• Meals lacking a variety of food groups
• A long time between meals or snacks
• Poor sleep
• Medical reasons (e.g., low blood sugar)

Emotions

• Dieting focus or restricting food
• Comfort foods
• Denial of self-permission to eat
• Food scars

Habit

• Pairing activities with food repetitively.

Opportunity or Scarcity

• Looks good
• Smells good
• Tastes good
• Satisfying texture
• Or even the sound is appealing (e.g., a sizzling BBQ or the opening of a soda)

Take a look back over these reasons for a craving and note that only the biological reasons are talking about actual physical hunger.

We crave food for many reasons! And I know I’ve missed some.

But, if we set ourselves up well biologically, the foundation is taken out from under the craving. All the rest of the reasons why we crave are weakened.

5 Strategies to Squelch Food Cravings

Our goal is to turn our demanding craving heard over a speaker phone into a quiet nudge that allows a decision to eat it or not. Discover which pattern could help you before your usual craving scenario.

How to remove the biological drive to crave (with 1 bonus emotions strategy):

1. Eat 3 meals a day. 

Really. It’s a must. We want to come into our vulnerable time, fed. Or all other contributors to the craving are amplified. Lots more on how to do this in my post, Your Best Diet is Right Here.

2. Double check meals have foods from 3 food groups.

Certain foods have longevity and keep us full longer. They prevent us from getting too hungry and could decrease the intensity of the cravings. And meal variety can help ease the constant nibble as we try to calm hunger. This deserves its own post and there will be.

3. Eat regular meals/snacks about 3-4 hours apart.

Going too long between eating sets us up to crave and can lend itself to overeating. I have this on my writing schedule to dive into as well.

4. Get a good night’s sleep. 

Hormones that control hunger and fullness literally change for the worse the day after a poor night’s sleep. This drives us to eat more without even realizing it.

5. Regular physical activity.

Being active helps regulate hormones that control hunger as well. It also helps us sleep better if not right before bedtime. Aim for 20-30 minutes daily or 150 minutes a week.

Cravings and Guilt

What I don’t want to miss talking about is the guilt we often have when we ‘give in to our cravings’.

Be gentle with yourself. This is not a matter of willpower. It is a matter of knowing what works with our body’s design; within the science of how the human body works with food in general.

Being curious and asking the question why we crave, is giving ourselves permission to say yes or no to a craving.

Both answers are right.

Some days (or some day, if not yet) we will thoroughly enjoy our favorite foods without remorse.

When we remove the guilt of having them before we crunch or savour, we remove the guilt afterward. Sometimes we just need to give ourselves permission. To eat it and not make up for it.
So, we can kick to the curb, the temptation to restrict the food just eaten. Because ‘we gave in’.

We all want what we can’t have. Restricting a food sets us up to overeat it when we finally allow ourselves to have it again. The vicious cycle continues. Anyone?

This sets us up for our bonus emotions strategy:

Give yourself permission to eat and enjoy your favorite foods.

And when the food guilt threatens, capture those accusing thoughts *, and throw them back to the pit where they came from.

As Christians, we know there is an enemy that wants to accuse. And undermine our best efforts.

Call it for what it is – a lie – and replace it with words that affirm who we are. Then claim the promise in a prayer of gratitude.

To help me remember, I like to say to myself:

Capture it, toss it, and cross it

Here’s a promise to claim:

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” 

Romans 8:37 NIV

* We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:8 NIV

Back to Bella

It turns out that Bella grabbed a coffee to get going in the morning and only nibbled through breakfast as her family ate. She didn’t leave the house in the morning hungry but she wasn’t nourishing herself either.  Biologically, her body was telling her by the intense drive to eat, she didn’t eat enough during the day . Because she was over-hungry at 4 pm, it was difficult to choose what she would have if she was only a little hungry. Bella had unknowingly, set herself up to crave pretty much anything sweet when it came to her vulnerable craving time of 4 o’clock.

Her mornings or her rushed lunchtimes could use #1, #2 or #3 Strategies to Squelch Cravings diet edits. She found being more intentional at mealtimes during the day, to include protein, grains, and vegetables/fruit allowed an apple at 4 pm to satisfy her until dinner. She now knows to pack some fruit for on the way home.

But there was more. She realized the voice she heard justifying eating when she was at her most vulnerable craving time, was the same accusing voice she heard when she ‘gave in’. This allowed her to step back, capture those negative thoughts, toss them, and replace them with truth. She pulled the plug on the spiral of cycling back into restricting the food.

If we allow Peace itself a seat at the table, we find rest for our spirit.

Pull up a chair. Mention below what resonated with you to allow others to feel human. Let’s help each other bring a little peace to our tables with words of nourishment for body and soul.

A gentle reminder,

God wants you to know: I see you, I hear you, I love you.