Do you think food cravings reflect nutrient deficiencies, or just a flavor you're missing?

[Bossy Monkey]

For instance, I almost always want egg salad. This could mean that I badly need albumen. (Or I hope so, as I use egg substitutes that only use the whites.) Or maybe I just really dig mustard. I figure, as long as the food craved is good for me, or at least isn't bad for me, I'll just go with the flow. What do you think?

[flvegan]

1. Could be either.

For most people, it's not only a need but a pleasure center.

[TZ]

2. I think it could be either.

I know that there's a definite school of thought that the strange things women crave when they are pregnant contain some nutrient that the fetus needs.

[graywarrior]

3. It's a craving for balance with alkaline and acidity.

For example: you eat salted peanuts (acidic/yang) you crave a beer (alkaline/yin). Whatever foods you overdo, your body craves the opposite. Too much sugar, your body wants salt. Too much salt, your body wants sugar.

[Bunny]

5. What if your body wants sugar *and* salt, in large quantities?

That seems to be my problem. :(

[graywarrior]

6. You are not in balance.

But mostly, you are acidic if you creave those foods. The normal blood pH is tightly regulated between 7.35 and 7.45. The lower the ph, the more acidic the blood. Everyone who eats lots of sugar and salt is too acidic.

[MissMillie]

25. you're PMS'ing

they make chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate covered potato chips....

[Shell Beau]

4. I crave junk a lot. Not many nutrients in junk, so I think want has a lot

to do with it, but I do think our body will crave what it needs if those needs aren't being met.

[Bossy Monkey]

9. Should young mothers be on heroin? I am shocked, shocked!

:P

Seriously, I don't know what you consider junk, but a lot of things that are called junk food are full of nutrition. Salt, sugar, and fat are all essential nutrients; it's just that nearly all Americans eat too much of them. (Or to put it another way, it's called junk food because these aren't the nutrients we're starving for.)

Then again, having a baby and bringing up a baby and just toting around a baby is a lot of work, isn't it? In your case, you're probably just plain hungry, or that would be my guess.

[Shell Beau]

12. She is close to 20 lbs., so I consider her my workout!

:P

My junk food is anything sweet really. I LOVE sugar way too much! It is my heroin!

[kimmerspixelated]

7. Eggs have Omega 3, so maybe that's it!

[Bossy Monkey]

8. Not, unfortunately, the egg substitutes I'm using

But I use my late mom's recipe otherwise, so it might be a craving for the whole eggs (and their Omega 3) that sets me off. I don't have a weight problem or anything; I got into the habit of using egg substitutes when I was living with the young lady whom I wanted to feed Spanish omelets but who said, "Four or five eggs! The cholesterol!" (Coincidentally, I just had a Spanish omelet. Mmmmm.) So I could always switch back. Or I could try to track down egg substitutes with Omega 3 added, which Google says are out there. Regardless, it's a good suggestion that might explain why this craving recurs so often, and I thank you for it.

[Bossy Monkey]

30. Update: I got egg substitutes with Omega 3, so we'll see if the cravings subside

(or subside for longer than usual). We'll also see if one can taste menhaden oil in egg substitutes.:scared:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

10. I have to make sure I get enough protein.

Because I need protein and I have a blood sugar problem.


Hard boiled eggs are a good snack. Eggs and butter are not nearly as bad for us as we used to think.

[Bossy Monkey]

15. But do you have cravings for high-protein foods?

The way I'm reading your post ("I have to make sure") suggests you're not, but maybe I'm drawing the wrong inference. Regardless, good for you for keeping up with it and staying healthy.

[DeepBlueC]

11. I would LIKE to think they speak for our needs

but if they do what I need is obviously an early grave.

[Bossy Monkey]

16. Put down the arsenic! AND the cyanide! And the fugu!

(Well, some people do apparently get food cravings for the fugu...)

[DeepBlueC]

19. ok, but you'll have to pry Miss Vickie's chips out of my cold dead hand

;)

[seemunkee]

13. So what vital nutrient is there in pizza? or Peruvian chicken

Because I crave those a lot.

[Bossy Monkey]

17. Protein. Fat. Ummmmm

One of my pet peeves since learning I'm celiac is that there's a product on stores' shelves called Vital Wheat Gluten. As I can't eat it, I'd really like to know in what sense they're suggesting that it's vital. However, if it is, there you go, that's the vital nutrient in pizza.

Wait, what's Peruvian chicken?

[seemunkee]

23. Its's a type of rotisserie chicken that is popular around here

Several small chains and independant restaurants sell it. The smell driving by them is enough to make me turn in and eat a half chicken with fried yucca.

[Bossy Monkey]

26. I remember wandering around Paris and drooling (metaphorically of course) over the smell of the

rotisserie chicken. Oddly, I always felt like the aroma was enough, and felt strangely satisfied without eating any. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, I never did. But to this day, whenever I smell rotisserie chicken, I think of Paris. (Ditto diesel fuel, but less happily:))

[femmocrat]

14. I think it's possible.

For example, eating ice could mean an iron deficiency. (Or not.)

I eat ice all the time. Does anyone else?

[Bossy Monkey]

18. Most of us have fillings, and it's very painful to eat ice should it hit a filling.

That's one reason I don't eat ice, though I can't recall ever getting a craving for it. Wait, is there iron in your water?

[Jamastiene]

20. I eat ice a lot, but I shouldn't.

Or at least, my aunt tells me I shouldn't.

[Lethe]

21. nah, food cravings in today's world, nah

but like you say, if the food you crave is good for you, why question a good thing? If you want to eat a tub of blueberries or eggs each day, good for you.

most modern food cravings consist of heavy carbs plus heavy fats. (when was the last time you had a midnight snack of dry chicken breasts?)

the original human food cravings consisted of natural summer fruits (before we actually grew fruits) because the sweetest fruit meant the most nutrition and calories. And along the same lines the best macronutrient for our hunter-gather ancestors was fat, because it has the most calories out of the macronurients. (more calories = less chance of starvation)

[ashling]

22. Must have cholesterol NOW!

BACON - BACON

[Orsino]

24. Evolutionarily valuable, such as our craving for meat.

We need meat's concentrated calories when fighting to survive, and are still wired to want all we can get. That works against us when we can get all we can eat.

Some cravings reflect an individual's wants or needs, and some are legacy species requirements.

[TreasonousBastard]

27. Depends on whether or not you're pregnant.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

28. Many years ago, I read that a craving for sweets is a sign of malnutrition, that

your body is seeking the quickest energy fix it can find.

Shortly after I read this, I volunteered at a meal program for the homeless for the first time. I was astonished to see how many of the people dumped what seemed like nauseating amounts of sugar into their coffee.

I've observed this again and again over the years. For example, college students who declare themselves vegans without any knowledge of nutrition and subsist on peanut butter sandwiches and potato chips can be seen helping themselves to jumbo Cokes to drink with candy (no dairy products in the candy, of course). (This is not a slam on vegans. I'm fine with people who have a knowledge of nutrition and therefore eat a lot of vegetables and whole grains going vegan, but the way a lot of young people do it is pretty unbalanced.)

Now that I'm volunteering in a meal program again, I see the same excessive sugar consumption. A local bakery donates more cakes and pies than we can actually use, so we have no objection to people taking two desserts, but it's interesting to see how many take two pieces of cake AND one or two of the ice cream bars that an individual donates.

So I think that people who find themselves craving sweets should first think about what is missing from their diet.

[jobycom]

29. Either, or even a third option.

Food is tied to emotions and memory, so you are just as likely to be craving a feeling you once got with egg salad as any nutritional need.

But when your body has a deficiency, it may crave a food it remembers getting that nutrient from. It might not be easy to figure out what nutrient it is, and you may be able to get it from somewhere else, but you interpret the craving as whatever food your body remembers getting that nutrient from.

Third possibility--some foods have a narcotic effect more than a nutritional one. Caffeine and sugar are obvious, but fat has a lethargic effect, carbs have a calming effect, etc. When you find yourself unable to give up a food, usually it's a narcotic effect.