What Your Food Cravings Are Trying To Tell You

Despite all the supplements people in America take and all the many high protein diets we follow, deficiencies for iron, zinc, and protein are still incredibly common in the U.S. — especially for older people or women who have their period. Perhaps that's why many people find themselves craving steaks and hamburgers.

"A food craving is a sign from the body that you're missing something — whether that be balanced, adequate nutrition, or a particular nutrient," Crystal Savoy, a registered dietitian with Real Life Women's Health, told Eating Well. Your body knows when there aren't nutrients coming in and that's what causes a craving. "When I think about my cheeseburger craving," she explained, "I feel pretty clear that my body was asking for iron and a quality source of protein."

Although there's not always a nutritional hook behind the cravings you experience, there's usually at least something behind the overpowering urge for a specific food. "So often, it comes down to a low energy intake overall or someone who skipped a meal or didn't eat enough at their last meal," said Savoy.

Turns out that cheese craving isn't an alarming sign you're evolving into a mouse. Rather, deep intense cravings for some cheddar could be a sign of a vitamin deficiency. In an interview with Shape magazine, Vandana Sheth, a nutritionist and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, revealed that cravings for cheese can result from a lack of vitamin D.

A nutrient vital for helping to keep bones, teeth, and muscles healthy, vitamin D also aids in the proper regulation of calcium and phosphate levels in the body. Food cravings are "often thought to be associated with nutrient deficiencies," according to Sheth.

Although sunlight is one of the best sources of vitamin D, winter months make it hard to get adequate sun exposure. This is an especially good time to eat foods that are high in vitamin D. In addition to cheese, fatty kinds of fish (like tuna, mackerel, and salmon) as well as foods fortified with vitamin D (like milk) are all good sources.

Craving ice cream could be your body's way of telling you that you have some issues going on within your digestive system. In an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine, Joseph Colella, a physician, weight-loss expert, and author of The Appetite Solution, cautioned that jonesing for ice cream after a meal may not just be your sweet tooth talking. Instead, you may have heartburn or acid reflux.

Creamy dairy foods tend to be soothing, Dr. Colella revealed, so that may be why you end up wanting them after a meal. You might also be taking too many over-the-counter pain relievers, he cautioned. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like naproxen and Motrin may seem harmless, but they can actually cause low-grade inflammation in the stomach. A craving for your favorite mint chocolate chip ice cream could be your body's way of revealing that irritation — and telling you it needs a bit of a break from those meds.

Blame that hyper addictive quality of creamy, crunchy, or all-natural peanut butter on its perfect trifecta of flavors. "Humans have an innate predilection for salt, sweet and fat," Katherine Brooking, a registered nutritionist, told HuffPost. "Most peanut butter brands contain some or all of these." Plus, the creamy texture makes peanut butter one of the hardest foods to eat in moderation.

Peanut butter's easy chewability and low water content are also factors that contribute to its high craveability, added nutritionist Dawn Jackson Blatner. "Things that are creamy without much chewing needed aren't as filling as foods that have more chewing involved," she explained. That means you often end up consuming more of them before you feel full or satisfied.

Additionally, if you're on a low-fat diet and find yourself craving peanut butter on the regular, consider that you may not be getting enough healthy fats. This could cause you to crave peanut butter, according to Healthline, which is a good source of both the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats your body may be saying it needs. Adding more healthy fats to your diet should help the craving to go away.

Everybody loves a little char from the grill on their steak or veggies, but many people wouldn't go so far as to say they enjoy burnt foods. However, if you do find yourself craving burnt popcorn, toast, or other foods burnt to a crisp, you might be experiencing a heighted version of what's called the Maillard reaction.

Dr. Paul Breslin, a researcher at the Monell Center, an institute that researches taste and smell, explained to Epicurious why some people like burning their toast. "Maillards are what makes cooked food taste like cooked food," he revealed. "When you smell a Cinnabon in a shopping mall, the reason it smells so good isn't the cinnamon — it's the Maillards, the smell of the browning bun. Burning is part of that spectrum, part of the Maillard reaction." The longer a food is cooked, he continued, the more pronounced and complex that caramelized flavor — and the Maillards within the food — can become.

Considering everybody's taste buds respond to foods differently, there's simply a number of people who love and crave foods with an especially intense, bitter, Maillard-heavy flavor— even if other people don't totally get it.

Pho, ramen, and other soups are crave-worthy for a host of reasons. There's the powerful combo of mood-boosting carbs in the noodles, the addictive quality of the sodium in the broth, and the soft, creamy texture of the meats and vegetables — but there's also a strong anthropological basis behind the craveability of soups.

Ken Albala, a food historian at the University of the Pacific in California, explained the phenomenon to BBC News: "As far back as the 12th Century, physicians were recommending chicken soup ... to combat a cold." The expert continued, saying, "In the 16th Century, the common wisdom was to give nourishing, restorative, light and easily digested food to the sick." And that carries right up to today, when everyone from your mother to a doctor might suggest a warm bowl of soup to help you feel better.

The takeaway: If you're in a negative head space or under the weather, you might find yourself craving a bowl of soup. "That is a connection we make on a subconscious level as we grow up, so when we want to feel comforted we look to what our mothers would have provided," Albala revealed.

The National Eating Disorders Association describes pica as an eating disorder that involves eating items that are not typically thought of as food and that do not contain significant nutritional value. The most commonly consumed items include everything from hair and dirt to cigarette ashes and paint chips. The condition can affect children, adolescents, and adults and often occurs in conjunction with other mental health disorders, like autism or schizophrenia. However, pica can also develop in pregnant women. 

According to a study on the symptoms and cause of pica in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, pregnant women who develop pica often have lower levels of iron in their blood, which can reduce the amount of oxygen reaching their cells. In these cases, pica may be the body's attempt at finding something it can consume which will help to fight and counteract that deficiency.

If you are struggling with an eating disorder, or know someone who is, help is available. Visit the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (text NEDA to 741741).

Imagine you have a friend who has been on a low-fat diet. Lately, he has been strongly craving fried chicken, especially with a side of French fries. If you suspect that his fried chicken cravings are more than just adjusting to a new diet, you might be right.

According to nutritionist Stephanie Kay, craving fried foods like chicken fingers could be your body alerting you that it needs more essential fatty acids. As the Mayo Clinic explains, our bodies process the dietary fat and carbs we consume. This results in fatty acids. But while the body can use the amino acids in food to make nonessential fatty acids, it is unable to create essential fatty acids (via Medical News Today). Thus, it's crucial to eat foods that are good sources of these particular fatty acids.

So, if dietary fat can help with low amounts of fatty acids, then shouldn't fried chicken be helpful? Well, as Kay points out, fried foods are often made with refined vegetable oils, which isn't the best choice if you want healthy fats. Instead, she recommends other foods like nuts, eggs, and avocadoes to help with essential fatty acid levels. However, you should always check with a medical professional before making changes to your diet. You might want to keep a food journal, so they can see if you're eating enough foods that are good sources of essential fatty acids.

Do you crave a glass of wine at dinner? Do you consider a bit of wine while watching TV the perfect end to your day? And do you find that before you swallow that first sip, you're already feeling happier? There might be more to that feel-good sensation than you realize.

There are wines on the market that have little to no alcohol, but we're going to focus on more traditional wines. According to Forbes, while alcohol can affect one's brain chemistry causing depressed feelings, it can also cause the brain to release larger amounts of dopamine, which, as the Cleveland Clinic explains, is a neurotransmitter that makes you feel good. But the more one drinks alcohol, the less they experience that dopamine high, which can lead to more drinking to try to recapture it.

What's more, research from Indiana University points to a possible connection between just tasting an alcoholic beverage and the brain releasing more dopamine. During the study, 49 men tasted both beer and Gatorade, and found that just tasting the beer (not digesting it) was enough to cause a noteworthy increase in dopamine. Granted, this study didn't test if wine had the same impact, but it does support the possibility that the sense of taste alone can be enough to impact dopamine levels. The bottom line is if someone craves wine, it could be they're craving the effect of dopamine.

If you're pregnant, then you should always work with a healthcare professional when creating or altering your diet. With that said, if you're craving fruit during your pregnancy, it could be a sign that your body needs a specific nutrient.

According to Hawai'i Pacific Health, it's not uncommon for someone whose expecting to crave fruit when their vitamin C levels are low. As the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Dietary Supplements explains, vitamin C is very important for multiple functions in the body, from processing protein to helping wounds heal. One medium-sized orange can provide 70 milligrams of vitamin C, while ¾ cup of orange juice could contain up to 93 milligrams. Other fruits with notable amounts of vitamin C include kiwifruit, strawberries, grapefruit, and cantaloupe.

Although fruit can be a good way to consume more vitamin C, there are other options. For instance, broccoli contains vitamin C, but how you prepare it can make a difference. A half-cup of cooked broccoli can provide 51 milligrams of vitamin C, while a half-cup of raw broccoli only has 39 milligrams. Cabbage and cauliflower are also good vitamin C sources.