If you have a body, you have probably had food cravings before. Whether your weakness is chocolate, ice cream, chips, or cookies, it can make it extremely difficult to follow a healthy diet with these cravings sneaking in.
While eating these foods in moderation isn’t bad, it can be frustrating at times to feel like your body is sabotaging your current health and fitness goals! If you relate to this, keep reading because this post is for you!
When our body is lacking certain vitamins or nutrients, we get signals sent to our brains telling us to eat something. While it often comes up as chips, chocolate, or anything in between, there may be better things we can eat instead that will satisfy those cravings. Eating better alternatives can also leave us feeling more fulfilled and satisfied than if we would have eaten what had first come to mind.
This is why understanding the signals our body is sending to us is important when it comes to getting a better idea of what our bodies really need.
To start off, take a look at this chart created by Get Healthy U.
As you can see, there are many reasons you could be craving a certain type of food, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to break your diet to satisfy your body.
If you are craving chocolate, you might just need to incorporate higher magnesium-rich foods into your diet. Magnesium plays an important role in nerve function and energy production. Foods rich in magnesium include pumpkin seeds, spinach, almonds, or peanuts.
If you are craving meats or cheese, your body may be low on iron or calcium. These are important nutrients that your body needs to function properly, and to get them you might consider eating fish, eggs, beans, lentils, or lean meats.
It may also help to create a food journal where you can keep track of what you eat and your current cravings. This can be helpful to look back on to recognize any patterns that might indicate a lack of certain nutrients in your diet.
So, next time you get a craving, don’t disregard it, but instead, use it as a tool to figure out what it is your body might really need. After all, learning to listen to what your body is telling you is better than reading a thousand blog posts about it. 😉
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Mind & Body 