Food Cravings.

HOLIDAYS!

Friday liao so fast. haiz my holiday very bored lorh. Need do lot of homework and HBL ! haiz nothing much to post about. Found this very interesting article from xin.msn.com

By Flora McCraith, MSN, 28/02/2011
The secret about food craving
The important information you need to know about food cravings

Most people have cravings, whether it is sweet, salty, an ice cold beer or wine after work, a bag of crisps or a large bowl of something starchy. Most of the time we crave things that aren’t particularly good for us, like a burger and fries or a tub of ice cream. But what do these cravings mean? Life and Style takes a look at what food cravings mean and what they tell us nutritionally.
What are foods cravings?

A lot of people get food cravings around 3-4pm while sitting at their desk. They usually crave something sweet, like a chocolate bar, or savory, such as a bag of crisps. However, food cravings don’t mean that you are hungry, or being greedy for that matter. When you have a craving for something, whatever it is, it is usually your body’s way of telling you that you need something specific; a certain nutrient or vitamin, especially when you aren’t actually hungry.

Sweet

Maybe it’s that time of the month or its 4pm in the office and you have reached a slump in the day which only a chocolate bar could fix for you. However, what you may actually need is magnesium, which chocolate contains a lot of. A woman’s magnesium levels become low during her menstrual cycle and chocolate has a high magnesium content.

Fatty

Many people crave fatty foods when they are stressed or are under emotional pressure and this may be an indicator that you need calcium as stress is known to affects it. Fatty foods make the digestive system work hard and the process consumes a lot of energy which can take the attention away from the stress or emotions you’re feeling.

Salty

This is pretty much an obvious one, as when we crave something salty we usually need sodium chloride, more commonly known as salt. It is an important mineral that the body needs in order to regulate some processes or other chemicals and our cells require it too. However, salt can also increase a person’s craving and make them worse.

Ice

There are some people, often pregnant women, who crave and crunch on ice. This strange craving or habit is probably your body’s way of telling you that you aren’t getting enough iron. It is also documented and a blood test often reveals that it is a sign of anemia. Some scientists believe that the mouth becomes inflamed when a person has an iron deficiency and the ice helps to relieve and sooth it. Why the craving isn’t for a rare steak, we don’t know!

Fruits and vegetables

Not many people crave healthy foods, but there can be times when you crave a juicy orange or salad and your body may be needing vitamins. For some this can be after a night out on the town as alcohol is full of empty calories and can replace the nutrients that we would have got from a balanced meal. Alcohol also depletes vitamin and nutrient levels from the body.

An alcoholic drink

It’s the end of a long week and your craving for an ice cold beer. Apart from it being celebratory towards the imminent weekend and a way to wind down, it could also indicate that your body is telling you it needs protein.

A general craving

When you crave something, but you can quite put your finger on what it is you want, it could be because you aren’t getting enough sleep. This is because your body releases appetite hormones when you are tired called ghrelin. Getting more sleep will encourage the body to release leptin which help to suppress the appetite.