What do you crave

What do you crave?  We call have cravings.  It can be anything from sweets to salty snacks as well as addictions.  Understand what you crave.

What do you crave?

What are your cravings?  Are they:

• Something sweet?  Candy, chocolate, cakes, cookies, or ice cream.  Do you have a favorite and do you always have some on hand?  When do you eat these things?
• What about something salty?  Chips, crackers, popcorn anyone?  I love myself a good tortilla chip.  I limit having this in the house because I can eat these all the time.
• Food, in general?  Do you find yourself overeating all the time?  You may have a food addiction.
• Water – you could be dehydrated.  Pay attention to how much water you are drinking because not only will you feel dedydrated but your skin will also be dehydrated.

We can have food cravings for many reasons and some of those reasons can include mineral deficiencies, low blood sugar, stress and anxiety, being bored, and even emotional trauma.  Here are some examples:

What do you crave on your period?

This is a perfect example.  When you are on your period – or even sometimes before your period is going to start – you may crave certain foods.  It’s different for everyone but many women say they crave specific foods like chocolate, ice cream, or chips.  Your body is going through things and it may be lacking something, causing you to have food cravings.

What do you crave when your iron is low?

This is related to your period for many women.  When women menstruate, the lose iron so it is common to be anemic.  So, what do you crave when you are anemic?  If this is the case for you, you may have noticed that you want to eat iron rich foods like beef.  The type of iron in beef is absorbed well by our bodies so a big, ole’ juicy hamburger may be what will help bring our iron levels up.  Do you know what other foods are high in iron?

Foods high in iron

Here are some other suggestions of high iron foods to help with your food cravings:

• Spinach – I do like raw spinach but I’m not necessarily a fan of cooked spinach.  The good news is that spinach is high in iron.  Yay!
• Legumes – eat these with vitamin C so that you can absorb the iron better.
• Pumpkin seeds – buy the organic variety because the non-organic usually has oils or other ingredients that you shouldn’t be eating.
• Broccoli – one of my favorite vegetables so I’m so glad that it’s a good source of iron.
• Tofu – not a fan but if you do like tofu, it’s good news for you if you need more iron in your diet.
• Dark chocolate – here you go!  Are you surprised to find out that dark chocolate has iron in it?  Double whammy if this is one of the ‘what do you crave’ items.
• Fish and shellfish – lots of iron here if you like the sea.

What’s causing your food cravings?

It would be good to understand why you are craving certain foods.  If you have a mineral deficiency or lack of energy (which could signify why you’re anemic), it’s good information to know.  If you’re feeling especially tired or sluggish, this could signify you are low on iron.  Take a good hard look at what you are craving – it could actually be because you don’t have anything fun to do or look forward to.  In this case, you may just be mindlessly eating so that you have something to do.  Look at your cravings so you can do something about it.