Cravings

[Jamie in Chile]

New BBC article

Why you shouldn't trust your food cravings

To sum up the story it says that cravings are mostly psychological rather than nutrition. I think this is true because that agrees with most of what else I've read. If I have time I can maybe post the other sources later on.

The article also says that if we eat a food less, we crave it less. Maybe that is the way to beat cravings? Just ignore them until they go away...even if it takes years??

 

[Second Summer]

I thought this argument was interesting - many languages don't even have a word for 'craving', whereas:

“When you can articulate that a craving exists, you can identify and define it, which means you can experience it,” says Nicole Avena, assistant professor of neuroscience at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

So if you don't have a word for 'craving', then, in a sense, you also can't experience it.

 

[Val]

I thought this argument was interesting - many languages don't even have a word for 'craving', whereas:

So if you don't have a word for 'craving', then, in a sense, you also can't experience it.

This is funny: we (russians) experience cravings constantly, but we don't have a direct word for it. OTOH, we have many words (and phrases) somewhere "around", describing the process. The closest word that comes to mind - is "Blazh'" (with a softening sign on the end). But it can be related not only to food, but also to things you want desperately for an unknown reason, and it gradually gets overwhelming. It derives from the words "blazhit'", "blazhnoi" though, which mean a certain degree of mental obsession and ever insanity. And when a kid is harrassing his mom: "Buy me this, buy me that, i want this!" and starts yelling and demanding, she utters: "Don't wanna hear anything,- it's just your "blazh!"
Another word for describing cravings is "prispichilo", which derives from the ancient morph "spichit'" ("to stab"),- it means that someone is being haunted and literally "stabbed" by his craving which has become his obsession. It's not always about food either: the brightest example is "mnje prispichilo v tualet" (literally: "i'm being stabbed with the urge to go to the toilet").

 

[Moll Flanders]

I think chocolate tastes totally different when I have my period. It tastes much nicer than usual.

I had a really weird craving last week when my iron was low after a blood test. I was craving Pizza Hut ham and pineapple and cheese pizza. I probably ate that last in 1990!

I used to crave liver when I had low iron and I haven't eaten that since I was about 11 years old.

 

[GingerFoxx]

I wonder if it depends on the food. Sugar, dairy and caffeine can be addictive substances, so cravings associated with those foods seem less likely to stem from nutritional need. On the other hand, craving healthy foods that contain certain key vitamins or minerals might be more indicative of a nutritional need.

 

[Poppy]

I found this to be very interesting. I have never really had food cravings, although my best friend sure does. When my husband asks me where I'd like to go to dinner, I find I don't focus on the food choices so much, but more atmospheric - is the weather nice enough to eat outside, how's the lighting, will there be enough of a crowd to make it a "fun"night? Whereas when I ask my best friend where she'd like to eat, it's always something like "Oh I'm craving So-and-so's red curry, or I need the tofu caesar wrap from…" And I'm like"fine!" As along as it's food and vegan and clean, I'm good!

Even when I was pregnant or had pms, I never had food cravings. I'd be hungrier, but not for chocolate or sweets or pickles necessarily.

 

[Moll Flanders]

^ How in the world can IS "agree" with Poppy's post when he is a man. How could he know what it is like to be a woman? Oh dear.

Anyway, it's weird as I get the opposite thing too when I have my period. Certain foods make me feel sick, even if I have had leftovers from the night before. It makes me want to be sick when I'm menstruating. It is to do with hormones, I think. I used to work with pregnant mothers and some of them used to be retching if they smelled certain foods or scents even if they liked them before they were pregnant.

I'm so glad I have always used contraception.

 

[Second Summer]

^ How in the world can IS "agree" with Poppy's post when he is a man. How could he know what it is like to be a woman? Oh dear.

I know, I meant to be agreeing with everything she said before that last paragraph. I can see how that looks weird

When my husband asks me where I'd like to go to dinner, I find I don't focus on the food choices so much, but more atmospheric - is the weather nice enough to eat outside, how's the lighting, will there be enough of a crowd to make it a "fun"night?

Exactly. If we're going out to eat, as long as it's nutritionally adequate (and clean) not too junky vegan food, then the next thing I look for is somewhere we can actually have a conversation without having to shout because of stupid music and/or crowdedness or loud clientele, somewhere that isn't too far to travel, maybe somewhere with a good view, and with good and polite service.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Here is a summary of my research on cravings from a while ago.

What Meat Cravings (all, actually) REALLY Mean & 20 Recipes to Get In That Iron ~ The Vegan Zebra is a good article, albeit long.

Are food cravings the body's way of telling us that we are lacking certain nutrients? suggests scientific research shows that food cravings are not linked to nutrition.

5 Reasons Why Some Vegans Go Back To Eating Meat | LIVEKINDLY

https://www.vegetariantimes.com/health-and-nutrition/do-food-cravings-mean-youre-nutrient-deficient
“Your hankering for certain foods is more likely caused by a mixture of social, psychosocial, cultural, and environmental cues rather than nutritional ones.”

5 Ways to Battle Those Cheese Cravings After You Go Vegan
(Cheese may be more of a weak physical addiction than psychological)
"Milk contains a protein called casein that breaks apart during digestion and releases opiates called casomorphins. Cheese also contains phenylethylamine, which is an amphetamine-like chemical. These compounds are responsible for many of our cravings, including that feeling of not being able to live without cheese. It’s a real physical addiction, which means we can really suffer from withdrawal when we stop eating cheese. The good news is that those cravings will lessen over time"

What are you actually craving? Replacing animal products in a vegan diet | Vegan Yoga Life “my cravings were really always for certain textures and flavors”.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Contrary viewpoint:
Creatine and carnitine comes fully formed in meat, but vegans have to produce these, therefore could be a reason for cravings as vegans struggle to produce these if they are used to an animal-based diet as an “acquired dependency”

Dr Michael Klaper
11.15-16.00 in the video
However he seems to see this as an explanation for cravings in a majority of cases and only because people have become dependent on meat over time, and that this can be shaken off.

 

[KLS52]

I found this to be very interesting. I have never really had food cravings, although my best friend sure does. When my husband asks me where I'd like to go to dinner, I find I don't focus on the food choices so much, but more atmospheric - is the weather nice enough to eat outside, how's the lighting, will there be enough of a crowd to make it a "fun"night? Whereas when I ask my best friend where she'd like to eat, it's always something like "Oh I'm craving So-and-so's red curry, or I need the tofu caesar wrap from…" And I'm like"fine!" As along as it's food and vegan and clean, I'm good!

Even when I was pregnant or had pms, I never had food cravings. I'd be hungrier, but not for chocolate or sweets or pickles necessarily.

I know, I meant to be agreeing with everything she said before that last paragraph. I can see how that looks weird

Exactly. If we're going out to eat, as long as it's nutritionally adequate (and clean) not too junky vegan food, then the next thing I look for is somewhere we can actually have a conversation without having to shout because of stupid music and/or crowdedness or loud clientele, somewhere that isn't too far to travel, maybe somewhere with a good view, and with good and polite service.

That’s kind of crazy to me! I’m always interested in the food part of it. Not that I’d be anti going somewhere if I wasn’t craving something specific. But I would definitely have a preference depending on what I was in the mood for at that particular moment in time.

I think I get cravings quite often. It’s usually for junk food. I think it’s more of an addictive thing though like Gingerfox said.

 

[silva]

I always dismissed the 'cravings mean you're lacking ..,..'.
I will crave salt something fierce if I've gone too long without it, always have.
I certainly don't crave nearly as much now that I don't get my periods! It did taste better then

 

[Moll Flanders]

Iron | The Vegan Society

I only read the other day that menstruating women need almost twice the amount of iron. My GP did tell me this but I forgot.

I used to donate blood regularly and passed the iron tests so I must have been eating something that was high in iron and then stopped. I think it was because I used to eat porridge with raisins.

I certainly don't crave nearly as much now that I don't get my periods!

I'm looking forward to the day I don't have mine anymore.

 

[KLS52]

I'm looking forward to the day I don't have mine anymore.

I have to say, menopause is right up there as one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to me. Seriously.

 

[Andy_T]

When I listen to my body, it tells me that it is missing the specific nutrients only found in potato chips, burgers and ice cream.
I somehow doubt the wisdom of my body.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

My body seems to be determined to get a large quantity of some specific nutrient found in a tub of Pringles. There is obviously not enough of this nutrient in only half a tub of Pringles.

 

[Poppy]

I have to say, menopause is right up there as one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to me. Seriously.

Whaaa???? I don't miss some things, needless to say, but menopause was such a terrible shock to my whole system. Literally everything hurt. I had to go on HRT or I would not hav survived.

 

[Tom L.]

My body seems to be determined to get a large quantity of some specific nutrient found in a tub of Pringles. There is obviously not enough of this nutrient in only half a tub of Pringles.

...."Pringles" come in TUBS now??!! I'll have to petition my local supermarket not to carry them...

As far as cravings go... I have to agree with what pretty much everyone here has been saying: cravings are not a reliable indicator of actual physical need, at least not in my experience.

 

[KLS52]

Whaaa???? I don't miss some things, needless to say, but menopause was such a terrible shock to my whole system. Literally everything hurt. I had to go on HRT or I would not hav survived.

Wow, sorry to hear that. I’ve heard it can be hard for some. I was very lucky. Breezed right through it.