Why Cravings Shouldn't be Ignored

We all know that feeling: We're trying to eat healthier, we've been making better choices, things have been going really well and then.... the craving hits.

We remember the sleeve of cookies sitting in the cabinet, the slice of chocolate

cake in the fridge or the the packet of crisps in the cupboard.

They're calling to us, the sound filling the space where willpower resides. But we hesitate, worried about undoing all of our hard work. It becomes an internal war.

Here's the question: Should we give in to cravings?

And the answer? It's a resounding YES.

Cravings feel like weakness, a lack of willpower. Denying ourselves makes us feel

strong and sometimes temporarily in control of our health. It gives us the illusion of being in control.

Unfortunately, these effects are often short-lived. What we're usually left with, once the satisfaction of resisting temptation fades, is a feeling of dissatisfaction and a belief that healthy, balanced eating is hard work.

My opinion is that it's rarely a good idea to deny ourselves what we crave.

Nor is it beneficial for us to give in to our cravings and then feel guilty. Guilt around

food is a major contributor to weight gain and poor eating habits as well as having a negative impact on our mental health.

My recommendation is a little more nuanced - eat what you crave, but pay attention.

Your body is trying to tell you something. Cravings are the body's way of trying to

find balance when something is missing.

What it's trying to tell you will depend on your personal circumstances and is

different for everyone, but here are a few of the most common ones.

Reason number 1

An unhappy gut

Our gut is inhabited by hundreds of thousands of bacteria

and the balance between each type is different for everyone. Each of us has a unique ecosystem living inside of us. The balance of different kinds of bacteria in this ecosystem matters however, because there is a hierarchy in the bacterial world. Not all bacteria are equal. Some benefit our bodies and some don't. Some help us lose weight, improve our metabolism and actually produce vitamins our body needs. Some, on the other hand, increase inflammation, encourage fat storage and cause uncomfortable digestive troubles.

And, believe it or not, these bacteria, like fussy toddlers, have food preferences.

Sometimes, cravings are actually the bacteria in our gut sending messages to our

brain demanding certain foods. Some bacteria love fatty, sugary foods and they let

the body know. Bacteria are a living organism and they are simply trying to survive. Derailing your healthy eating regime becomes collateral damage.

The brain and gut are intricately linked and the demands of specific gut bacteria can be insistent, creating intense cravings for foods that support them.

Denying ourselves our cravings may feel useful in the short-term

but a much better strategy is to rebalance the bacteria in our gut to change our

cravings entirely.

Different bacteria equals different cravings. To put it simply, you could be craving a carrot instead of a chocolate bar. It's much less about self-control and much more about biology.

The good news is that the balance of good versus bad bacteria can be adjusted

with small but significant changes to diet and lifestyle.

Resetting the balance can mean that our unhealthy cravings vanish almost completely.

Reason number 2

A tired body

Not getting enough or not the right quality of sleep doesn't just

make you feel tired and sluggish. It makes it harder for your body to do all the

important jobs it does internally every day.

Your body is designed to exist in homeostasis and it is constantly adjusting and readjusting hormones, neurotransmitters and biological processes that ensure it functions at its best so you feel amazing.

When we don't get the amount or quality of sleep we need we are making our body's job so much harder. But our body, in a bid to compensate sends a help message to the brain asking for support.

That help message looks like this: SUGAR!!!

Your body is desperate for some quick energy so it can do its best for you.

Sometimes, reaching for that cookie gives your body what it needs and it can be an effective, temporary strategy. Long-term however, a tired body flooded with sugar leads to a host of health problems - insulin resistance, weight gain, inflammation and more.

This is why it is so important to investigate why your sleep isn't what it should be or why your eight hours isn't making you feel as refreshed as you'd like.

There are a multitude of reasons for this (including missing certain nutrients) and rather than worrying about the craving, it is much more useful to get to the root of sleep issues.

Good sleep can give you your energy back and banish cravings designed to give you the sugar hit.

Reason number 3

Stressed out

Stress is an epidemic in the modern world. The effect of stress on the

body is massive and many of us walk around with baseline stress all day without

giving it much thought.

But our bodies are suffering for it.

Long-term stress disrupts hormones, dysregulates our immune system and sends our blood sugar levels on a roller-coaster.

Importantly it can makes us feel unhappy, disrupting the hormones that make us feel positive.

Eating high fat, high sugar foods spikes dopamine - the hormone that makes us feel great.

Sometimes that bag of crisps or take-away gives us the mood boost that we need. Giving in can be a temporary reprieve.

The danger is that the spike in feel-good dopamine is temporary and usually followed by a low that matches the high. The high/low effect can be addictive making cravings more intense and creating an unhealthy addiction around food.

However, denying ourselves can just make us feel worse - deprived and frustrated.

You can see the dilemma.

This is why getting to the root of what exactly is causing us stress (there are a million reasons) and dealing with it through simple lifestyle changes and targeted nutrients that

increase those happy hormones naturally can be the real answer you are looking

for.

While there are too many craving-related issues to address here, the answer to your cravings is always the same:

Don't deny yourself. Your body is trying to tell you something.

Start listening, get to the root of the problem and watch the cravings fade away.