Food craving can be described as an intense longing for eating a particular food, which is usually hard to endure. Food craving and hunger are different issues. While hunger can be satiated by consuming any good food, food craving is related to emotions and can only be satisfied after eating a particular food.
Studies have shown that food cravings are quite common and, according to one study, 97 percent women and 68 percent men experience food cravings, especially during the later part of the day. On an average an individual experiences one to four such craving every week, The Conversation reported.
With obesity becoming a national problem, several studies have been undertaken to understand what food craving actually is. Earlier, it was believed that food cravings are a mechanism of the body to rectify the nutritional deficiencies or food restrictions. If this theory is to be believed, most people would crave for nutritional foods like enough of vegetables and fruits. However, this is not always true.
Moreover, cravings for high carb and high comfort foods show that food cravings are always not related to deficiencies. Some recent studies have revealed that cravings are usually associated with social and not nutritional cues. However, there is one exception. Many people, especially women often crave for non-food substances like clay, ice and even raw starch. This unusual behavior is known as Pica, usually caused due to micronutrient deficiency, Huffington Post reported.
Sometimes cravings are real and also have a genuine physiological origin. Scientists have used functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine the regions in the brain that are related to memory, emotion and even intense food craving. One study has found that the response of the brain response coupled with a visual cue enhances production of leptin, the "hunger hormone."
Precisely speaking, several factors like stress, grief or monotony together with external influence work together to make one feel hungry. In addition, food craving may also have some relation to one's culture, for instance women crave chocolates, or something that may be based in one's childhood. Usually, people crave the things that have soothed them while growing up.
This is the main reason why people generally crave for foods like mac and cheese or grilled cheese sandwiches or cookies, which are all childhood foods and are associated with happy memories. Moreover, foods rich in fat and sugar content promote serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps us feel calm and relaxed, production. As a result, while eating the foods one craves, they recall that it worked and are likely to return to that same food the next time when they require a fix.
There are a number of ways to combat intense food cravings. According to one study, a morning workout reduced cravings during the day. Another study suggests that not indulging in moderate amounts of foods, but simply go completely cold turkey on the food may help to get rid of cravings. For instance, low-carb diets lead to decreased cravings for foods containing elevated levels of carb, while low-fat diets causes decreased cravings for fatty food.
