7 Common Food Cravings That Wreck Your Health!

Last Updated on January 10, 2021

Have you ever felt a sudden and uncontrollable urge to eat chocolate, a burger, and fries or even to drink a soda? You have certainly had food cravings for these foods or other types of unhealthy food.

However, what you probably don’t know is that these cravings may be a response from your brain – a kind of defense mechanism to the need to supply your body with certain nutrients that are missing.

Find out about the 7 food cravings you normally cannot resist but actually harm your health, and replace them with other healthier and nutritionally rich foods! Read ahead.

1. Craving chocolate

Who can resist chocolate and the pleasure of eating it? For many people, chocolate is one of the biggest addictions in the world and it is something they must always have stored in the refrigerator for any emergency or last-minute cravings.

But chocolate cravings are often linked to a lack of magnesium in the body, which can result in anxiety and depression.

It is also one of the main cravings during premenstrual tension (PMS). It is natural that you eat more bars of chocolate because this will restore magnesium levels in the body, which makes you feel much better and more cheerful.

Unfortunately, chocolates contain excessive amounts of sugar and this is not recommended for your health. In this sense, choose to eat dark chocolate or milk chocolate with more than 70% cocoa, since these are low in sugar, rich in magnesium, satisfy your desire for chocolate, and even help to cope with depression.

2. Craving salty snacks

If chocolate is the most desired food for most people, salty snacks take the second place. People devour these foods without realizing it because they are small and extremely addictive – regardless of the amounts ingested, people never feel full. These foods contain salt, have a high-calorie content and reveal a need for silicon in your diet (not sodium deficiency as you might think).

This desire for salt may reflect the stress of your daily life – this is one of the major causes of food cravings – and the best way to combat it is to eat other foods, such as cashews, peanuts, nuts, and seeds. The practice of sport and physical exercise are also essential activities to eliminate stress from your life.

3. Craving Sweets or other sugary foods

The desire for sweets or other foods with sugar has always been present in our lives since childhood, on the birthdays of a friend or family member, at school parties or even during the festive seasons of Halloween or Christmas.

However, this craving for sweets (and most products available on the market is loaded with refined sugar) is closely associated with obesity and lack of sleep – the body cannot process so many calories and cannot properly rest.

Your body may be telling you that it is lacking in various minerals, such as chromium, phosphorus, sulfur, carbon, among others. In this sense, you should start to eat more dry fruits, such as nuts, almonds and raisins and fruits and vegetables with plenty of water such as watermelon and cucumber, among others. This will help you maintain a balanced weight and get a good night’s sleep.

4. Craving cheese

There are people who just can’t resist cheese, so they are always in the mood for pizza, hamburgers and other comfort foods.

Cheese is known to improve mood, decrease stress and promote relaxation, which contributes to a healthy diet. However, when your body is constantly asking you for these dairy products (mainly commercial cheese from plastic foods), this can reveal a lack of vitamin A or D and fatty acids.

To counteract the consumption of these plastic cheeses that lead to health problems such as loss of concentration and memory, you should insert low-fat cheeses (feta or mozzarella cheeses are great options) in your diet and eat more raw nuts, salmon and oil, or seeds of linseed.

5. Craving chips and French fries

The desire for chips and french fries – those found in packages at the supermarket or on the menus of McDonald’s or Burger King, among other fast-food chains – is very common and can indicate that your body is lacking in carbohydrates and healthy fats, such as omega 3.

However, eating French fries increases bad cholesterol and can lead to cardiovascular problems and even the formation of various cancers. To prevent this from happening, choose to replace oil with olive oil and start introducing salmon into your diet, since it is rich in fatty acids, such as omega 3. In addition, you can also consume more nuts and avocados to have more healthy food in your body.

6. Craving soda

What do your food cravings say about your health, exactly? A lot, in fact. And it’s not just the craving of solid foods that you normally can’t resist that affect your health, but also liquid cravings such as soft drinks. The most popular soft drinks, like Coca Cola or Pepsi, contain large doses of sugars and caffeine to keep you awake.

It should be noted that its consumption can cause tiredness, lack of energy and chronic diabetes. However, it can be a sign that your body is in need of calcium and magnesium to strengthen your bones.

And the problem is right there: because the solution we give the body when drinking soft drinks is the poison itself – the soft drinks consume even more the calcium and magnesium that the body feels the need to have.

To prevent this from happening, avoid high doses of caffeine and choose to drink tea in moderate amounts to be more relaxed.

7. Craving ice

People love chewing ice and since ice is water in a solid form, this desire seems much more harmless than the rest, right? The truth is, no, this craving can be quite problematic as it may mean that you have severe iron deficiency and this can lead to a lack of energy and anemia.

To counter this trend, it is crucial to introduce foods like beans and spinach in your diet in order to strengthen your immune system and be better prepared to deal with tiredness.

Those were the 7 food cravings that you normally cannot resist and that harm your health. It happens to you, as it does to thousands of people around the world.

It is something that many people know is bad for them, but, perhaps, they do not know that it is a way found by the body to communicate with them and to tell them that they have a nutrient deficiency. Now that you know what your body wants to tell you, what are you going to do about it? Only you can decide!