Today we’re heading back to the most visited health website on the ‘Interplebs,’ healthline.com, as I discovered that they have an article on ‘food cravings’ and they made a complete mess of it.
Simply going through the headlines of their nutrition articles has my disinformation and bullshit alarm going haywire. This website is criminally incorrect on most things related to “nutrition,” a pseudo-science that in reality should be really simple, which we will get to.
As for food cravings, it’s a subject I’ve covered many times over the years, especially since I’ve worked with thousands of clients within the fitness- and bodybuilding industry, helping them achieve extreme conditioning and ridiculous low levels of body fat.
Healthline begin their article with quite an obvious statement, “Food cravings can be brought on by a variety of factors — be it physical or mental. In certain cases, they may also be a sign of an underlying condition and should not be ignored.”
Then they move on to possible causes, where they begin with explaining the following, “Food cravings can be caused by several factors, which can usually be split into two main categories: physical and mental. Being aware of them may help you identify which factors specifically trigger your cravings.”
Actually, they kind of go hand-in-hand. The mental aspect is simply programming and social conditioning, which is why you might crave certain foods. We will get to that too.
Physical causes
“Leptin and ghrelin imbalances. An imbalance in these hunger and fullness hormones may cause certain people to experience more food cravings than others.”
Actually, problems with leptin, insulin, ghrelin, and even adiponectin is usually the result of metabolic damage from over-eating carbohydrates as seen in obese people and those diagnosed with diabetes. While leptin might ‘signal’ us to stop eating, such signals are always overrun if you have nutrient deficiencies as malnutrition is a threat to your health and ability to survive. Since most people today do not consume enough animal-based foods, as in the only source of bioavailable nutrition for humans, they have nutrient deficiencies. They are over-fed on garbage, but still under-fed on nutrients.
“Pregnancy. Hormonal changes in pregnancy may influence your smell and taste receptors, in turn, causing you to experience more intensified cravings.”
Actually, no. There have been many women who never experienced hunger or cravings during their pregnancy, although the majority does. And why is this? Well, what is the common denominator among women or people in general? They follow a typical shitty modern diet, totally void of much needed nutrients. And what happens during a pregnancy? You have a life growing inside of you, desperately needing essential nutrients such as animal fat and protein, vitamins and minerals, and the only source for these nutrients are through the mother. If a pregnant woman gets cravings and unnatural hunger, it’s simply a sign that she is not getting enough nutrients for sustaining both herself and the growing baby. And yes, that is very bad, meaning that her body need to break down parts of itself to sustain the growth of the baby. And in severe cases, not even that is enough, and the baby will be “put together” as best it can, meaning that there will be many issues with the development and the health of the child. I covered this in my pregnancy article many years ago.
And yes, the women I personally know and also heard about that never got hungry, never had cravings or morning sickness, and who experienced an effortless childbirth were all either carnivores or followed a heavy animal-based ketogenic diet. In other words, they followed a diet very close to their physiology, as in our species-appropriate, species-specific diet, as humans are obligate hyper carnivores.
“Lack of sleep. Too little or poor quality sleep can disturb your levels of the hormones responsible for regulating hunger, fullness, and sleep-wake cycles, possibly intensifying food cravings, especially in the evenings.”
Again, stupid “scientists” or “government shills” get it all backwards. If you suddenly start experiencing a lack of sleep, or poor-quality sleep, it is a symptom of bad health, as in being stressed, experiencing mental-trauma, and/or likely being malnourished.
If you experience bad sleep and have cravings or feel abnormal hunger, it’s simply because your body is desperately trying to get nutrients it need to heal, repair, possibly detox, and to manufacture hormones to make you sleep better.
It can also be the effect of really bad eating habits, as in eating close to bedtime, especially carbs/sugars while being malnourished.
“A nutrient-poor diet. Nutrients like protein and fiber can help you feel full. A diet that’s low in these nutrients may cause you to feel hungry or experience cravings, even if you have otherwise eaten enough calories.”
I covered this in my review of Chris Shugart’s big fail on protein. While a low-protein diet will make you hungry, since protein, as in amino acids, are essential and needed for cellular repair and the production of enzymes and hormones, most people get just about enough, except for retarded vegans and fruitarians.
And fiber clogs you up, temporarily making you feel full while you’re still malnourished. It’s an extremely dangerous deceitful effect. And fiber has no place in human nutrition, it should be avoided at all cost. I covered this many, many times.
Again, a “nutrient-poor diet” is anything that is low in animal-foods, as in meat and animal fats. And being hungry and experience cravings is a result of that, of lacking these essential nutrients only found in animal foods.
“Poor hydration. Ingesting too little fluids can intensify feelings of hunger or cravings in some people.”
No, hydration is a combination of getting fluids, electrolytes, and your ability to manufacture metabolic water. In normal people, poor hydration will manifest as thirst and/or cravings for salty food or hydrating foods.
Actually, among us who eat mainly raw meat, we need almost no fluids at all as we get that from the food, yet we never experience hunger or cravings. According to these shills, we should be dehydrated because we drink almost nothing and should have ravenous cravings, yet we are not and we do not.
“Your gut flora. There is some evidence that the type of bacteria present in your gut may influence the frequency and type of cravings you may have. However, more research is needed to confirm this link.”
Anything “gut flora” is about 99% pseudo-science as these shills get everything backwards. Your ‘gut flora,’ as in the bacteria in your large intestine, is the result of what you are currently eating. The bacteria evolve to help break down and feed of what you consume. If you mostly consume sugars, as in carbohydrates, and some fiber, you will have an overpopulated gut of bacteria that should not be in humans and it will compromise your intestine walls and even your hormones, which theoretically could mess with everything else, including hunger. But again, that is because you likely are malnourished. And consuming such worthless and toxic crap will accelerate your body’s need to get that out of your system, making you poop frequently and thus absorbing even less nutrients – as the “food” is rushed through your system.
“Physical activity. An increase in your level of physical activity, even if just by walking more, may help reduce food cravings. Similarly, moving less than you usually do may cause you to experience more food cravings.”
Physical activity is stress, and when you move about, blood is rushed to your muscles to keep them oxygenated and fueled. Digestion is temporarily shut down, and that is why ‘exercise’ might decrease hunger. However, using exercise to combat hunger is extremely stupid as hunger and cravings are a sign of nutrient deficiencies. It’s a signal that your body is starving and that your health, well-being, and longevity is in danger. If you’re hungry, you should eat some meat and animal fats, not run around like a hunted prey.
“Highly processed foods. There is some evidence that highly processed foods rich in added fat and sugar may cause addiction-like symptoms, in turn, possibly increasing cravings.”
Actually, when you are malnourished, as in having one or several nutrient deficiencies, your body will crave just about anything to remedy that and protect you (as in keeping you alive.) Highly processed foods are very palatable, that is by design to make money (and to keep you sick and malnourished,) and when you are starving and out of touch with your biology, as in you have not been following your species-appropriate diet for a long time, your body does not remember where to find these missing nutrients as you are no longer in tune with your biology or with nature, so you will crave just about anything that you find desirable and that increase the likelihood of actually getting some nourishment. It’s that simple. Logic people.
“Frequency at which you eat the craved foods. Eating a craved food less frequently may be more effective at reducing your craving for that particular food than eating a small portion of that food whenever you crave it.”
This is simple conditioning. Again, as explained above, if you are malnourished you will crave whatever you desire and think about. And at times, you might trigger some memory of an old emotionally-attached food, as in a “comfort food,” and you will crave that instead. Still, it has nothing to do with the specific food as it all comes down to simply being malnourished.
To conclude, they didn’t get a single thing right, as they most of the time confuse symptoms with what is actually happening – the fallacy of mixing-up cause and effect, just as the medical- and healthcare community does with “disease,” “symptoms,” and healing.
It’s all very simple. Physical causes of ‘cravings’ come from nutrient deficiencies, as in being malnourished, as in not consuming enough animal-based foods.
Mental causes
“Stress. Stress can increase your levels of the hormone cortisol. High cortisol levels may be linked to hunger, cravings, and a higher likelihood of stress- or binge-eating behaviors.”
Actually, increased levels of cortisol are an after-effect of stress, and it helps with breaking down nutrients and tissue to continue to provide ‘emergency fuel’ as you are in ‘perceived’ danger and need to get to safety. And thus, as you have just experienced an abnormal increase in energy- and nutrient demands and consumption by your body, and if you are malnourished or close to being it, you will get hungry and experience cravings afterward to replenish and repair.
So, again, it is not cortisol that increases hunger or cravings, it’s the effects of the stress on a weak body that can’t really handle it, as in already being malnourished. People who are nourished, as in following our natural animal-based diet, never experience hunger or cravings, no matter how stressful a day, or a week might be. Not even when doing prolonged fasting, as their organs and tissues are saturated with nutrients that will last for weeks before they become malnourished. If stress and cortisol caused hunger, everyone would be hungry after a stressful event, yet that is not the case. As for myself, since going full carnivore (mostly raw carnivore) since February of 2018, I have not experienced hunger or cravings once. Not one single time in almost six years. Not even when fasting 9 days or more.
“Your personality. Some evidence suggests that people who are more impulsive or have higher scores on measures of addictive personality may also have a higher likelihood of experiencing food cravings.”
No, addiction is not a food craving, it’s simply addiction. And if you crave foods, then you are simply malnourished. It has nothing to do with “personality types.”
“Eating context. Your brain can associate eating a specific food to a specific context — for instance, popcorn and a movie. This may cause you to crave that particular food the next time the same context comes around.”
Yes, again, this is conditioning. The same tactic used in advertisements, in tv-shows, and movies – where for example women always turn to a bucket of ice-cream or some other sugary-junk as “comfort food.”
Again, if you have nutrient deficiencies and are emotionally triggered, you will get cravings. I experienced this many times in the past. However, after going full carnivore, these triggers disappeared as I’m fully nourished. The underlying problem is nutrient deficiencies.
“Your mood. Certain moods may trigger cravings for specific foods. For example, negative moods appear to often spark cravings for comfort foods.”
Just as above, conditioning and being malnourished. And I can promise you that we who actually eat according to our species and physiology get just as much drama in our lives as anyone else, still we never experience cravings or hunger just because our mood might swing a bit. Of course, since we are nourished and our hormones are in perfect order, we can handle any situation a lot better, but that is beside the point. Getting cravings is still a sign of nutrient deficiencies, and things such as “negative moods” or “eating contexts” are simply triggers. Feed and take care of your body, and it will go away.
After totally missing the ball on these points, they continue with “Are cravings a sign of nutrient deficiencies?” where they try to make excuses and lead you astray with faulty reasoning and quoting extreme pseudo-science.
“For instance, salt cravings may, in some cases, be caused by a sodium deficiency. However, most people who crave salty foods are not deficient in this nutrient.”
How would you actually know? There is no real established norm for a “sodium deficiency” as salt has been vilified by the corrupt health community. Most people are actually deficient in sodium, and especially potassium, as they rely on cooked and processed foods. However, if your body still remembers where to find some nutrients, simply craving salty foods might be an indication that you need to improve your electrolyte balance, as in hydration, or it might be something else in that food that you need. Simply craving something that is ‘salty’ does not mean that it’s the salt that you need.
“Moreover, based on this nutrient deficiency theory, you would expect that most cravings would be for nutrient-rich, minimally processed foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, or legumes.”
Wow! This is what happens when you are totally indoctrinated and know absolutely nothing about human nutrition. These “food items” they listed are NOT nutrient-rich, they are almost void of bioavailable nutrients and they are also very toxic. Even though you are malnourished, as in starving, your body will not crave something that is extremely toxic, not unless you’re a total mess close to dying. Even processed foods are less toxic than those mentioned above as they have been rid of most of the defense chemicals, antinutrients, toxic flavonoids and antioxidants that hurt us. And again, cravings usually come down to what you find tasty and easy to eat, as you will actually consume it and that increases the odds of getting the nutrients you need.
And we who actually work with our natural human species-appropriate diet of animal foods see these cravings disappear within weeks among every single client we ever had. So, yes, nutrient-rich foods do fix cravings as long as you understand what ‘nutrient-rich foods’ actually are, as in animal-based foods. What a bunch of morons.
“Yet in reality, most cravings tend to be for foods with low nutritional value, such as highly processed foods rich in added fat, sugar, or salt.”
I’ve already explained this twice. Conditioning and the probability of eating as much as possible to increase the odds of getting some nourishment.
“In addition, research suggests that men and women tend to crave different foods. For instance, women are more likely to crave sweet-tasting foods, while men are likelier to crave savory ones.”
I just explained this one. Conditioning. Women are always pictured in the media as turning to ice-cream or other sweets as comfort foods while men go for leftovers or any kind of junk food – simply ravening the fridge like some ravenous barbarian.
And again, if you’re out of touch with your biology and physiology, you will go for whatever you find desirable at that moment, whatever you have been conditioned with, as that increases the chance of you actually eating a lot and hopefully get some nutrients.
Then they go into craving ‘non-food’ items such as ice, dirt, or crayons. Again, these are usually instinctive cravings from mineral deficiencies, and usually happens during pregnancies or heavy menstruation.
The bottom line is that hunger and cravings are simply signs of nutrient deficiencies. Everything else they mentioned in this article is simply faulty conclusions based on their extreme lack of understanding of human physiology and conflicting cause with effect. Unfortunately, this is the state of most “sciences” today. People think that we are advanced and that we live in an ‘information age,’ when in truth we are being deceived and lied to about just everything. However, all it takes is a little bit of common sense, logic, and reasoning skills. And once you are fully nourished, these “skills” tends to come back.
Again, if you need help with anything nutrition related, I’m available for both coaching and consulting.
