Cravings, anyone?

You already decided to make healthy choices in your food until you walked into that mall
one day and bang! You see that food and your cravings have activated and there began
the great controversy to give in or stand. But what are cravings by the way?

The word craving means a very strong desire for something. When it comes to food
though, cravings represent abnormal drives that have a compelling nature without
regard for the benefit of the person. Cravings can cause one to eat to the point of pain;
heedless of the fact that ill health may follow. One can look on a craving as a perversion
of a normal function. Appetite is a normal and protective mechanism, but when used to
support cravings, it becomes destructive. Thus, it is important for us to discover the
causes of cravings and to eliminate them. So, what are the causes of cravings?

a. Food. Many individuals who are sensitive to various foods taken even in small
quantities get their cravings aroused. Sugar is a very common offender in this
regard. One innocent appearing teaspoonful can do much damage in the
sensitive person. Milk and all dairy products represent a common source of
cravings. Salty foods irritate the stomach lining and produce thirst. Much of the
mechanism of cravings is related to unrecognized thirst, causing the individual to
try to satisfy his thirst by indulging his craving. If the thirst is eliminated, the
craving can be handled with much greater ease.

b. Stomach Irritants. All stomach irritants are capable of initiating cravings. Irritation
of the stomach causes it to send a message to the brain. All messages from the
stomach are received in the business office of the brain as hunger. Then the
brain alerts the consciousness to be on the lookout for food. The craving,
however, being a compulsion, then overrides the inhibiting and protective
influences and clamors for indulgence. Often irrational behavior ensues,
sometimes to the consternation and confusion of the victim.

c. Meat. There are purines naturally occurring in meats, such as guanine and other
such chemicals, which have both an excitatory and depressive influence on the
brain. The excitatory influence tends to promote the craving, and the depressive
influence tends to suppress any activity that would attempt to control the craving.
Because of this type of chemical, meat and sometimes eggs can irritate the
nervous system of some people and cause cravings.

d. Caffeine and Nicotine. Caffeine and nicotine, which are alkaloids of the same
chemical family as purines, may also promote cravings. Because they both
 stimulate the brain and also have a depressive action upon inhibitory functions,
these chemicals tend to promote overeating. The relationship of cause and effect
is difficult to discern, since the craving is usually not directly associated with the
intake of the caffeinated drink or the use of nicotine. Because of the nature of the
pharmacologic action of alkaloids, the brain does not receive all of the influence
of the chemical at the time of use, nor even in the next 4 or 5 hours. A day or so
later the person may still be under the influence of alkaloids taken several days
before. Unfortunately, the craving may not be for something as simple as food,
but may be for drugs, alcohol, wanderlust, or some neurotic behavior.

e. Habits or Occupation. Habits or occupation may be a cause of cravings, as in

preoccupation with food in persons who cook or prepare menus. The habit of
overeating in the past causes one to be more likely to overeat in the future. If one
becomes habituated to indulging the appetite while at work or when thinking
about preparing food, the problem develops into a serious habit, eating without
restraint. It should be a habit of life never to eat except at regularly scheduled
mealtimes.

f. Eating Fast. Eating too fast can promote cravings. If one eats too fast he
receives inadequate satisfaction from his food and tends to eat more. Further,
eating too fast presupposes that the individual is experiencing nervousness.
Swallowing before the food has been properly chewed is a cardinal sign of
nervousness. No one should swallow until food has become a cream in his
mouthbut that requires calmness and discipline.

g. Irregular time and place. The absence of a set time or place for meals can
promote cravings. Tension or interruption of the meal can cause overeating or
indulgence of appetite through inattention, which causes one to lose all inhibitory
activity of the brain that could exert a control over cravings. If one eats with
dignity and a certain form, these factors act as inhibitors against overeating.