Craving for a highly sweetened doughnut or chocolate bar? Or maybe something salty like chips? Your body could be craving more than just the food, but it could be an underlying issue about your diet.
If you are like me, you tend to have a bit of a sweet tooth no matter what but if you constantly crave sugar it could mean your blood sugar levels are not in a healthy balance. When you eat regular meals, which are balanced this sets your whole body up to manage these cravings better. What a balanced meal is a quarter whole grains like brown rice or pasta, couscous, quinoa or wholemeal bread and a quarter lean protein like fish, chicken breast, beef, tofu, beans or eggs and the rest of the plate should be vegetables. If this is a snack a small piece of fruit like a plum or some berries can substitute the vegetables to match the dish. Examples could be for a snack 2-3 whole grain crackers, ½ cup ricotta cheese and a cup of cut up carrot, celery and capsicum sticks or a low fat yogurt with 2 teaspoons of oats and half a cup of berries.
If you are not a sweet tooth you are probably in love with the savoury or salty taste. The problem with this is that as you add more salt to your diet you need more and more of it to make the food you are eating taste delicious. Over time and with gradual reduction of salt you can retrain your taste buds to not want to have as much salt. The underlying problem with adding more salt is that the Heart Foundation recommend no more than 5g a day or a teaspoon. Most of us get more than this simply by eating processed and packaged foods and if you are adding even more salt on top of this you are doing your heart a huge disservice. Heart disease is the number one killer of men and women in Australia and to prevent you from becoming a statistic of ill health try to limit the amount of salt you add to meals and snacks. A few alternatives you may like to try when your salt craving spikes could be popcorn without adding more salt to it or cottage cheese to a few whole grain crackers and some crunchy salad vegetables on top or a salad with a splash of balsamic vinegar.
Take home message: Occasional sweet and savoury cravings are normal but if they happen to often then can mean an unbalanced diet and can lead to long term negative health consequences. Back out of the cravings spiral slowly by firstly being aware of how often you feel these cravings and then reduce these cravings by trying some strategies mentioned above.
Reference:
Yu, J. H., Shin, M. S., Kim, D. J., Lee, J. R., Yoon, S. -., Kim, S. G., . . . Kim, M. -. (2013). Enhanced carbohydrate craving in patients with poorly controlled Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Diabetic Medicine, 30(9), 1080-6. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/dme.12209
