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Do you ever crave a chocolate bar, salty chips, steak or French fries? Most people believe that cravings are a problem or represent a weakness; but that is not always the case. Often, people forget just how amazing the human body really is. Think about it. It knows when to go to sleep, wake up, go to the bathroom, maintain 98.6 degrees and tighten the eyes when the light gets bright. It knows the miracle of pregnancy and childbirth. Your heart never misses a beat. Your lungs are always breathing. The body is a super-computer, and it never makes mistakes.

Cravings really aren’t a weakness, rather, they’re important messages meant to assist you in maintaining balance. When you experience a craving, take a moment and deconstruct it. Ask yourself, what does my body want and why? When taking the time to “check in” with your cravings, you come full circle with your relationship to food. Are you really hungry, or are you just bored, sad, lonely or looking for pleasure?

The list below illustrates eight primary causes for cravings. See where your cravings fit in, then keep track of it in your food journal. You may be surprised at how easy it will be to head those pesky cravings off at the refrigerator door!

The 8 Primary Causes of Cravings

1. Dehydration. The body doesn’t send the message that you are thirsty until you are on the verge of dehydration. Dehydration occurs as mild hunger, so the first thing to do when you get a strange craving is to drink a full glass of water.

2. Lack of life fulfillment. Being dissatisfied with a relationship, or having an inappropriate exercise routine (too much, too little, or the wrong type), being bored, stressed, uninspired by a job, or lacking a spiritual practice, may all cause emotional eating. Eating can be used as a substitute for entertainment, or to fill the void of life fulfillment.

3. Yin/yang imbalance. Certain foods have more yin qualities (expansive) while other foods have more yang qualities (contractive). Eating foods that are either extremely yin or extremely yang causes cravings in order to maintain balance. For example, eating a diet too rich in sugar (yin) may cause a craving for meat (yang). Eating too many raw foods (yin) may cause cravings for extremely cooked (dehydrated) foods or vise versa.

4. Inside coming out. Oftentimes, cravings come from foods that we have recently eaten or food memories from our childhood. A clever way to satisfy these cravings is to eat a healthier version of one’s current craving or childhood foods.

5. Seasonal. Often the body craves foods that balance out the elements of the season. In the spring, people crave detoxifying foods like leafy greens or citrus foods. In the summer, people crave cooling foods like fruit, raw foods and ice cream, and in the fall, people crave grounding foods like squash, onions and nuts. During winter many crave hot and heat-producing foods like meat, oil and fat. Cravings can also be associated with the holidays, for foods like turkey, eggnog, or sweets, etc. So, if you crave ice cream in the summer, remember to add healthy fat and sugar to your diet, such as natural agave nectar for sweetening your tea and olive oil added to salads to satisfy your “fat” cravings.

6. Lack of nutrients. If the body has inadequate nutrients, it will produce odd cravings. For example, inadequate mineral levels produce salt cravings, overall inadequate nutrition produces cravings for non-nutritional forms of energy like caffeine. Try adding a daily vitamin supplement to your diet to stave off those odd cravings.

7. Hormonal (women). When the body experiences menstruation, pregnancy or menopause, fluctuating testosterone and estrogen levels may cause strange cravings. The increased appetite for carbohydrates may be caused by low serotonin levels, which signals the brain to get the body to eat more carbs. In turn, this stimulates the production of serotonin from its naturally occurring amino acid building block. Factors as strong as brain chemicals and hormone production may be powerful influences over behavior and physical cravings.

8. De-evolution. When things are going extremely well, sometimes a self-sabotage syndrome happens. We crave foods that throw us off, thus creating more cravings to balance ourselves. This often happens from low blood sugar and may result in strong mood swings.

* Stay tuned for Part Two of our Cravings series! I’ll examine specific cravings for foods that are sugary, salty, carb-heavy, bitter, pungent, spicy or specific to texture, and will offer solutions and dietary suggestions.

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