I am desperately trying to research this little Devil known as food Cravings - AKA Head Hunger. Man, it sucks sometimes!! Especially being a woman, and TOM... it will throw me off track faster than a tiny rock in front of a train.

I'm finding I have been thinking deep about a certain craving I'll have and wondering what it all means. Why am I craving a certain food, when and how? I'm starting to realize that perhaps our bodies really tell us something when we are craving healthier versions of food. Such as, I'd been craving a lot of beef in the last month or so. Be honest, I've never really been a huge fan of it, but just lately I can't seem to get enough. I began to wonder if maybe my Iron might have been too low. I've battled anemia my whole life, and I did notice a lot of fatigue lately. That's not really like me, really, and considering I can only consume so much food at one time it was a great possibility.

Well with my last panel come to find out that absolutely yes, my iron WAS below normal. I was always able to keep it around borderline or just above. This time it WAS below the marker. So, it's true or maybe I'm imagining it that the craving for beef was my brain telling me I needed to up my iron. It makes perfect sense to me.

However... what about chocolate or sugar cravings? Do our bodies ever really require chocolate? Yes, our bodies DO need sugar - not nearly as much as we might consume, but we do need it. I'm positive I probably STILL eat more than I need, so why do I crave more? This article really goes in depth with that subject, and just as I'd suspected for the longest time... our bodies absolutely DO become addicted to it, just like a drug addict. It fills our brains with dopamine and triggers that euphoric response. What to do? We MUST eat sugar, we NEED it. Ugghhh... anyway, I'm just tinkering with all of this knowledge to better help understand my brain, body and all it's chemical functions. I'm hopeful that with all this knowing, it can possibly help me to better avoid giving in to those demands. *lol*

http://tlc.howstuffw...ood-craving.htm

ETA: It also stinks that men have an advantage over us ladies when it comes to this. They have far less instances of this!! If I ever wanted to be a man, this would be the ONLY reason.

The chocolate craving might actually be a need for magnesium, studies have shown that the link between women, TOM, and chocolate cravings isn't just a cliche. Rather, that we are super low on mag during TOM and chocolate is super high in mag, not to mention the fact that magnesium is a mood stabilizer and chocolate also contains the same chemical compound released by the brain when in love and most definitely yes, chocolate makes you feel better!!

Thank you so much you have given me a huge piece missing in my puzzle

The chocolate craving might actually be a need for magnesium, studies have shown that the link between women, TOM, and chocolate cravings isn't just a cliche. Rather, that we are super low on mag during TOM and chocolate is super high in mag, not to mention the fact that magnesium is a mood stabilizer and chocolate also contains the same chemical compound released by the brain when in love and most definitely yes, chocolate makes you feel better!!

That is very interesting! Thanks for that. I do take extra Magnesium with my Calcium supplement... or at least I used to. I'm not sure if the one I'm using now has Magn in it.

It is interesting that you posted this. Over the last two mths I have been having incredible sugar cravings... I have often 'fancied' sugar, but been able to stay away.... the recent cravings are maginified and feels out of control. They absolutely and utterly correspond with my TOM, which I am now having 2 weekly since being on HRT! Sometimes I cave in and eat some choc, sometimes I don't... not rhyme or reason to either!!

There just has to be a link as this is a habit that I really had kicked into touch!

I realized this morning that my sweets intake has really sky rocketed, which is confusing because I thought I was making the good conscientious choice by using stevia rather than sugar? In any given day though, I drink 4-6 cups of (stevia) sweetened hot tea, put SF torani in my yogurt and protein shake (that stuff is SO sweet), also put stevia in the yogurt, and have some kind of chocolate. Wonder what the trigger for all this is, am I not getting enough protein? Water? Is it because of my running? Hmm.