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There's A Reason Why You Might Crave Salt More Than Others
Common reasons to crave salty foods
- Your body is depleted of sodium when we sweat, which then makes us need to consume more;
- You're dehydrated;
- You’re stressed;
- You’re not getting enough sleep;
- Salt lights up the pleasure center in your brain and releases a hormone called dopamine, which makes you feel happy;
- Humans have an innate drive to seek salt because it is necessary for survival and historically a rare mineral to find;
- You may have an underlying health issue.
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The recommended salt intake for adults is no more than 2,300 milligrams a day, ideally under 1,500 milligrams, according to the American Heart Association. Americans end up consuming nearly ...
The recommended salt intake for adults is no more than 2,300 milligrams a day, ideally under 1,500 milligrams, according to the American Heart Association. Americans end up consuming nearly 50 percent more than that on average, a habit that comes with health risks.
Common reasons to crave salty foods
- Your body is depleted of sodium when we sweat, which then makes us need to consume more;
- You're dehydrated;
- You’re stressed;
- You’re not getting enough sleep;
- Salt lights up the pleasure center in your brain and releases a hormone called dopamine, which makes you feel happy;
- Humans have an innate drive to seek salt because it is necessary for survival and historically a rare mineral to find;
- You may have an underlying health issue.
Excessive salt consumption has been linked to diabetes, kidney disorders, high blood pressure and heart disease, so you want to be mindful of how much you are eating. If you feel like you may ...
Excessive salt consumption has been linked to diabetes, kidney disorders, high blood pressure and heart disease, so you want to be mindful of how much you are eating. If you feel like you may be consuming too much salt, you may want to attempt to reduce how much sodium you ingest.
Excessive salt consumption often is just a habit
We crave salt just out of habit or conditioning.
So if you catch yourself yearning for salty foods:
- Choose whole foods that are higher in a natural sodium content: celery, leafy greens, carrots or seaweed.
- Use herbs and spices instead of salt;
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Food cravings
They are an intense desire for a specific food. This desire can seem uncontrollable, and the person's hunger may not be satisfied until they get that particular food. We usually feel cr...
What causes food cravings
- An imbalance or changes in hormones
- Emotional issues (eating for comfort)
- Nutritional deficiencies
- Dehydration
How to reduce cravings
- Lower stress levels: stress promotes cravings for comfort foods.
- Drink plenty of water: Dehydration manifests itself as hunger, so when you get a craving, drink water.
- Get enough sleep: not getting enough sleep alters the hormonal balance.
- Eat enough protein.
- Avoid hunger: under-eating can make food cravings worse.
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How craving are stimulated artificially
- Salivary response: the more a food causes you to salivate, the more it will cover your taste buds.
- Rapid food meltdown: this tells your brain tha...
Building better habits means changing your environment
Most people think that building better habits or changing your actions is all about willpower or motivation. But your environment has an incredible ability to shape your behavior.
Nowhere is this more true than with food.
The reasons we crave junk food
- The sensation of eating the food: what it tastes like, what it smells like and how it feels in your mouth.
- The blend of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates that it contains: junk food companies are looking for a perfect combination, that excites your brain and gets you coming back for more.
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Eating Distract from Emotions
We often associate eating with relief or even excitement, and it’s only natural that we’d reach for those same feelings when we’re worried or sad.
Why we choose comfort food
Comfort foods don’t tend to be healthy. We want cake or pasta or chips when we’re emotionally eating. We have emotional memories around certain foods, which are more likely to involve your grandma’s lasagna than a salad.
But after we eat for emotional reasons, we’re replacing our original feelings with the emotions that arise out of eating.
Comfort food
We associate comfort food with positive memories.
Think about all the happy and comforting memories you have involving food. Maybe your family used to celebrate occasions with a trip to the ice cream shop, or maybe your mom or dad used to soften the blow of a bad day with macaroni and cheese. When you’re feeling rejected or anxious today, eating one of those foods is an instant connection to that soothing time.
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Describing a food craving
A food craving can be described as an intense and sometimes uncontrollable desire for a specific food. This desire can leave a person unsatisfied until they have tasted that particular food...
Why we crave food
Food cravings occur in the same regions in the brain as memory, pleasure, and reward.
- Physical hunger develops over time, and you will desire a variety of different foods. Emotional hunger comes on suddenly and is usually for a specific food that makes you feel good while eating it.
- Emotional eating can turn into a bad habit. Food provides satisfaction. When you experience satisfaction, your brain is flooded with dopamine, which motivates you to keep eating to feel good.
Eliminating the pleasure gained from food
Research revealed that the brain's underlying desire for sweet can be removed by manipulating the neurons in the amygdala. By manipulating the connections to the amygdala, we might lack the basic emotional reaction to taste.
It's like eating your favorite chocolate cake, but not getting enjoyment from doing so. This study could be groundbreaking in treating certain eating disorders.
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Organic junk food is still junk food
From a macronutrient perspective, organic junk foods are often identical to their conventional counterparts.
They tend to be equally high in sugar and low in pro...
Organic isn't always healthy
Many organic brands tend to cater to a health-conscious crowd, meaning they’ll often use less processing or healthier ingredients to appeal to their consumers. But the organic label alone does not guarantee this.
The “health halo” effect
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Reward Response
For many people eating a little sugar stimulates a craving for more. Sugar can lead to intense feelings of hunger.
Sugar has addiction-like effects in the reward center of the brain, cau...
Sugar Addiction
Sweet foods can be more addictive than cocaine, one study found.
Over time, greater amounts of the substance are required to reach the same level of reward.
Memory
Even a single occasion of increased glucose levels in the blood can harm your brain. It can impair your memory and attention.
High sugar consumption causes inflammation in the brain. But, it can be reversed by following a low-sugar, low-GI diet.
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Why food
Negative emotions may lead to a feeling of emptiness or an emotional void.
Food is believed to be a way to fill that void and create a false feeling of “
Emotional vs. true hunger
Physical hunger
- It develops slowly over time.
- You desire a variety of food groups.
- You feel the sensation of fullness and take it as a cue to stop eating.
- You have no negative feelings about eating.
Emotional hunger
- It comes about suddenly or abruptly.
- You crave only certain foods.
- You may binge on food and not feel a sensation of fullness.
- You feel guilt or shame about eating.
Emotional hunger isn’t easily quelled
While filling up could work in the moment, eating because of negative emotions often leaves people feeling more upset than before.
This cycle typically doesn’t end until a person addresses emotional needs head-on.
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