Why We Crave Certain Foods (and What to Do About It, According to Experts)

You’re standing in front of your fridge. You’re not exactly hungry, and dinner wasn’t that long ago, but your body is absolutely convinced it needs something. And not just anything—a specific something. Chocolate. Salty chips. Mac and cheese. Or that oddly specific combo you ate during college finals that somehow still calls your name.

Welcome to the very real, very human world of food cravings*

They’re intense, they’re oddly precise, and they don’t always make sense—especially when you’re trying to eat with more awareness or focus on your well-being. The million-dollar question: why do we crave what we crave? Is it biology? Habit? A vitamin deficiency? Stress? All of the above?

In truth, cravings are rarely just about food. They’re complex, rooted in physiology, psychology, and even memory. And contrary to popular belief, they’re not signs of weakness or lack of willpower. They’re data points. Clues. Gentle (or sometimes loud) messages from your brain and body trying to get your attention.

What Counts as a Craving?

First, let’s clarify: a craving isn’t just “wanting” food. It’s a more specific, often urgent desire for a particular taste, texture, or experience.

There’s a difference between being hungry and needing fuel (say, feeling lightheaded or low-energy), and having a sudden pull toward one exact thing (must. have. salty. pretzels.). The former is physical hunger. The latter is a craving.

Cravings tend to involve three key things:

1. Specificity – It’s not just “I want a snack,” it’s “I want sour cream and onion chips.”
2. Urgency – They often feel like they need to be satisfied now.
3. Mood-dependent triggers – You’re more likely to crave things when stressed, bored, tired, or emotionally off-balance.

And it’s not just in your head.

Research published in Appetite (2016) found that food cravings activate the brain’s reward and memory centers—specifically the insula, orbitofrontal cortex, and striatum. In other words, cravings light up the same areas that respond to addiction, emotion, and learned pleasure.

Which explains a lot, doesn’t it?

Why Do We Crave Certain Foods?

There’s no single cause of cravings—and no universal fix. But here’s what we do know from the research:

1. Biological Imbalances

Sometimes, your body really is trying to tell you something. A craving for salty snacks might be a sign of low electrolyte levels. A desire for red meat could stem from low iron. Sugar? That could be your blood sugar crashing or your brain needing fast energy (glucose is its primary fuel source).

That said, most cravings aren’t directly tied to a single nutrient deficiency—it’s more nuanced than “if you crave chocolate, you need magnesium.” But certain patterns can point to imbalances worth exploring.

2. Emotional Coping

Cravings often spike in moments of emotional distress. Stress, loneliness, boredom, or even happiness can all trigger the desire for food—especially comfort foods that are linked to memory and emotion.

Emotional eating isn’t inherently bad. Food is emotional. The key is knowing when it’s the only tool you’re using to self-soothe.

3. Hormonal Fluctuations

Hormones play a major role in appetite and cravings. For example, many women experience increased cravings in the luteal phase of their menstrual cycle, due to shifting levels of estrogen and progesterone.

A 2020 review in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism confirmed that hormonal changes influence reward sensitivity and food motivation—particularly for high-fat, high-sugar foods.

Cravings can also be influenced by insulin (related to blood sugar regulation), ghrelin (the hunger hormone), and leptin (the fullness hormone). When these are out of sync, so is your craving response.

4. Learned Associations

Remember that time you always ate cereal while watching cartoons as a kid? Or ice cream after a breakup in college? Those associations stick. The brain loves pairing food with emotion—and the more often they’re reinforced, the more automatic the craving becomes when you’re in a similar emotional or environmental state.

This is how habits are built. And the good news? Habits can be rewired.

5. Restriction and Deprivation

Here’s a counterintuitive truth: the more you restrict a food, the more likely you are to crave it. That’s not just psychological—it’s backed by research.

Studies show that rigid dietary rules and “forbidden foods” often increase the mental pull toward those very items. Your brain interprets restriction as a potential threat, which makes the food even more appealing.

So… What Do You Do About It?

First, a gentle reminder: cravings are not moral failures. You’re not bad for wanting chocolate cake. And you're not a better person for skipping it. The goal isn’t to eliminate cravings altogether—it’s to understand them, respond to them with curiosity, and develop a toolkit that gives you options.

Here’s how that might look:

Step 1: Pause and Get Curious

Before reaching for the craving food, pause for 60 seconds. Ask:

• Am I physically hungry?
• What am I feeling right now—tired, stressed, sad, bored?
• Do I want this specific food, or do I want to feel something else?

This is called interoception—your brain’s ability to notice and interpret internal cues. Strengthening it takes time, but this pause is powerful.

Step 2: Validate and Normalize

Instead of judging yourself, try:

• “It makes sense that I want comfort right now.”
• “I’m allowed to enjoy food and still care for my body.”
• “This craving doesn’t define me.”

Validation lowers shame—and shame is a massive driver of binge patterns and all-or-nothing eating cycles.

Step 3: Create Space to Choose

Once you’ve paused and named the feeling, you get to choose how to respond. Maybe you eat the food. Maybe you journal, call a friend, or go for a walk instead. Maybe you eat a small portion and savor it without multitasking.

There’s no one right choice here—only aligned choices.

Step 4: Support the Bigger Picture

If cravings are constant, intense, or hard to manage, that may be a cue to look deeper:

• Are you skipping meals or under-eating earlier in the day?
• Are you sleeping enough?
• Is your life overly rigid, leaving food as your only source of pleasure?

Cravings often highlight unmet needs—nutritional, emotional, or energetic.

Craving Patterns That Might Have Deeper Roots

Here are a few common craving types, and what experts say they might reflect—not as hard rules, but as gentle areas to explore:

Sugar Cravings Could signal fatigue, blood sugar crashes, emotional depletion, or learned comfort patterns.

Salty Cravings May indicate electrolyte imbalances, stress response activation (we lose sodium via cortisol), or habit loops tied to tension release.

Carb-heavy Foods (Bread, Pasta, etc.) Could be a need for serotonin (the brain uses carbs to boost mood), sleep deprivation, or under-eating earlier in the day.

Crunchy/Crunchy + Salty Often linked to frustration or tension. The act of crunching can physically mimic a stress release.

Creamy, Smooth Foods (Ice cream, mashed potatoes) May point to a desire for emotional soothing, nostalgia, or physical comfort.

Again—these aren’t diagnoses. They’re just windows into what might be going on beneath the surface.

Balanced Takeaways

1. Cravings are messengers, not enemies. They’re not random—they’re trying to tell you something about your body, your emotions, or your habits.

2. Deprivation makes cravings stronger, not weaker. The more you restrict, the more your brain fixates. Gentle permission often softens the intensity.

3. Pausing creates power. You don’t need to react immediately. One minute of curiosity can change your whole pattern.

4. Nutrition and emotion are connected. Sometimes your craving is for carbs. Sometimes it’s for connection. Either way, you deserve to be nourished.

5. You’re not “bad” for wanting comfort. Craving isn’t weakness—it’s human. The goal isn’t to fight your body, but to work with it, thoughtfully.

Crave with Care: Why Understanding Beats Controlling

At the end of the day, cravings aren’t the villain. The goal of a healthy relationship with food isn’t to silence every desire, but to understand what those desires are pointing to—and meet them in ways that actually serve you.

That might look like eating the cake and going to bed earlier. It might look like drinking water before you reach for chips. It might look like noticing that you only crave sugar when you’re lonely—and deciding to call a friend before heading to the pantry.

Cravings can be clues. When we meet them with curiosity instead of control, they stop feeling like battles we have to win—and start becoming opportunities to know ourselves better.

And that? That’s nourishment, too.