Food Cravings and Stress are interlinked!! 

A food craving (immediate urge to eat) can appear anytime, anywhere. Craving a biscuit even at 11 am? Craving ice cream at 6pm? You never know when a food craving will appear.

Do your food cravings say anything about your diet or health? We spoke to nutritionist sejal Jacob to find out.

Food cravings are associated with stress and fatigue

"If you have a craving for a food, whether it's chocolates or crackers, it's important to question the reason behind it," says Sejal. "Food cravings can occur for many reasons. Imbalanced blood sugar levels, stress, lack of sleep, and hormonal changes in women can be the cause," says Sejal.

Not sleeping well can trigger excessive cravings. Lack of sleep alters hunger hormones and affects your body," he explains.

If you don't get enough sleep, the hunger-stimulating hormone ghrelin is over-secreted. It reduces leptin, a hormone that causes feelings of fullness. This imbalance causes hunger. As a result, the urge to eat something immediately appears. Then we mostly eat carbohydrate foods and sweets,” he says.

Sejal explained that cravings for such foods can also occur when they are nervous, "Stress is a factor that increases food cravings. The same happens when you are nervous and panicky. Often times, many people eat sweets because they think that sweets are a quick fix to fix food cravings. It increases serotonin and dopamine levels. We look for food then," he says.

What to do if you have frequent food cravings?

"If someone has a craving for chocolate, I'd say eat fruit instead," says Sejal.

"Try to deal with cravings. If you're craving milk chocolates, they're high in sugar and have no nutritional benefits. Try 85 percent or 70 percent dark chocolate instead. Eat half of that chocolate, not the whole thing."

"Eat a balanced diet including good fats, protein, and complex carbohydrates (starches). Drink plenty of water." This can prevent graving.

"When you're craving sweets, try whole-grain bread toast with peanut butter as an alternative to sweets. Foods high in unrefined, healthy fats help balance blood sugar levels," says Sejal.

It is important to find the root of the problem. "It's a more important issue than eat this or don't eat this."

"If you're not getting enough sleep, find a way to get better sleep," says Sejal.

Are you under stress? Recover from it and take care of your well being. "Do yoga or meditation. It's not just diet, lifestyle is just as important."