What Meat Cravings Really Mean

by Olivia, registered nurse and health and wellness coach

I was talking to someone the other day who gave me that classic:

“I would go vegan, but ____”

This time the ‘but’ was because she craves red meat during menstruation, and thinks that means she is/will be anemic.

Now, please don’t think I’m making any assumptions about this gal’s character or intelligence. I have a great deal of respect for her, and outside the ‘vegan thing’, we have very similar ideals. She's truly intelligent with regard to health, which prompts me to question whether this whole ‘needing red meat for periods’ thing is simply another knowledge deficit created by the industrialized gods that be. Or perhaps it became a culture­bound belief and then a ‘craving’?

How this wives’ tale came to be is irrelevant. What is important is that this misinformation ceases to spread and be believed.

Do we crave nutrients we lack, or not?

So, let’s start with whether the body can/does produce cravings for essential nutrients which it's deficient the presence. The short answer is yes and no, but mostly no.

Ever heard of Pica? Those with Pica crave paint and dirt and all kinds of non­-food and dangerous goodies. Not only do they crave it, they actually eat those things. Some research has demonstrated a correlation between Pica and nutrient deficiencies. In some cases, an improvement is achieved once the deficiencies have been treated with supplementation.

However, this is far from being ‘always the case’. There are other studies that have shown a nutrient deficiency in Pica, but no improvement when the deficiency was corrected and the nutrient was at normal levels. Furthermore, there are many other studies which show no nutrient deficiencies in the presence of Pica. So even the craziest, and likely strongest, form of cravings one can experience (Pica):

1. isn't a reliable indicator that there's a nutrient deficiency

2. shows that if a nutrient deficiency exists, it can't be reliably associated with the craving one experiences (because A. correcting the deficiency doesn't consistently make the Pica go away and B. how could we correctly distinguish what nutrient someone might lack if they're eating hair or paint??).

Physicians at one of the top ten leading medical institutions(Cedars Sinai Medical Center) state that there's no reliable or consistent evidence or research supporting that any food cravings are related to nutrient deficiencies. This honestly would be enough for me, but let’s explore some other points to drive this bad boy home.

Other instances where deficiencies produce the wrong cravings, or none

Diets (not ways of eating, but regimes) are restrictive in one way, shape, or form, no? Low fat diets restrict fat, low calorie diets restrict some of each macronutrient, grapefruit diets restrict virtually everything, and so on. The same with a low-carb diet; it significantly restricts sugars and carbohydrates. In other words, it creates a [macro]nutrient deficiency.

Interestingly, this self-­imposed deficiency results in fewer cravings for the deficient nutrient. This same study showed that those on a very low­ fat diet experienced very few cravings for fat. If cravings were associated with deficiency, wouldn’t the opposite be true? The carbohydrate­deficient person would crave carbs, and the fat-­deficient person would crave fats, no? Not the case.

One study even demonstrates that the greatest restriction of nutrients in total results in the greatest decrease in cravings altogether. Isn’t that interesting? When someone is deficient in everything, they crave nothing? Whoa.

Another instance when nutrient deficiency is imposed is pregnancy. Eating for two, right? And one of those two needs enough nutrients for exponential growth, so the assumption would be that the mother would crave nutrient­dense foods. Right? But study after study shows that pregnant women crave nutrient­poor foods like sweets and fast food, not the nutrients needed to sustain the changes in their bodies.

Specific Cravings

Guys and Dolls

Cravings are, believe it or not, gender­specific. Women experience more cravings (no surprise here), and those cravings correlate significantly with sex hormones, mood, and various other factors, but not nutritional status. It's even been shown that when boys and girls are exposed to the same tempting food cues (sweets), the girls eat far more of the candies.

Another fun fact - ­men and women achieve virtually the same percentage of recommended daily allowances of nutrients, and men have greater rates of malnourishment, but women experience significantly greater amounts and intensities of food cravings. That’s a little backwards if deficiency drives cravings, isn’t it? I thought so too.

Let’s talk about the ladies a bit more. What’s the thing we ladies crave the most? You’re probably thinking chocolate, right? Ok, now do a Google search or two and you’ll find media posts, infographics, etc. claiming magnesium deficiency is responsible for chocolate cravings. But did you know that women don't crave chocolate that often at all? American women do to a degree, but not even 1/3 of American women sampled reported craving chocolate. Furthermore, it isn’t even a ‘female thing’, as the media would have us believe. As few as 4% of women in other countries report craving chocolate at all. I’d say that’s about as frequent as any other craving, demonstrating that this craving is cultural, and not due to magnesium deficiency.

While we’re still on the topic of chocolate, let’s put this thing to rest. We’ve mentioned the idea that magnesium deficiency is behind chocolate cravings. If it were, wouldn’t craving peanuts, almonds, cashews, or spinach be more appropriate? Ounce for ounce, chocolate is far inferior to these with regard to magnesium content (and other nutrients). And why wouldn’t the body crave all of them, rather than only the sweetest option, with the greatest popularity among the masses, and several commercials and other in­-your­-face propaganda driving desire and purchase? It’s probably because cravings are more psychological, social, and [nonnutritive related] physical.

The same concept applies to many other foods. For example, if one craves a banana, what deficiency might be causing it? We'd assume potassium, right? That’s the nutrient often associated with bananas. But bananas only provide 12% of our requirement each day. So why wouldn’t one crave lentils, prunes, squash, or any other food that provides much more than bananas? See where I’m going with this? It has little to nothing to do with the nutrient and more to do with taste preference, societal cues, imposed dietary restrictions, and a whole slew of other things.

Let’s not forget about our friend who craves meat. If it was anemia­-driven, and iron was needed to right the imbalance, why isn’t she craving the foods that would give her most iron? Plants, such as white beans, red beans, lentils, spinach, chocolate, cereal, tofu….

So what does cause cravings?

The answer to this is multifactorial. There are several reasons why we crave certain foods at certain times, e.g:

• Forbidden foods. Forbidding oneself to eat certain foods results in craving them.

• Mood. Cravings are often associated with negative moods and anticipation of how the food might impact our feelings.

• This is probably a no­-brainer, but stress can significantly impact whether, and to what degree, one experiences cravings.

• If someone self­-diagnoses as a ‘food addict’, they're more likely to experience cravings. There's also a correlation between cravings and both higher BMI (body mass index) and lower self­esteem.

• Sleep deprivation significantly increases cravings. Some research correlates daytime sleeping with more cravings.

• Not consuming enough macronutrients, namely fiber and protein.

• This may be another no-­brainer if you’re privy to the calamities of having one too many, but alcohol significantly increases cravings. And if you didn’t know, the advertisement teams at your favorite snack companies do; they pay good money to show their ads in prime drinking hours.

• Culture. For example, in America where chocolate (there it is again) is a big thing, we tend to crave it a lot, and not crave French fries with peanut butter sauce, which is popular in Amsterdam.

How can we decrease cravings?

• Physical activity. The more consistent physical activity we do, the fewer the cravings.

• Thylakoid­-containing foods: ­the more we eat, the fewer cravings we have. If it’s a green vegetable, it’s high in thylakoids - ­green leafy veggies in particular. These include: spinach, cabbage, lettuce, kale, collard and other greens.

• Don’t diet. Those who don't restrict food and instead practice intuitive/mindful eating have significantly fewer cravings. Those who restrict themselves experience the most.

• Stay hydrated.

• Get enough sleep and don’t sleep during the day.

• Give in to your cravings. That’s right, grab that chocolate bar, that ice cream, those pickles… without guilt. If you allow yourself to have what you crave, and reaffirm that you may have whatever food you want whenever you want, you'll reinforce your trust with food and decrease the number of true/strong cravings you have. You'll notice that former cravings are now just desires for things, and knowing that you may have them whenever you want will help you relax when they come to mind ­not experience those frantic must­-have-now thoughts. (Any food can be made cruelty­free, even ‘meat’, so I'm not promoting deviating from veganism by indulging in cravings.)

• Practice mindfulness and meditation. Slow down, be present, be here right now. Practice as often as you can. Food, work, relationships, sex, life - ­everything is better.

Theories About Cravings Being Caused by Deficiencies are Anecdotal, at Best

Upshot - ­unlike cars, our bodies don’t come with a diagnostic sensor that spits out a code when certain symptoms are present (cravings). Craving foods as a result of deficiency is something no research yet soundly supports. However, we can and do crave foods due to hormonal and emotional

imbalances, and this can sometimes be a warning sign of deeper issues. If you notice excessive cravings, overeating or binging, or other characteristics of an unhealthy relationship with food, please get in touch with your physician, a dietician, and/or a nutritional therapist. Nutritional therapists help us become more intuitive and mindful eaters (which does not translate to sacrifice and misery).

We Can Be Deficient and Not Know..

While it can confidently be said that my friend’s cravings are not driven by a need for iron, that doesn't rule out deficiency (it's possible for anyone, especially women of menstruating age). However, iron needn't be animal-­derived, and vegans are at no greater risk of developing anemia than anyone else (and at less risk, according to many studies). Furthermore, as one author showed via a collection of 40+ research articles and reputable sources, iron from animals is harmful and can lead to the development of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and many other maladies. These are not a concern when the iron is from plants. As clean, happy, free­range, or ‘humane’, etc. as the meat is, nutrients from plants are adequate, and often superior.

If the subject of concern is heme­ versus non­heme iron:

• Neither heme or non are exclusively essential to the body. You may have all heme, all non­-heme, or a mixture, and the body is none the wiser.

• While heme is absorbed a little faster than non­-heme, this shouldn't be a concern for those with adequate, well­-rounded diets. Here’s why:

• The daily recommended iron intake for an adult male is 8 mg - ­for an adult female of childbearing age, it's 18 mg. One bowl of fortified cereal meets the woman’s needs. One. And considering that virtually everything that comes from the ground (plants) has iron, you could say anything else is a bonus (or even overkill) in a well­balanced diet.

• More recent studies have shown that the body’s homeostatic mechanisms play such a big role in iron absorption that differences in dietary iron bioavailability (heme versus non) may have been overestimated. So we need to head back to the drawing board to correctly establish their bioavailability.

• Iron isn't hard to get. If one eats in a regular and well-balanced manner, there's no risk of deficiency. Non­-heme iron does absorb slower, but if there's a regular influx of nutrients, there won’t be a gap in availability. Iron absorption can be sped up and made more effective with a helping hand or two. Foods with Vitamin A increase iron absorption by up to 200%, so eat some green, orange, or yellow veggies. Vitamin C is another big player, so load up on delicious citrus fruits.

• Other factors play into the bioavailability of iron. For example, obesity ­if we're obese, our bodies won't absorb iron well regardless of the source. If we eat mint with iron-containing foods, it enhances absorption. Drinking tea or coffee with iron­-containing foods decreases it. There are too many factors to mention, but iron bioavailability is much more impacted by self­-care, eating habits, environmental factors, etc. than whether it came from animals.

References

This article was originally published on Olivia's blog, where she included detailed references for all the facts cited. Check out the original article to see those references.

About the writer

Olivia is a Masters Degree ­prepared Registered Nurse with several certifications and post­graduate designations. Her focuses are Nutrition and Human Movement. Olivia was once a meathead but has now been vegan for nearly two years, having experienced an amazing transformation after adopting a plant­based lifestyle. She promotes plant­based living for healing, athleticism, the animals, and the Earth on her blog, The Vegan Zebra.