Eliminate Cravings For Greater Longevity

By Frances Keith


Imagine if too much of one's life is taken up by wanting or even dreaming about a certain thing. Or if one craves a thing too much for one's own good. When this happens someone will likely want to eliminate cravings.

A craving is a powerful urge or need that comes at odd times. They can be for odd things that someone does not normally want. Or they can be for things that other people do not normally want.

A craving can create problems in everyday life. It can come at bad times such as while asleep or while at work. It can appear at even more troubling times such as in the middle of a crisis or during a very stressful experience.

Cravings often happen during pregnancy. Expecting mothers frequently experience them. Often they are for strange things such as hot peppers, radishes, or vinegar. Often expecting mothers experience them in combinations, such as hot peppers with yogurt or burritos and waffles. The strange, unexpected needs of expecting mothers can sound strange, but they can also represent hidden nutritional needs. For instance, a craving for hot peppers can represent a need for nitrogen or even sodium. A suddenly acquired taste for yogurt can represent a need for calcium or sugar. These urges are usually temporary and often disappear when the hidden temporary nutritional need is met.

Some people experience desires that are unhealthy. For instance, a woman may start to spend too much time at a tanning salon because she craves the feelings that come from the ultraviolet radiation. Sunlight produces a release of hormones that she may crave. Or she may crave the effect that the UV rays have on her biological clock and her circadian rhythm. A man may crave alcohol because he is an alcoholic. He may try to drink alcohol at all social events because of stress or nervousness. A man may crave alcohol when he is alone because he is lonely or wishes to have feelings of escape. In either case, a person may wish to eliminate his or her urges if the cost of those urges begins to outweigh their benefits. If an urge produces health problems or starts to cost too much money, a man or woman may seek to eliminate those cravings.

Usually, a craving has a physical or a psychological cause. Physical causes include malnutrition, too much stress, even disease. Psychological causes include mental illness, depression, and other problems. Eliminating an undesired urge will vary according to whether the urge has its basis in a physical or psychological cause.

Cravings that are physical in nature can be eliminated by dealing with those causes. If an individual eats an unhealthy diet, making that diet healthier can reduce the impulse or desire. If an individual is afflicted with a disease or disorder, getting treatment can mean managing or eliminating the impulse. If an individual is dealing with stress, reducing that stress can in effect get rid of his or her craving.

A craving that has a psychological cause is best addressed in terms of that cause. If a food is craved, perhaps because it provides comfort, then finding another way to get the same comfort can eliminate the hunger. If someone is suffering from clinical depression, and as result craves a certain food or activity, then getting the proper treatment for this depression whether through counseling or getting medicated can eliminate cravings.




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