Cues, Cravings, Food & Mood
December 3, 2023
Writer: Jacqueline Presser
Editor: Leighton Gray
So much of our everyday life revolves around thinking about food, going to restaurants, deciding where we want to eat, and finding the newest hotspots. However, people rarely consider what hunger cues mean or why we crave different types of food. After listening to an incredible podcast by Mel Robbins featuring special guest Dr. Amy Shah, I was intrigued to learn more about how we can listen to our hunger signals and differentiate them from cravings. Dr. Amy Shah is an expert on intermittent fasting, hormones, and food cravings through her education at Cornell, Harvard, and Columbia Universities. As a double-board certified medical doctor, Shah has studied these topics for years and has come to some fascinating conclusions:
Cravings vs. Hunger vs. Appetite
Hunger is our body’s natural need to get nutrients. Ghrelin, the hunger hormone, is released every day to remind us to eat. Dr. Shah discusses that this release of ghrelin comes and goes, which is why some people aren’t hungry in the morning or suddenly become extremely hungry at night.
Appetite, then, is our interest in food. Cravings are our desire to eat something in particular. Dr. Shah explains why cravings include such a strong desire: “[t]he problem is you need more and more and more to get that same dopamine release” (Shah, 2023). For example, if you go to the same party setting every weekend, the first few times the lights are really fun, and the music seems so loud and so good. Over time, though, you feel like the music is not as loud, the lights are not as fun — there needs to be more to satisfy your dopamine levels. Maybe you need to party more often to feel the same level of dopamine. The cravings pathway in our brain, also known as the dopamine pathway, is extremely powerful and creates similar interactions between alcohol, drugs, and sugar.
Our cravings can arise at any time. Dr. Shah uses a very routine instance to demonstrate this: at the end of dinner when a server comes up to the table and asks, “Can I show you the dessert menu?” You may have already had a craving for dessert once you finished dinner; however, you usually are full and don’t “have room” for dessert. But, the delicious dessert feels necessary once it has been offered. This is attributed to the idea that “[d]opamine has this weird after-effect where it makes you irritable, it makes you uncomfortable, and it makes you crave that food so badly that you just want to almost make yourself not feel the pain anymore. And so dopamine has this effect on us that we'll eat it, we’ll get the pleasure, but then there’s like that pain aspect to it because you want it again” (Shah, 2023).
To be able to scientifically attribute these feelings to how our brain works is eye-opening — it makes me feel better about my struggles, knowing that craving a certain food truly isn’t our fault most of the time. I have always battled my sweet tooth. Trying to work toward a good balance that satisfies the sensation and doesn’t trigger the eruption of more of these cravings can be mentally exhausting. That being said, there are some solutions.
How to get out of this funk?
It is important to first understand that food creates mood: “You can feel better if you start to eat better” (Robbins, 2023). Dr. Amy Shah explains that lifestyle choices, such as diet and exercise, can impact both mental health and physical health.
We can use sleep as an opportunity to improve our ability to tune into our hunger cues. Our sleep cycles impact our leptin levels, which is a hormone that our adipose tissue (body fat) releases to regulate hunger and sends us the sensation of satiety or feeling full (Cleveland Clinic, 2022). This is why you may wake up after a bad night's sleep and feel abnormally hungry. Dr. Shah said, “You just don't feel full. Your leptin is 33% less” (2023). Thus, leptin can be increased by getting more hours of sleep and eating more omega-3 fatty acid foods, such as salmon or nuts.
It is important to start eating foods that are high in the amino acid tyrosine. Tyrosine is the precursor for I-dopa in the brain, which is converted to dopamine. Dr. Shah recommends, “Eating more foods, doing more things, like getting sunlight, exercise and certain foods that are high in tyrosine can help boost your dopamine” (Shah, 2023). Some foods high in tyrosine include dairy, soy, nuts, and cherries.
Another hormone, serotonin, corresponds with feeling calm and happy, so it is advantageous to naturally increase this hormone in the evening. Serotonin’s amino acid, tryptophan, is present in eggs, dairy, lean meats, and fish, leading to a zen feeling when pairing it with a complex carb like sweet potatoes, squash, or quinoa.
Dr. Shah’s insight into how we can pair food and lifestyle to enhance our understanding of hunger cues and cravings left an impact on me. Going forward, I reach for foods that will enhance my ability to listen to my body and enhance my dopamine levels.
Image: Leighton Gray
