Recipes
Food
Create Your Diet
Digestive Herb Chart
SYMPTOMS & AYURVEDIC REMEDIES
STRONG FOOD CRAVINGSWHAT DOES IT MEAN? WHAT'S CAUSING IT? WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Are you prone to a problem with 'Strong food cravings'?
Your body craves particular foods when in need, whether to fulfill nutritional needs, or to relieve physical or emotional discomfort. Interpreting your cravings and the meaning they communicate about your physical or emotional state, instead of acting on them, is crucial to finding freedom. SugarThe most common food craving is sugar. The simple sweetness of sugar digests quickly and improves your mood, providing a sense of instant comfort. Sweets feel nurturing in the moment. There are many physical reasons for craving more sugar, including candida, adrenal fatigue, hypoglycemia. As sugar feels nurturing, depression, anxiety and other emotions may trigger your desire to consume sweets.CandidaMany sugar cravings are due to candida, which are single celled parasite that live off of blood sugar in your body. Everybody has some candida living inside of them. When the blood is excessively sweet, candida may proliferate out of control. Since these bugs need sugars to stay alive, they stimulate your appetite for sweet things in order to feed themselves. Each time you eat sugar, you feed the parasite and strengthens craving for sweet. Clearing your body of candida through our anti-candida cleanse can help you find ease and freedom from these insatiable sweet cravings.Anxious & DepressedFood causes blood sugars to rise and leads to a feeling of balmy ease amidst emotional upset. When you feel disappointed or depressed, it can be tempting to turn to food as a way to soothe uncomfortable or difficult emotions. You may even find yourself daydreaming or thinking about food as a way to escape uncomfortable situations and feelings. If you notice a correlation between your cravings for particular foods and emotional distress, it is important to avoid judging yourself and just start noticing the behavior. Search for other ways to create calm in your life and come up with a plan to address emotional eating.Sugar, Coffee, & Adrenal FatigueIf you find yourself craving food or a cup of joe in the late afternoon, you may be suffering from an adrenal problem. As the body moves into the Vata mid-afternoon, energy levels dip and you might find yourself looking for sweets, coffee, or other stimulants to get you going again. The sugar or coffee may give you an instant energy kick, but the effect is temporary. The sugar crash that ensues will leave you feeling tired and lethargic. Sugar also congests your circulation, which can make you feel even more sluggish or depressed than before. Plus, caffeine may disturb your sleep at night.ARE YOU NEW TO AYURVEDA?
Are you wondering what Ayurveda is and how to use it for 'Strong food cravings' and health in general?
LEARN MORE
DIET REMEDIES FOR 'STRONG FOOD CRAVINGS'PRODUCT REMEDIES FOR 'STRONG FOOD CRAVINGS'FIND MORE DIGESTION RELATED PRODUCTS
See our herbs & products in these categories. Or, click here for general Digestion Tips.
DIGESTION PRODUCTSCLEANSE AND DETOX PRODUCTS DISCLAIMER: The pathogenesis of each person's condition is unique, and so the diet must be fit to the individual and the unique root causes of the condition in your body. HOW DOES AYURVEDA HEAL 'STRONG FOOD CRAVINGS'?
AVOID DIETS, LIFESTYLES & HERBS THAT AGGRAVATE THESE EFFECTS
With Strong food cravings, one or more of the following
doshas
and qualities may be aggravated.
If you have an imbalance of one of these doshas or qualities, Ayurveda recommends avoiding foods and lifestyle habits that aggravate that quality and/or dosha.
These imbalanced doshas and qualities may need to be brought back into balance before this condition can be healed.
Click on the quality to learn what foods and
lifestyle habits should be avoided.
 Symptoms Tell A Story The first step to healing is learning patterns from your symptoms. Symptoms are clues that reveal underlying imbalances, showing you where your body is weak. Specifically, they reveal the doshas & qualities that may have become aggravated. If you notice a quality or dosha appears next to many of your symptoms, it helps you establish a pattern that may be systemic.V = VATA, P = PITTA, K = KAPHA 
To learn more about the symbols above, click on them. Are you prone to a problem with 'Strong food cravings'?
FAVOR DIETS, LIFESTYLES & HERBS WITH THESE MEDICINAL EFFECTSEverything you eat has an effect on your body, which Ayurveda categorizes in a simple and easy way, using gunas. Gunas are qualities (like cold and hot) that describe the effect a food or herb has on your body. Cooling foods like cucumber, decrease metabolism. Heating foods like chili pepper, stimulate your body and increase metabolism. For 'Strong food cravings', you should select foods with the following qualities (gunas). Individual results will vary, based on your body type and the root cause of your imbalance.
To learn more about the symbols above, click on them. Digestion: Appetite suppressant APPETITE-SUPPRESSANTSuppresses hunger without causing weight gainEnergy Vitality Strength: Stimulates energy STIMULATES-ENERGYThis category groups thyroid and adrenal stimulating herbsHeart & Circulation: Cardiac stimulant , CARDIAC-STIMULANTHerbs that increase the heart rate. Useful in cardiovascular health, blood stagnation, and subjective feeling of heaviness in the chest area.Vasodilator VASODILATORA vasodilator is an herb that widens the blood vessels by the relaxation of smooth muscle cells within the vessel walls, thereby increasing circulation systemically or to a local area.Immune System: Antifungal ANTIFUNGALHerbs that destroy fungus.ADDRESS ISSUES IN STAGE OF DISEASE 2STRONG FOOD CRAVINGS IS IN STAGE OF DISEASE 2 - AFFECTING BLOOD & EMOTIONSAffecting Blood: Initially, imbalances are localized, often in the digestive tract. As an imbalance grows, it starts to affect your body systemically, via the blood. If you have symptoms in this category it means that your imbalances are starting to spread, have entered the bloodstream, and are now systemic. Pay particular attention to the gunas, tastes, and doshas out of balance systemically, so you know how to strengthen your body as a whole, and reduce physical stress on your organs. At this stage of imbalance you will begin to experience generalized discomfort, imbalanced emotions, and may develop sensitivities to temperature. It may take several weeks of strict adherence to a specific remedial diet to clear blood level imbalances. Blood cleansing herbs may reduce symptoms. A several day cleanse may shorten the recovery time. REDUCE THESE RELATED SYMPTOMS & HABITSThe following symptoms & habits may be related to 'Strong food cravings'. See your quiz results for a computerized assessment of your body type. Please click on the symptoms below to learn more about them.WHAT'S NEXT? 
DO YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR UNIQUE BODY?
What aggravates it? What heals it?
Then get your Personal Ayurvedic Body Book!
This book, written by founder and director of Joyful Belly, John Immel,
is individually formatted for your unique body and will help you confidently choose food that restores your
healthy glow to get you feeling like your best self.
Just $19.99!
HOW AYURVEDA WORKS
ARE YOU WONDERING HOW AYURVEDA CAN HELP YOU?
WHY IS AYURVEDA THE RIGHT SOLUTION?Ayurveda strengthens the body, in addition to addressing the disorder. It take a holistic, systemic approach, instead of myopically focusing on the disorder in question. Ayurveda shows a person how to interpret signs and symptoms of imbalance, and how to address them using materials from home, so they can optimize their health on a continual basis. You can't take the doctor home with you, but you can take Ayurveda home with you. Ayurveda is the most advanced and easy to use home system for self healing with an exceptional focus on digestion.HOW DOES AYURVEDA WORK?Ayurveda starts by identifying your body type, which identifies certain tendencies in your body to get sick (as well as identifying your strengths). It uses body type to determine the likely root causes of your disorders. Next, Ayurveda analyzes the nature of your disorder. It fits all your signs and symptoms into a pattern, expressed as a combination of gunas / qualities. For example, you may have a heat disorder, a cold disorder, or an oily disorder, etc. This simple categorical approach shows you how to correct systemic imbalances and strengthen your body as a whole.On Joyful Belly, we've created an extensive categorization of food so you can easily match food to your imbalances (gunas). By eating an optimal diet that balances your gunas, your whole body is strengthened and the conditions that created the disorder are removed. Once the root causes of the disease are removed, the disease lessens in strength or disappears altogether. Additional remedies - such as herbs and lifestyle practices - focused on the specific disorder, can greatly enhance your healing. Want to learn more about Ayurveda and its step-by-step approach to healing? Click below.LEARN MOREGET STARTEDTo get started on your Ayurvedic journey, we first recommend that your find your body type by taking our free quiz. In Ayurveda, every solution is based on your unique body type, so by taking this quiz, you’ll get the best results.5 WAYS TO HEAL YOUR BODY
WITH AYURVEDA - FREE REPORT!
New to Ayurveda? Not sure how Ayurveda can help you?
This free report shows you 5 simple ways you can heal your body with Ayurveda.
It shows you simple, practical ways manage your health.
About the Author John Immel, the founder of Joyful Belly, teaches people how to have a healthy diet and lifestyle with Ayurveda. His approach to Ayurveda exudes a certain ease, which many find enjoyable and insightful. His online course Balance Your Ayurvedic Diet in a Week provides tools for gracefully healing with Ayurveda to thousands. John also directs Joyful Belly's School of Ayurveda , which specializes in digestive tract pathology & Ayurvedic nutrition. John and his wife Natalie recently published Explore Your Hunger: A Guide to Hunger, Appetite & Food.John's interest in Ayurveda and digestive tract pathology was inspired by a complex digestive disorder acquired from years of international travel, including his public service work in South Asia. John's commitment to the detailed study of digestive disorders reflects his zeal to get down to the roots of the problem. His hope and belief in the capacity of each & every client to improve their quality of life is nothing short of a personal passion. John's creativity in the kitchen and delight in cooking for others comes from his family oriented upbringing. In addition to his certification in Ayurveda, John holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Harvard University. John enjoys sharing Ayurveda within the context of his Catholic roots, and finds Ayurveda gives him an opportunity to participate in the healing mission of the Church. Jesus expressed God's love by feeding and healing the sick. That kindness is the fundamental ministry of Ayurveda as well. Comments & Personal ExperiencesHow does 'strong food cravings' affect your quality of life? What aggravates it? What has helped you? Is there something you'd like to know about 'strong food cravings'?38 likes |
On Facebook
On Twitter
SAVE IT
Ayurveda Cooking Class
Discover 10 tips to help you cook delicious Ayurvedic recipes at this free online event.
Summertime Ayurveda Box
Celebrate summer with the hottest products in health, wellness & natural beauty. Live your sunniest, most balanced summer yet!
BOOKS
BY JOYFUL BELLY
Say goodbye to confusion about food and health with your personal Ayurveda body book, individually and custom formulated for your body. $19.99 $7.95 introductory offer 3 days only
Join Joyful Belly.
Want our top Ayurvedic recipes and health tips?Subscribe to our free newsletter!