When women get food cravings during their menopause, it is not because of eating disorders but due to hormonal imbalance. Food craving is a sign of hormonal imbalance which is caused by deficiency in healthy nutrients.

Food cravings during menopause may vary from person to person. You may crave for chocolate, candy or foods which have high carbohydrates such as potato chips or may be something sweet or you may want to have some extra wine. So it depends on the person, what the craving would be!

There could be various reasons behind food cravings during menopause; a few of them can be listed as below:

Weakness:

When body signals get mixed up it results in food cravings. If a woman gets exhausted, she has low blood glucose or may be low serotonin levels and thus the body sends a signal to the brain saying that it needs refreshment to restore the levels. This signal results in cravings for sugar or carbohydrates.

Serotonin imbalance:

Hormonal imbalance during menopause leads in lowering of the levels of serotonin. This lowered level can be increased by having sugar or carbohydrates but sadly it cannot last for long. Slowly it again starts going down. So the food cravings during menopause keep going on for quite a longer duration.

Low fat diet and insulin resistance:

If you worry about your weight and eat a low fat diet in order to lose weight, unknowingly you are making your condition worse. If you have been taking a low fat diet for many years then there are chances that you might have become somewhat insulin resistant. Becoming insulin resistant means the body does not respond to insulin in the proper way; and every calorie ingested gets deposited in fat. That means even if you eat too little, still you are going to gain weight. After becoming insulin resistant your body cells are may not absorb the required glucose and so they convey to your brain, the need of sugar and carbohydrates. Therefore, you get continuous food cravings during menopause.

 

Adrenal fatigue:

Adrenal fatigue could also be one of the causes for food cravings during menopause. When the adrenal glands produce less amounts of hormone they signal the brain to help them out. If you are suffering from a lot of stress, insomnia or sleeplessness then you might feel exhausted for most of the time. In such a condition you may crave coffee, sugar or carbohydrates by day and alcohol by night.

So it is important to eat while you are craving for food but take a little care while eating to avoid further complications. If you crave for salty food, eat mildly salty food items. While fighting with sweet cravings eat whole grain bread with sesame or almond butter. For carbohydrates, eat complex carbohydrates with healthy oils and ample protein. This will surely help you fight against your food cravings during