Keto Food Cravings: Why They Happen And How To Manage Them

Cravings for food while on a keto diet are completely normal. There are a variety of reasons why you may be craving food, and it's important to identify the cause to help curb your cravings.

Physical Reasons

- Your body is low on energy, causing you to crave energy-dense foods.

- You are not eating enough protein or fat, which digest slower than carbohydrates, keeping you full for longer.

- You are dehydrated.

- You are experiencing a drop in blood sugar, which can be common for people new to a keto diet.

- You are deficient in certain vitamins and minerals.

Psychological Reasons

- You are stressed, causing you to crave comfort food.

- Your environment stimulates cravings. For example, the smell of baked bread.

- You are used to eating a bowl of ice cream every night at 9 pm, and your body now anticipates this ritual.

- You are experiencing premenstrual cravings.

There are several ways to help curb your cravings, including:

- Drinking water.

- Eating more protein and healthy fats.

- Getting enough sleep.

- Reducing stress.

- Eating low-carb vegetables.

- Consuming electrolytes.

- Eating until you are full in the first couple of days of starting a keto diet.

- Being patient—cravings will reduce after the first couple of days.

Eat more protein and fat

Eating more protein and fat is a great way to combat cravings on a keto diet. Here are some tips to help you incorporate more of these nutrients into your meals:

Understand the Role of Protein and Fat

Protein and fat play crucial roles in the body and can help you feel fuller for longer. Protein is made up of amino acids, which are the building blocks of muscle and other tissues in the body. It helps with wound healing, injury recovery, and muscle growth. Fat, on the other hand, is essential for providing energy and keeping you satiated. By eating enough fat, your body signals the start of burning fat for fuel instead of glucose.

Calculate Your Protein Needs

The recommended protein intake for people on a keto diet is often given as a percentage of calories, typically 20-30% of your total calorie intake. However, a more precise way to calculate your protein needs is to use your body weight. The recommended range is 1.2-2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. For example, if you weigh 60 kilograms, your protein intake should be between 72 and 120 grams per day.

Choose Protein-Rich Foods

To meet your protein needs, include a variety of keto-friendly protein sources in your diet. Animal-based proteins such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy are excellent choices. If you follow a vegetarian or vegan keto diet, rely on tofu, tempeh, nuts, and seeds to get your protein. Aim for a piece of meat or fish the size of a deck of cards at each meal, which provides around 20 grams of protein.

Don't Forget Healthy Fats

In addition to protein, make sure you're consuming enough healthy fats. Avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil, coconut oil, and eggs are all excellent sources of healthy fats. These foods will help you feel fuller and provide the energy your body needs, especially when reducing your carbohydrate intake.

Spread Your Protein Intake Throughout the Day

Try to include protein at every meal and spread it evenly throughout the day. This will ensure that you're getting a consistent supply of amino acids to support muscle growth and repair. If you're following intermittent fasting, you may need to adjust your meal times or consider having a longer eating window to ensure you're getting enough protein.

Be Mindful of Calorie Intake

While protein and fat are essential, it's important not to overeat. These nutrients are calorie-dense, and excessive intake can hinder your weight loss efforts. Focus on choosing nutrient-dense foods and pay attention to your body's hunger and fullness cues.

Drink more water

Drinking water is often touted as a cure-all for keto-related issues, and while it may not be a cure-all, it is definitely an important part of staying healthy on a keto diet.

Dehydration and Keto

A lot of people worry about dehydration on a keto diet. Dehydration is often blamed for the headaches, weakness, and cramps that comprise the infamous keto flu. As a result, water is advertised as a keto cure-all. However, a water-only hydration strategy usually makes things worse.

You've probably heard of the 8x8 rule, which states that you should drink eight ounces of water eight times per day for optimal health and hydration. However, there is no scientific evidence to support this claim. In fact, a review of the relevant literature on hydration found no scientific studies to support the 8x8 rule.

Fluid Balance and Hydration

Hydration is best defined as maintaining adequate fluid balance in body tissues. It is not just about drinking water, but also about getting enough electrolytes like sodium, chloride, and potassium. These minerals maintain fluid levels inside and outside your cells so you can function at your best.

Preventing Dehydration

There are two common hydration strategies: drinking on a set schedule (like 8x8) and drinking to thirst. The first strategy is designed to prevent dehydration, or net water loss from the body. When total body water decreases by 2% or more, that is called hypohydration.

For rigorous athletes, drinking to thirst is inadequate to compensate for water losses. In other words, drinking only when thirsty is not enough to make up for the water lost through sweat. However, for the ordinary individual, thirst can often be a great indicator of hydration levels.

The Problem with Overhydration

To prevent dehydration, many athletes drink on a set schedule. But this overhydration strategy causes a more serious problem: hyponatremia, or dangerously low sodium levels. The symptoms of hyponatremia include muscle cramps, fatigue, weakness, and confusion, and in severe cases, it can be fatal.

Keto and Electrolytes

There are several reasons why people on a keto diet are more prone to electrolyte deficiencies:

• They don’t eat enough salt
• They lose more electrolytes through urine
• They drink too much sodium-free water

When people switch to a whole foods keto diet, they lose their main source of dietary sodium: packaged foods. As a result, they don't supply enough sodium to meet daily needs.

Additionally, when you restrict carbs on a keto diet, you limit the necessity of the hormone insulin to rise above baseline levels. One of insulin's many jobs is to tell your kidneys to retain sodium. So as insulin levels fall on keto, you lose more sodium.

How to Stay Hydrated on Keto

A keto hydration strategy should provide sufficient fluids to cover baseline needs and any extra fluid losses, as well as sufficient electrolytes (especially sodium) to cover baseline needs and any extra electrolyte losses.

It is recommended to use thirst to guide your fluid intake, as this is a tightly regulated system fine-tuned over millions of years of hominid evolution. However, in certain situations, you may need to be more aggressive with your hydration, such as when exercising in cold or high-altitude climates, or when consuming a low-carb diet.

Water and Cravings

So, how does all of this relate to cravings? Well, what you think is a carb craving might actually be a sodium craving. Sodium was scarce in ancestral times, so we evolved to crave salty things. Additionally, thirst can often be mistaken for hunger, so drinking water can help curb cravings and make you feel full.

To summarize, here are some tips for staying hydrated and curbing cravings on a keto diet:

• Drink water to thirst, but don't forget to also consume electrolytes, especially sodium.
• If you are exercising or in a cold or high-altitude climate, you may need to be more aggressive with your hydration.
• If you are feeling "dehydrated," it probably has more to do with electrolytes than water.
• If you think you are dehydrated, look at the color of your urine. If it is a darker yellow, you are likely dehydrated and should drink more water.
• Add a few shakes of salt to your water and a few more to your food. This may help curb your carb cravings.
• If you suspect you are dehydrated, drinking more water is a good idea, regardless of cravings. Try adding more water between meals to address possible dehydration.

Get more sleep

Sleep is essential for managing cravings. If you're not getting enough sleep, your body will produce more of the hunger hormone, ghrelin. This will make you more susceptible to cravings and make it harder to resist them.

Lack of sleep can also cause insulin sensitivity issues, making your body less efficient at metabolising food and potentially leading to weight gain.

Additionally, sleep deprivation can affect the areas of the brain that control hunger and willpower, making it more challenging to make healthy food choices.

• Get more natural light during the day: Aim for at least 30 minutes of natural light exposure early in the day. This will help regulate your body's internal clock and improve your sleep at night.
• Maintain a consistent sleep schedule: Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends. This will help establish a healthy sleep-wake cycle.
• Optimise your bedroom environment: Make sure your bedroom is cool, dark, and quiet. Consider using blackout curtains, earplugs, or a white noise machine if necessary.
• Avoid caffeine and alcohol close to bedtime: Caffeine can stay in your system for up to eight hours, so avoid consuming it after 2-3 pm. Alcohol may help you fall asleep, but it can disrupt your sleep cycles, leading to poor sleep quality.
• Use a comfortable mattress and sleep accessories: Invest in a high-quality mattress and pillows that suit your sleeping position and body type.
• Adjust your protein intake: Consuming large amounts of protein close to bedtime can make it harder to fall asleep. Try to balance your protein intake throughout the day and avoid large portions in the evening.
• Stay hydrated: Dehydration is common on a keto diet, so drink plenty of water throughout the day. This will help replenish electrolytes like sodium, potassium, and magnesium, which are important for sleep regulation.

Reduce stress

Reducing Stress While on a Keto Diet

Stress is a huge trigger for cravings and other overeating behaviours. Managing stress can go a long way toward cleaning up your diet. Here are some tips to help you reduce stress while on a keto diet:

• Cultivate healthy habits: Spend time in nature, meditate, and nurture your relationships to minimise everyday stresses.
• Take a break: When you feel overwhelmed, take a break and go for a walk, or do some light exercise.
• Sleep more: Sleep deprivation increases your hunger hormone, ghrelin. Aim for seven to nine hours of sleep per night.
• Reduce your workload: If your stress is related to work, ask yourself if you are taking on too much. Can you delegate some of your tasks to someone else?
• Address family issues: If your stress is related to family issues, consider seeking the help of a therapist or counsellor.
• Find the trigger: If you've tried many things and nothing has worked, keep a diary to help identify the source of your stress and cravings.
• Adjust your diet: Eat more protein and healthy fats, and make sure you are getting enough sleep.

Exercise more

Exercise is a great way to reduce keto cravings. It keeps your mind occupied and off your food cravings. It can also help reduce your cravings and hunger significantly.

There are many types of physical activity that can help reduce your cravings, including:

• Walking
• High-intensity interval training (HIIT)
• Yoga
• Running
• Weight lifting
• Swimming

You don't have to wait for a craving to hit to do any of these activities. Add them to your daily schedule to reduce your chances of having to deal with the cravings at all.

Exercise can also help you reduce sugar cravings by increasing insulin sensitivity and improving mental health. It can be a great way to improve your mood and self-control, which can lead to better food choices and reduced cravings.

In addition to reducing cravings, exercise has many other health benefits, including:

• Improving cardiovascular health
• Increasing energy levels
• Improving mood
• Promoting weight loss
• Reducing stress
• Improving sleep

So, if you're experiencing keto cravings, try incorporating regular exercise into your routine. It can be a great way to improve your physical and mental health, reduce cravings, and promote a healthier lifestyle.

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