Food craving is a type of condition in the body that gives rise to improper functioning of adrenal system, stress over emotional mind that will be backed with family habits or nutritional like mineral deficiency. Salt is helpful to control the balance of fluids in the body. Salt is helpful in dehydration. It is also important for growth and reproduction.
Salt cravings start when there is deficiency of sodium in the body. It is a vicious circle that the more salt the body needs there is more craving for it. Salt craving differs from hunger and is controlled by the brain. There are different explanations to know the salt cravings. These may require changes in diet to remain healthy and have a balanced diet.
People can come across variety of situations due to which salt craving is viewed. Individuals having very mild salt craving can be overlooked. But, these people are very eager to taste the crunchy texture. But, if this problem becomes severe, you must consult a doctor. The physician will find out whether the problem is serious and cal lead to disaster or not.
Salt is an important ingredients which we use in our home kitchen. It ads taste to the food. Also there are many health benefits of salts. The iodine content in the salt helps us to stay away from severe disease named as goiter. Different people have different craving habits and craving for salt is not a very rare syndrome. Some people also have the physical craving behavior without knowing what actually they are willing to have. There are people who have a serious want for salt. Even they consume more salt as compared to people with normal salt level in the body. People crave for salt as they actually require salt to stay healthy.
Addison’s disease
One of the physical conditions in individual can also be termed as Addison’s disease. Generally a common many have exactly two adrenal glands located above the kidney. The main objective of these glands is hormone production. Even the fluid regulation becomes effective with the hormone production. Whenever your adrenal glands gets destroyed or damaged, People get affected with variety of their body functions. The regulation of salt in their body is also affected.
The symptoms of the disease include:
- Weight loss
- Fatigue
- Diarrhea
- Light headedness
- Nausea
- Fungal infection
Deficiency of nutrients
If an individual has chronic craving for salt, it means that you are suffering from serious nutrient deficiency. Especially when you are having deficiency of magnesium, salt craving will reach its heights. The symptoms include:
- Menstrual cramp
- Anxiety
- Insomnia
- Irritability
If you are having low calcium and protein in your body, this will probably give a carve for salt. You can suffer from the problem like confusion, hyponatremia, muscle twitching, etc.
Menstruation
It is quite important to realize the fact that, women gets more craving for salt as compared to man during their menstrual cycle. Usually, many women suffer from the problem of salt craving two weeks before their menstrual cycle. This increases body needs to make a balance of water with sodium. If you can avoid excessive sodium intake, you can get control over bloating.
Bartter’s syndrome
Another kind of disorder that takes place in people is known as Bartter’s Syndrome. Even if this disorder is quite rare, yet this is one of the major causes of salt craving. This problem can be diagnosed either in the childhood of individuals or else at the stage of adolescence. The symptoms of this disorder include:
- Muscle weakness
- General weakness
- Fatigue
- Adolescence
- Urination
- Thirst
But, if this condition is realized at an early stage and is treated adequately, this problem can be easily eradicated.
Dehydration
Another major reason for salt craving is dehydration. Sometimes after going through the tough physical exercise, you get exhausted as salt from your body gets away in form of sweat. Here you feel dehydrated and carve for salt. Your energy and hydration will be back in form after consuming enough of salt. You must drink plenty of water in such a situation and replenish salt again. If you are totally exhausted, mix some salt and sugar in a glass of water and drink. This will help you bring back in form once again. Take some rest and you will become absolutely fine. This craving for salt is temporary in this case.
Habit
It is a habit of adding more salt in food without tasting. This habit comes down from parents who add salt before eating. The taste buds come used to salty food and less salt gives them a bland and tasteless food. This habit can be resolved by cooking food with less salt or serving the food with lemon to change the taste of the food or use fresh herbs like thyme mint or parsley instead of salt to add flavour to the food.
Mineral deficiency
The most essential minerals required by the body to stay healthy and build hormones and blood are sodium, magnesium, zinc and calcium. Most of these minerals have a salty taste so when there is craving for salt it may indicate the desire for more minerals.Potassium is the common electrolyte required inside the cells and sodium is commonly needed outside the cells. Lack of nutrition also leads to craving for salt. This requirement can be easily fulfilled by increasing the intake of high quality multi vitamins. The best sources are mineral rich vegetables like kelp and nori and seeds of chia and hemp.
Lack of hydration
Salt helps to keep the cells hydrated. In dehydrated conditions salt is the best source to get the electrolytes back. One must drink sufficient water to retain the water and salts lost during exercise. Alcoholic drinks, excess salt intake and exercise can cause salt craving. Intake of sufficient water is the best solution to stay hydrated.
Underactive adrenal glands
Underactivity of adrenal glands will reflect as low blood pressure and also a craving for salt.Overactive adrenal glands lead to fatigue and a stressed out lifestyle. These may lead to puffy bags under the eyes and psychological depression.
Old age
The sensation in the taste buds decline as age advances. They find the food bland and find more salt as the best solution. This solution is permissible if the person has normal blood pressure. It is always better to substitute normal salt with sea salt or Himalayan salt which is rich in sodium as well as other minerals.
Illness
Some medications taken for high blood pressure, anemia or diabetes disturb the balance of potassium and sodium in the body and cause the craving for salt. Lack of iodine in patients suffering from thyroid disorder can also be indicated by salt cravings.
Pregnancy
It has been noted that some hormonal changes during pregnancy make the women craving for salt. It can also be due to the loss of salts in morning sickness, which is often accompanied with nausea and vomiting.
Excessive sweating
During vigorous exercise canlead to dehydration which is caused by loss of water, salt and electrolytes in the body. This low sodium caused by excessive sweating leads to salt craving. Drinking sufficient water and having sports drinks will help to replace the electrolytes in the body. Herbal and fruit juices will also help to hydrate the body.
Hormonal changes in menstrual cycle
There are increase in the level of sex hormones –oestrogen and progesterone before the menstrual period. This fluctuation results in craving of salt and also affects appetite during this period. The best solution for this imbalance is to add fruits and vegetables like broccoli, spinach and kale in the diet and exercise regularly.
Salt craving is often accompanied with other symptoms, which include thirst, dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and fatigue. Salt craving can also lead to water retention and high blood pressure resulting from excess intake of salts.
Reasons for salt craving
Balance of body fluid
It helps in balancing body fluid in an adequate way. Your blood contains particular quantity of water. The amount of water in your body should stay in an adequate level. The adjustment in the salt excretion and intake should be balanced. This will be true for the players and the sports personnel. If you are too much sweating, the best way will be drink water with a spoon of salt.
Cure depression
You must find many patients suffering from the problem of depression. But, salt has the benefit of curing depression as well. If you are depressed, get some salt in your tongue and see how well it is. You can try this and see the result. It will definitely help you stay away from the problem of depression.
Iodine in salt
Today, most of the salts are iodized as the un-iodized salt can lead to disease named as goiter. Now, if you consume adequate quantity of salt, there will be a good chance that you stay away from goiter. Whenever you are going to buy salt from the market, make sure that it is iodized in nature. People having craving for salt can get a great benefit.
Salt craving is fine, but you should not have too much of salt in food as this can lead to the problem like high blood pressure. Thus, there must be a balance altogether.
