What Your Cravings Actually Mean

We live in a culture that’s so obsessed with food and body image that most of us have learned to ignore our own hunger cues. We’ve been taught that control is strength, that shrinking is success, that discipline somehow equals worthiness. And for so many of us, especially as women, that conditioning runs really deep.

There’s this constant pressure, both internal and external, to bounce back after pregnancy, to get it right, to do better. And underneath all of it is a quiet exhaustion that comes from trying to fight our bodies instead of learning to understand them.

I know you’ve found yourself caught in that tug-of-war, thinking you “should be stronger.” I have too. It’s a constant teeter totter between convincing myself that I don’t care because I honor my sacred body so deeply, and then suddenly questioning, what am I even talking about, if I love my body this much, shouldn’t I want to feel good in it?

I recently read that 75% of women will experience some form of eating disorder or body image struggle at some point in their lives. Seventy five percent. That means almost every woman you know has spent time believing she’s broken, when really, her body has just been trying to communicate.

This isn’t an episode about body image, it’s about how we actually feel inside.

I’ve gone through seasons where I didn’t trust my own hunger, where I tried to outsmart my cravings, where I told myself that if I just had more willpower, I’d finally feel good in my skin. But that never brought peace.

What I’ve learned is that participating in this never ending pendulum of pressure only pulls us further away from what our bodies have been trying to tell us all along.

It’s 9:30 at night.

The house is finally quiet.

And you’re standing in the kitchen - staring in the fridge, searching for something.

You tell yourself you’re not hungry.
You’ve already eaten dinner. 

But the craving won’t let go.

Maybe it’s chocolate.
Maybe it’s bread, or cheese, or something salty and crunchy.
And then the guilt sets in - that tug-of-war between willpower and the indescribable craving, between control and surrender.

But what if that craving isn't a weakness?
What if it’s your body’s intelligence?

Because cravings are not just about food. They’re communication - your body’s language, trying to tell you exactly what it needs.

And when we stop fighting our cravings and start listening to them, we begin to understand ourselves on a whole new level.

So in today’s episode, we are going to decode the most common cravings so that you can finally understand what your body is really asking for… whether it’s minerals, balance, or nourishment that goes deeper than the surface level food craving.

Let’s start with the cravings that show up when your body is low on something essential… what I like to think of as the body’s way of saying, “Hey, I’m trying to keep you steady. Can you help me out?”

Take chocolate, for example. When you find yourself really deeply needing it? That is your body asking for magnesium. Magnesium is one of the first minerals we burn through when we’re stressed, overstimulated, or approaching our menstrual cycle. So that deep craving for chocolate isn’t your body trying to sabotage you… it’s your body asking for support. 

I used to feel guilty about my chocolate cravings. Like it was proof I had no discipline. But now, instead of fighting them, I pause. I ask myself what’s actually going on… am I overwhelmed, undernourished, or just needing a minute of softness? It’s okay to then have a little chocolate but once you start tuning into these patterns, you’ll notice your body has its own way of asking for what it needs.

Now before we move into zinc, I want to pause here and talk about testing. Because you can do every type of blood test, every urine test, like I have, and still get results saying you’re perfectly healthy.

I’m sharing this because it’s so important that we keep listening to our bodies and continue fighting for ourselves, even when the tests don’t validate what we feel. We know when something is off. It might take time and curiosity to find the answers, but we can’t just sit back and hope that lab results tell us how to fix everything.

A really big one I find my body craving a lot is pineapple and citrus fruits. For the longest time, I didn’t think much of it… I just knew that when I was stressed or run down, I could eat half a pineapple and still want more. 

I have focused on nourishing my microbiome for years and I know my gut is in balance, but since having my fourth child, I have had a few subtle things my body was trying to tell me - little white spots on my nails, slower hair growth, and my menstrual cycle has never been completely regular. I started learning about zinc and decided to try supplementing. And I’m not exaggerating when I say the shift was immediate. My cycle became regular for the first time in my life, the white spots on my nails are gone and I can start to see my hair grow.

And this is such an important part of healing to talk about. Because rebalancing your gut is step one. It gives you the clarity to go deeper. It’s the foundation. For so many people, rebalancing completely heals their body, but if you still have little things that linger, that’s okay. It’s not a sign that something didn’t work… it’s an invitation to keep listening, to keep digging deeper, and to find the next layer of what your body needs.

A few months after I started taking zinc, Ty called me one day while I was grocery shopping. He had just listened to a podcast about pineapple. He knows how crazy I am for pineapple so he wanted to share what he had learned. Back in the 1970s, pineapple crops all over the world started dying off. Farmers couldn’t figure out why. Eventually, they discovered the soil had become severely zinc deficient. Once they added zinc back in, the pineapple plants came back to life, thriving again almost overnight.

I remember stopping mid cart stroll there in the grocery store reply to Ty, “oh my gosh, this makes so much sense. Pineapple is one of the few foods we still get abundant amounts of zinc from because it’s been restored to the soil. No wonder I crave pineapple so much! When our bodies are running low on zinc which is so common, especially for women, we crave the very thing that helps bring us back into balance.

It was such an ah-ha moment for me because it reminded me how much like the earth our bodies really are. When we’re depleted, we wither. When we’re nourished, we come back to life.

Zinc supports our hormones, our immune system, and even our ability to taste and smell. It’s also one of the first minerals to become depleted during pregnancy, and that depletion compounds with each subsequent pregnancy. It’s essential for cellular repair, for wound healing, and for our mental health.

So when you find yourself craving pineapple or other citrus fruits, or you notice little white spots on your nails, listen. Your body is communicating in ways most of us were never taught to notice.

If you’re interested in the zinc supplement I take, I’ll have it linked in the show notes for you. And I would really love to know if this resonates with you. I’ve been considering expanding our shop to include a few foundational minerals like this because what I have learned in this experience and now in spending so much time studying zinc and learning that 90% of women are severely deficient is just how important it is. The one I take right now is the highest quality I could find, but I know we can do even better.

Okay, now let’s move onto salt cravings… and these can be so misunderstood. When you find yourself adding salt to everything or reaching for chips even when you’re not hungry, this is your adrenals asking for help. Salt helps you hold on to hydration and minerals, which are both essential all the time but especially when your body’s been under stress. We are so quick to judge ourselves. These cravings aren’t “bad.” They are a form of communication, and when you can recognize what your body is lacking, you can meet yourself with so much more compassion.

I notice this the most when life feels like too much… when I’ve been pushing through instead of resting. It’s almost like my body is saying, “I can’t hold all of this on my own.” Salt cravings are your body’s way of trying to help you stay steady.

But salt itself doesn’t fix what we really need. So instead of reaching for a bag of chips, it can be really powerful to give your body what it’s really asking for… rest, space and regulation. Go for a walk, take a nap, take a few deep breaths outside, or grab your journal and let it all out. Because when we tend to the stress underneath the craving, the body doesn’t have to shout for help anymore and I will bet you, when you come back from your pause - you won’t even be craving salt anymore.

If you find yourself craving ice or crunchy things… this is your body’s way of saying it needs iron. You might notice it more when you’re tired, run down, or if your energy feels flat even after you’ve eaten.

When you start to see your cravings this way, you stop labeling them as “good” or “bad” and start getting curious. It’s a shift from judgment to awareness - from control to connection.

Then there are the cravings that don’t actually belong to you. These are what I call gut imbalance cravings.

When your gut is out of balance, so when there’s an overgrowth of bad bacteria, yeast, mold, fungus, or parasites… those microbes start sending messages up your vagus nerve to your brain. They literally scream at your brain for the foods that help them survive.

This is why you might crave cheese, bread, pasta, or sugar when you’re out of balance. It’s not a lack of willpower. It’s that the bad overgrowths feed on these foods and needs you to keep eating them.

Everyone talks about how sugar cravings are an emotional thing (and sometimes they are) but when you start rebalancing, something really interesting happens. Those cravings don’t just get easier to manage… they disappear. Not because you suddenly have more discipline, but because the voice of imbalance gets quiet.

Even caffeine cravings can be part of this. When your gut is inflamed and your adrenals are tired, your body starts looking for stimulation anywhere it can find it. That’s why coffee or energy drinks can feel like a lifeline. They give you that temporary spark, but once your gut is balanced, your energy holds steady on its own.

And if you ever find yourself craving pickles, vinegar, or anything tangy or sour, that’s your body’s way of trying to help you digest. Low stomach acid is incredibly common when the gut is off balance, and those acidic foods give you a quick boost.

And then there are the cravings that come from your emotional body… the ones driven by your nervous system.

These aren’t really about nutrients or microbes at all. They show up when your body is craving safety, comfort, or connection. When life feels too fast, too loud, or too heavy, food becomes one of the easiest ways to find a sense of relief.

An example of this is mindlessly reaching for something crunchy like chips, crackers or even gum. The crunch or continuous chewing stimulates your jaw and helps release tension from your nervous system. It’s your body trying to let go of the pressure it’s holding.

Or when you crave that creamy chocolate and peanut butter combination. This one is really fascinating. Chocolate gives you a hit of dopamine… the “feel good” chemical and peanut butter gives you fats that are really grounding. So together, they bring both calm and comfort, especially when you’re emotionally or physically depleted.

If you’re drawn to spicy foods, that’s your body asking to wake up again -  to move some of that stuck energy, to feel alive. And when you crave ice cream or cold foods, that’s your body trying to soothe itself, to cool inflammation, or to quiet the emotional heat that comes with overwhelm.

Fatty food cravings often mean the same thing, that your body is looking for grounding and stability. But if you crave them constantly, it can also mean your liver or gallbladder isn’t breaking down fats properly, which ties right back to gut health.

And this is where I want to bring it full circle. Because while it’s helpful to know what your body might be missing, whether it is magnesium, zinc, iron, or any other mineral, the answer isn’t to just start adding more in.

It’s important to pause and understand why you’re deficient in the first place. Most deficiencies don’t start with a lack of minerals. They start with an imbalance.

When your gut is inflamed, your liver is overworked, and your body is unable to absorb the nutrients from what you’re eating, you can take all the right supplements and still be depleted.

Because when your gut is out of balance, there are actually a few things happening all at once.

First, the bad overgrowths so again this is the bacteria, yeast, mold, fungus, and parasites - they actually feed on your minerals. They thrive on what your body needs to function. So instead of those nutrients being absorbed and used by you, they’re being consumed by what’s keeping you sick.

Then, as that imbalance grows, inflammation builds in the gut lining. And that inflammation acts like a barrier. It makes it almost impossible for minerals and nutrients to move from your food into your bloodstream where your cells can use them.

So even if you’re eating clean and taking the highest quality supplements, your body still can’t access what it’s being given. The nutrients might be there… but your body can’t receive them.

And on top of that, when your body is stuck in a stress response, so constantly in fight or flight, it burns through minerals like magnesium and zinc faster than you can replenish them. And here’s what’s important to understand… imbalances keep your body stuck in that state. It’s a cycle. The depletion feeds the stress, and the stress deepens the depletion.

So it’s not just that your body is missing something. It’s that the ecosystem inside your body isn’t able to hold onto what it’s given.

This is why rebalancing is so powerful. It’s not just about adding things in, it’s about clearing out what’s getting in the way. When you rebalance your gut and clear the bad overgrowth, you are creating space for your body to actually absorb and use the nutrients you’re giving it.

Rebalancing also calms inflammation and helps regulate your nervous system, which means your body isn’t constantly burning through minerals trying to survive. It can finally start using them to thrive.

When your gut is in balance, your body begins to work with you again. Food becomes fuel instead of confusion. Your energy steadies, your mood stabilizes, and those intense cravings that used to feel so loud start to quiet down. Not because you’re restricting, but because your body finally feels safe and nourished.

Healing isn’t about fixing your cravings or chasing every deficiency. It’s about restoring balance so your body can heal itself. And just as a reminder, you will never get “there”. That illusion of a place. Our bodies are always fluctuating so this might just be an episode that you want to save in your back pocket to revisit when you feel off. Start with getting your gut in balance and then explore deeper if you need. Before you can stock your fridge with nourishing foods, you have to clean out all the junk to make room. Your body is the same way. 

Now, the next time you find yourself craving something, whether it’s chocolate, pineapple or something salty, I want you to pause. Instead of asking, “What’s wrong with me?” try asking, “What is my body trying to tell me?”

I know how tempting it can be to keep searching for the next answer, the next supplement, the next fix. But sometimes, the most powerful thing you can do is slow down and listen. Healing begins in that quiet space where you stop fighting your body and start trusting it again.

Because your cravings are the language of your body asking to be heard. And when you make it a habit to listen instead of judge, to get curious instead of control, everything changes. You stop seeing your body as something that’s working against you and start recognizing it as your greatest guide… always bringing you back to a place where you can thrive.

Transformation of the week:

This week’s transformation is such a powerful example of how healing unfolds when we support the body from the inside out.

This mama shared, “Honestly I know your products are working because my son’s stubborn toe patches of eczema have healed. There was nothing that worked for those patches. He even came down with a cold, and usually when he gets sick, he breaks out in hives throughout the sickness. But this time, he hasn’t had one hive. I’m feeling confident that the last of his food intolerances will disappear altogether. I just can’t thank you enough for your rebalance! I even started giving the supplements to my husband.”

What I love so much about this story is that it shows how rebalancing doesn’t just make symptoms disappear… It restores balance to the systems that control part of our bodies: the gut, our hormones, our brain, the immune and nervous systems, and the skin.

When a child’s gut is imbalanced, it’s like their body is constantly in defense mode. The immune system overreacts, the skin becomes inflamed, and even a simple cold can trigger flare-ups like hives or eczema. But as the gut begins to heal, everything starts to regulate again. The immune system calms, inflammation quiets, and the body can finally focus on deep healing.

This is why we see things like eczema fading, food sensitivities disappearing, and the skin softening - because the body isn’t just being soothed from the outside, it’s being restored from within.

And when we support the gut, we don’t just heal the skin. We help the entire body find harmony again… physically and emotionally.

Question of the week:

This week’s question came from someone wondering if rebalancing helps the liver?

This is so important to understand because so often when we think about the liver, we think about it in isolation - like it’s its own separate detox organ. But the truth is, the liver and the gut work hand in hand. You can’t heal one without supporting the other.

When you rebalance with the Gut Rebalance Kit, you’re supporting your liver in one of the most foundational ways possible.

The liver’s main job is to filter toxins out of the bloodstream, but when the gut is imbalanced, it creates chronic inflammation throughout the body. And that inflammation alone places a huge burden on the liver. It’s like your liver is trying to keep up with a constant internal fire… managing stress signals, inflammatory chemicals, and oxidative damage.

But it goes a lot deeper than that. When there’s an overgrowth of bad bacteria, yeast, mold, fungus, or parasites, they release toxins and the liver has to process those, too. On top of that, it’s still filtering out all of the toxins we’re exposed to every day through our food, water, air, and personal care products.

So when the gut is out of balance, the liver isn’t just overworked, it’s become stagnant. It can’t keep up, and that’s when symptoms start showing up. Fatigue, hormone imbalance, breakouts, skin rashes, and even food sensitivities are all signs that your liver needs support.

This is why Rebalancing is so supportive to our liver health. As the gut begins to heal, inflammation calms, microbial toxins are eliminated, and the liver finally gets to exhale and start functioning optimally again.