Find Out What Your Body is Craving with These Tests
Nowadays, there are many ways to test what your body is craving with specific micro or macronutrient tests. They can tell you what you’re deficient in, what your body might have an influx of, and what you need to work on. These tests are a great way to get an overall view of your eating habits, and they’ll give you a good impression of how you need to improve upon them.
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Common Causes of Food Cravings
There are many reasons that you may be craving different types of food. You could be stressed or anxious, causing you to crave comfort foods or foods that make you happy. You could be tired, craving food to replenish your energy.
Low blood sugar may also cause food cravings to occur. These cravings are often for sugary foods to increase your blood sugar and energy quickly.
A hormonal imbalance could also be causing cravings, especially in women who are menstruating. Cycling hormones often influence what someone is craving and how hungry they are.
Dehydration can cause cravings by confusing thirst and hunger. Sometimes you may believe that you’re hungry, but you’re actually just thirsty. Try drinking a glass of water to satiate those cravings.
And finally, an imbalance in the nutrients your receiving could cause cravings. For example, if your body isn’t receiving enough protein, fiber, vitamins, or other nutrients, your body may set off a signal that you need to eat more.
What are Your Food Cravings Trying to Tell You?
Most of the time, your food cravings are trying to tell you that you need to eat something. When we experience cravings for junk foods, it’s never because our body is lacking in junk food, but instead because we’re missing the foods that bring us comfort.
When you’re craving something specific, it could be because your body isn’t getting the protein or other nutrients that you need. If you’ve ever felt yourself craving more protein or more fruits or vegetables, this could be the reason why.
What’s a Micronutrient Test?
One way to find out whether or not your body is getting what it needs is to take a micronutrient test. Testing your micronutrients can show you exactly what your body is lacking, allowing you to better increase your intake of certain vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and more.
Micronutrients are tested by drawing blood. You can order a micronutrient test online, go in and submit a blood test, and then wait to receive your full panel of results. In some cases a doctor will walk you through your results, in other cases, you’ll receive a document laying out your test results.
The type of results you receive depends on the company that you order your test from or whether you get your test from your regular doctor or nutritionist.
Tracking Micro and Macronutrients
How to Eat Healthier After Your Test
So, what’s the point of testing your micronutrients? You want to learn what you’re lacking so you can better feed your body, right? Correct.
It’s important to look at your results closely and determine what you need to add to your diet to make it more well-balanced. Look at different foods that include those certain vitamins and incorporate them into your diet.
After a few months of updating your diet and incorporating these foods, you should have a micronutrient test done again to check your progress. You should see a difference in your levels if you’ve done a good job of adding foods into your diet.
Your doctor will be able to help you determine exactly which foods you should add and which foods you may need to remove.
