Yeah, the most prominent is actually thirsty.

More often than not when I feel like I want some kind of unhealthy throwaway snack I’m actually just thirsty and the craving goes away if I drink water.

Hunger and thirst are very easily confused.

Yeah I often get specific cravings. They’re usually in the following categories:

• sweets (not too often but when I do, I usually hit chocolate)

• fruits (sometimes I crave sweeter, sometimes acidic) I think the water and fiber here plays a role because when I crave these the chocolate doesn’t fix it, and isn’t enjoyable

• protein ( eggs or any meat, dairy doesn’t cut it)

• fatty stuff (here I’ll go for cheese, butter, peanut butter, perhaps canned kippers if I got some or if the only thing available is chocolate I’ll take it)

• very salty stuff ( green olives, prosciutto, rarely chips, I get what I can)

Nuts are sometimes good at quenching protein and fat cravings but many times it won’t work.

Yes, mostly learned through endurance sports and multi-day backpacking trips that make it easier to sense during normal activity days. Hunger for sugars and salts is very different from hunger for protein.

I also know bodies are dirty liars. No amount of craving means my body needs another ice cream sandwich.

Honestly I think it’s more of just becoming responsible as you age and your body’s requirements get more specific. When I was young, I could eat anything and anything. Now, dairy is fully off the table, breads and carbs in general need to be of a minimum quality, and volume of consumption absolutely cannot be what it used to be. I think the key of it is to just be cognizant of what works and what doesn’t, and have the self control to direct yourself to the right choices (especially when options are limited). It certainly comes with experience that aging provides. I’m sure there are some people that are so well tapped into their bodies that it’s automatic like muscle memory, but for the rest of us it’s definitely learned and steered.

This started happening to me more and more after I hit my 30s, and it stopped happening once I started taking a daily multivitamin.

My one trick to not get hungry is to eat a teaspoon of olive oil before I go to work or after meals. The best diet to not get hungry on is the high fat low carb diet, so a spoonful of olive oil is a good fat to keep you from getting hungry. I do not recommend keto (true keto for some rare forms of epilepsy and lifestyle keto are not one and the same and it’s not good for your vascular system), but a high fat and low carb diet is the best way to go.

I specifically was craving protein last night, but not my usual junk food drive-thru “protein” on a bun. So I went out and got stuff to make a nice little meat sauce for some pasta at home, and damn did it hit the spot.

You are spot on!

I had to hire a nutrionist who specializes in it to help identify hunger cues ane what they meant. I had an eating disorder growing up and Adhd on top of it so I could go days without food and not notice and also binge uncontrollably until I made myself sick.

She showed me how to navigate and I will be forever grateful.

Only recently started listening to my body. The groaning in the gut is the gut moving waste on faster to make room for newer waste. Groaning in the upper left stomach is genuine hunger. Groaning in the lower stomach is a suggestion of hunger and can be stopped by drinking water.

Yes, my wife is always amazed or puzzled by how I know exactly what I’m missing. Like it will be I need peanuts, or greens, etc. Once I have those I instantly feel full and satisfied. If we don’t have the specific Item my body signals I’m hungry and will nag me for food all day (i assume it hopes quantity will bring in the nutrients needed) There was recent science about the gut nerve signaling your brain when it needs things, and not a one way nerve from brain to gut like they previosuly thought

Yeah. I never considered that this wouldn’t be normal, though. I kinda always had a “healthier than average” palate throughout my childhood as well as doing physical activities, and maybe the discernment comes from that as you’re suggesting.

Is there anyone in particular you’ve spoken to that doesn’t have this sense?

Seems like it’s happening to me, too. Don’t know how accurate it is, but I do seem to be craving certain types of food.

Not really, no. Was an anorexic teen, so kind of like you but in the other direction, then so poor we just ate what we could, at this point in my life I am at a healthy weight and can certainly tell physical hunger from wanting to eat, and can tell the difference between not hungry and lack of appetite from anxiety around eating (the latter is very infrequent now). May have broken it in all the years I had water when hungry.

I don’t have a repetitive diet though, and don’t do endurance sport so maybe don’t have the specific cravings. And try not to ever eat too much. And women in general do carry more reserves even when lean, I don’t know if that makes a difference.

I couldn’t tell you the actual mineral/vitamin or whatever most of the time but I definitely get cravings when I’m missing something

Quite often just go eat a raw bread roll from the supermarket when I’m low on carbs and flagging, fixes me right up