Food Cravings

Symptoms & Logged Metrics · Reviewed August 2026

Definition

A food craving is a strong urge to eat a specific food, most often something sweet, salty, or high in carbohydrates, that feels harder to ignore than general hunger.[1] Research links premenstrual cravings to shifting progesterone and estradiol across the luteal phase.[3]

Educational content, not medical advice. For personal or fertility concerns, please consult your doctor.

What a Food Craving Is

A craving is different from ordinary hunger. It's a pull toward one specific food rather than food in general, and it tends to show up whether or not a person has eaten recently.[1] Energy intake and appetite shift across the menstrual cycle, with research describing a dip around ovulation and a rise through the luteal phase, and carbohydrate cravings are reported more often in the premenstrual window, especially by women who also report other premenstrual symptoms.[1] One study of 17 premenopausal women found that estradiol, SHBG, and leptin all tracked with craving intensity across the follicular and luteal phases, and that women who craved sweet foods more strongly tended to have higher estradiol and SHBG.[2]

How It's Logged

There's no lab test or wearable reading for a craving. It's a logged symptom, recorded as a yes/no or an intensity rating for the day, sometimes with the specific food noted. Logged across a full cycle, that turns a habit that feels random into a pattern you can actually see.

Why People Track Food Cravings

Cravings that seem to come out of nowhere are easier to plan around once they're logged against cycle phase, mood, and sleep. Pairing a craving log with nutrition entries also shows whether cravings line up with skipped meals or lower intake earlier in the day, rather than with cycle phase alone. For a look at apps built around this specific pattern, see Track Cravings With Your Cycle: 5 Apps for 2026.

How Go Go Gaia Tracks Food Cravings

Go Go Gaia logs cravings with a 1-click entry, so you can mark that one happened without stopping to type. Each entry is charted alongside your cycle phase, mood, and nutrition logs, so you can see whether your cravings cluster in the luteal phase, line up with lower food intake, or track with something else entirely.

Log cravings in one tap

Track cravings alongside your cycle, nutrition, and mood in Go Go Gaia.

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What the Research Shows

A 2023 study using daily symptom ratings across two to three cycles in 37 women found that mid-luteal progesterone was inversely associated with premenstrual food-craving intensity, adjusted for BMI, while estradiol showed no significant effect in the same model.[3]

An earlier study of 17 premenopausal women found estradiol was inversely associated with leptin in the follicular phase, and that in the luteal phase, SHBG was positively associated with craving sweet and carbohydrate-rich foods.[2]

In a 1988 study of 76 women who already reported premenstrual sweet-food cravings, daily ratings over two cycles confirmed a perimenstrual craving pattern in 72% of them, with 13% confined to the menstrual phase itself. That study found no consistent link between craving severity and mood change.[4]

Related Terms

Luteal Phase

The post-ovulation phase where progesterone rises and cravings are most often reported.

Blood Glucose

The circulating sugar level that swings can influence how hunger and cravings feel.

Mood Swings

Another commonly logged premenstrual symptom, tracked separately since research doesn't tie the two together tightly.

Bloating

A fluid-retention and gut-transit symptom that often overlaps with the same premenstrual window.

Fatigue

Low energy that's among the most commonly logged premenstrual symptoms alongside cravings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Educational information based on published sources. Not medical advice. For personal concerns, please consult your doctor.

Are premenstrual food cravings a real hormonal effect?

Research links premenstrual food cravings to the hormone shifts of the luteal phase. One study found mid-luteal progesterone was inversely associated with craving intensity, and a separate study found women who crave more sweet foods tend to have higher estradiol and SHBG. The exact mechanism is still being studied.[2][3]

What foods do people crave most before their period?

Studies most consistently report cravings for sweet and carbohydrate-rich foods in the premenstrual and luteal phases. Other food cravings are reported too, though less consistently than sweet and carbohydrate ones.[1]

Does everyone get food cravings before their period?

No. One study followed 76 women who already reported premenstrual sweet cravings and confirmed a perimenstrual pattern in 72% of them over two tracked cycles, which shows the pattern can be real and consistent for an individual, not that every cycle or every person experiences it.[4]

References

  1. Dye L, Blundell JE. Menstrual cycle and appetite control: implications for weight regulation. Human Reproduction. 1997;12(6):1142-1151. doi.org/10.1093/humrep/12.6.1142
  2. Krishnan S, Tryon RR, Horn WF, Welch L, Keim NL. Estradiol, SHBG and leptin interplay with food craving and intake across the menstrual cycle. Physiology & Behavior. 2016;165:304-312. PMID 27527001
  3. Hamidovic A, Soumare F, Naveed A, Davis J. Mid-luteal progesterone is inversely associated with premenstrual food cravings. Nutrients. 2023;15(5):1097. PMC10005553
  4. Bancroft J, Cook A, Williamson L. Food craving, mood and the menstrual cycle. Psychological Medicine. 1988;18(4):855-860. PMID 3270830

Sourced from peer-reviewed research and, for basic mechanism claims, established references like NIH and StatPearls. Every citation above is checked to confirm it resolves to a real source and supports the sentence it's attached to. Last reviewed August 2026. See our full methodology on the Encyclopedia hub.