h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Are cravings our body's way of telling us what we need, our brain's way of demanding what we want, or neither or both of the above?

Cravings are probably our body's way of telling us that it wants something.

But the problem is that humans evolved in a world where there was a limited supply of many things. If we got a craving for sweet things, we wouldn't be able to find many of them.

Nowadays, we can have as much as we like of anything. So if we get a craving, we can indulge it to any extent we like. If we want something sweet, there's nothing to stop us eating far more of it than is good for us.

So does this suggest, do you think, that cravings should be responded to actively but with moderation?

That's what it suggests to me.