When you restrict certain foods like sugar, bread, or chips, you end up thinking about and craving what you can't have. Soto added that your body will also crave what it needs. "I often hear pregnant women say how they crave a juicy steak when iron is low," she said. So if you restrict carbs, for example, you'll crave sugar when your brain and body doesn't have enough.
"Glucose is our main source of energy and your body will increase your cravings to make sure you get it, and it doesn't care what form it comes in, it just needs it," she said. That's how the restrict, crave, binge cycle happens.