Why Would I Crave Fruit?
Nutrition & FitnessDiet & Nutrition

What Might Be Causing Your Fruit Cravings?

What Might Be Causing Your Fruit Cravings?
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Updated on August 7, 2025
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While any kind of food craving can be uncomfortable, a fruit craving is one of the best kinds you can have. Fruits provide plenty of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants,

 and most people don't eat enough.

 It's OK to indulge in fruits, and their sugar content doesn’t count toward the harmful “free sugars” like added sugars in foods.

However, recognizing the cause of any cravings can be vital for understanding your health needs, although opinions differ as to whether cravings have a basis in biological needs.. You may be craving fruit for different reasons, including hormonal changes, low blood sugar, and dehydration.

Hormonal Changes

Food cravings are a common symptom of hormonal change. They have the closest association to pregnancy but can also occur during menopause. Low estrogen and high progesterone during menopause can lead to heightened cravings and reduced feelings of fullness after eating.

Research on animals found that the brain has estrogen receptors, with higher estrogen levels having links to feeling full after eating. Estrogen might also increase levels of other hormones linked to fullness, such as cholecystokinin, and reduces levels of ghrelin, a hormone that triggers hunger. However, more research involving humans is necessary in this area.

Low Blood Sugar/Dehydration

If your fruit cravings occur between meals, they could be the result of low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia. Low blood sugar can lead to cravings for high-calorie snacks.

 Although many fruits aren’t exactly high in calories, fruit does provide a naturally occurring sugar called fructose, and your body could be telling you to head for the nearest source of sugar.
Although simple carbs and table sugar are more common low blood sugar cravings, an ingrained healthy-eating habit or personal preference might steer you toward fruit instead of sweets. However, having a faster-acting source of sugar, such as fruit juice or hard candy, may be more effective as a way to rapidly address low blood sugar.

Restriction

Some food cravings might relate to having restricted access to that food. These types of cravings usually arise during calorie-restricted diets, which can trigger cravings for the high-fat, high-calorie foods you’ve cut out.

 However, some eating plans, such as the keto diet, which restricts carb intake, mean you have to avoid certain fruits as they contain excessive carbs for that plan. In some stricter carb-restricted plan, fruit might be entirely off the menu.

A study found that short-term deprivation of a particular food can increase cravings for that food, even though long-term calorie restriction may reduce food cravings.

Fruit cravings can also coincide with the agricultural clock. For example, if your area had a great strawberry season this year, you might crave them when the season ends. Part of this craving might be due to force of habit if you ate strawberries frequently when they were available, but much of it can be due to the fact that you just can't get any.

The global nature of produce availability might make it easier to get your favorite fruit year-round, but added shipping and production costs might mean that it strains your budget in the off-season.

Emotional Association

If you have a strong emotional association with a food, you may be craving that food as a way to access the associated emotion. For example, during times of sickness, you might crave the soup your mother used to make.

It’s the same for fruit. If you associate family gatherings with apple pie, you might crave apples when you are feeling lonely. If you had a fantastic time picking blueberries with a group of friends, you might crave blueberries when you really just miss your friends. If a particular fruit is associated with your culture, you might crave it when you seek a deeper connection with your roots.

There’s nothing harmful here to change. It’s just part of the unavoidable connection between food and emotions. It’s only a cause for concern if it replaces other forms of self-care such as setting boundaries, addressing depression, or having hard conversations. However, eating for comfort is just another way humans look after themselves. It’s not a failure.

The Takeaway

  • Fruit cravings can often signal underlying health needs, such as hormonal changes, low blood sugar, or dehydration.
  • If fruit cravings stem from restriction due to certain diets or seasonal availability, recognize them as opportunities to apply balance in how you eat.
  • Be sure to address potential symptoms of low blood sugar or dehydration promptly with necessary adjustments or consider consulting with a healthcare provider if symptoms persist.
  • If you're pregnant or menopausal and experiencing cravings, consult your healthcare provider to determine if these may indicate a nutrient deficiency.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Fruits. US Department of Agriculture MyPlate.
  2. Increase fruit consumption by people aged 2 years and over — NWS‑06. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
  3. Cravings. Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. October 2023.
  4. Rania M et al. Reactive hypoglycemia in binge eating disorder, food addiction, and the comorbid phenotype: unravelling the metabolic drive to disordered eating behaviours. Journal of Eating Disorders. September 19, 2023.
  5. Mathew P et al. Hypoglycemia. StatPearls. December 26, 2022.
  6. Why severe calorie restriction won't help you lose weight. Gundersen Health System.
  7. What is the keto diet, and can it be beneficial for you? UC Davis. May 14, 2025.
  8. Meule A et al. The Psychology of Food Cravings: the Role of Food Deprivation. Current Nutrition Reports. June 23, 2020.
  9. The Benefits of Seasonal Eating: Fresh, Nutrient-Dense, and Budget-Friendly. Clemson College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences. August 1, 2023.
  10. Tribole E et al. Intuitive Eating, 4th Edition. AIU. June 23, 2020.
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Kayli Anderson, RDN

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Member of American College of Lifestyle Medicine

Kayli Anderson has over a decade of experience in nutrition, culinary education, and lifestyle medicine. She believes that eating well should be simple, pleasurable, and sustainable. Anderson has worked with clients from all walks of life, but she currently specializes in nutrition therapy and lifestyle medicine for women. She’s the founder of PlantBasedMavens.com, a hub for women to get evidence-based, practical, and woman-centered guidance on nutrition and cooking, hormone health, fertility, pregnancy, movement, mental well-being, nontoxic living, and more.

Anderson is board-certified in lifestyle medicine and serves as lead faculty of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine’s (ACLM) "Food as Medicine" course. She is past chair of the ACLM's registered dietitian member interest group, secretary of the women's health member interest group, and nutrition faculty for many of ACLM's other course offerings. She is the coauthor of the Plant-Based Nutrition Quick Start Guide and works with many of the leading organizations in nutrition and lifestyle medicine to develop nutrition content, recipes, and educational programs.

Anderson frequently speaks on the topics of women’s health and plant-based nutrition and has coauthored two lifestyle medicine textbooks, including the first one on women’s health, Improving Women's Health Across the Lifespan.

She received a master's degree in nutrition and physical performance and is certified as an exercise physiologist and intuitive eating counselor. She's a student of herbal medicine and women's integrative and functional medicine. She lives with her husband in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, where you’ll find her out on a trail or in her garden.

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