Cravings Never Cease~

Eating a well balanced diet is a very diverse and flavorful adventure.  We are all on a diet, whether it's restrictive, plant based, meat packed, McDonald's infused or a combination of the lot.  A diet can work for you by delivering ample nutrients, a variety of flavors and textures, and excitement for for tastebuds, or a diet can make you feel deprived, frustrated and hungry.  Reader, if you are feeling deprived and frustrated so you can reach another notch on your belt, jump off the train at the next exit and begin anew (your cravings will eventually derail the train anyway).

Cravings are the directors of our tastebuds.  In the gut there are millions of bacteria (good and bad) that help digest our food.  The type of bacteria present depends largely on the choice of food delivered to the body.  There is direct correlation between the bacteria we house and the foods we crave because our bacteria conduct many of our cravings.  If many starchy, sugary, processed foods are the bulk of a diet, sugar-eating bacteria, fungi and parasites signal when supplies are low - and the cycle continues.  Undoing the cycle is easy, though it takes a plan.  Add whole foods, add cleansing herbs and spices, add good pro- and pre-biotics, add water and tea, add a bit of exercise and feel your cravings change.

Cravings also exist when nutrients are deficient.  I had an interesting conversation about this with my brother-in-law Paul;  hunger is in fact not the only reason we crave food.  Hunger signals a need for fuel, true, but cravings are separate from hunger.  Cravings are a signal sent to the brain with a direct food in mind:  spinach, chocolate, sugar, starch, mint, tomatoes, even allergens.  A craving is meant to satisfy a chemical process within the body or brain by feeding in a specific deficient nutrient, acid, or fat.  Fantastically enough, you have the power to satisfy those cravings with healthful foods instead of unworthy participants.

There are several ways to cope with cravings, all of which include eating.  Yes, eating.  In fact, if you take foods off the list of things you 'can' eat, the result will certainly lead to more or stronger cravings (again, we are back to addition).  Add something sweet, something salty, something green, something white, something rich and something spicy to your day and see how you feel after the day is done.  Write down how you feel.  Write down the foods you ate.  Write down the outcome of diversifying your diet.  Make no mistake, reader.  I am not suggesting you indulge in a glazed donut, a salted carmel donut, a green monster donut, a cream cheese frosted donut, a Big Mac, and a cinnamon donut --- I am suggesting you use whole foods to satisfy your cravings categorically and in response to your body without the words, "I can't eat that," on your lips.

Start today.  Find real foods that satisfy your cravings.  Eat them with consideration and enjoyment.  Eat often with a tall glass of water or a warm cup of tea.  Give your vitamins their vitamins and watch your cravings move from mischievous to manageable.  And because your hands go on your food and your food goes in your mouth, wash your hands of bacteria that can cause you harm; it'll do your body good!

Anna~