Cravings are the voice of the body asking us for what is needed nutritionally, we can eat a lot and a varied diet but it does not always mean that our diet is well balanced for our specific needs.
There are other aspects that affects our nutrients access to the cell level such as problems with the gut, bad breathing habits, lack of the right and amount of water, lack of sun shine for example. When these “Other nutrients “ as I call them, are not well balanced. Our bodies can be in state of lack of certain vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats.
The body is always looking for balance and therefore when its not given what it needs, the cravings jump in and we become hungry of some thing. This some thing can be unknown for us. It can be puzzle ling when we think that we are eating well and healthy and balanced. As many of us are not well connected to our body’s needs we miss to recognize what is needed and we can tend to eat what we most like or we try guess trying different food to see what is the satisfactory food for the body
Cravings are a bit difficult to understand because they entangle physiological needs with emotional baggage. Food is very linked to our emotional body: memories, home, pleasure, longings, lack of love, celebrations and so on. Our culture has trained most of us around food as a satisfactory and on occasions as a punishment. This is one of the reasons why it is important, -when we feel the cravings- to stop and observe if and how our emotional needs are been met in that way we would be able to discern where the hunger/craving comes from.
The positive aspect of cravings is that they are a very rich source of information which we can use to know our body better and to allow the body accessing what is needed.
When we feel an specific crave and the body is in need of a taste, texture, flavor and we don’t know what we want o need, we can start asking ourselves if we have given the body enough water, enough protein, enough vitamins, fibers and micronutrients, the right fats. The diets that most of us have nowadays are very rich in simple carbohydrates and therefore we tend to attend the cravings giving the body some more of those.
Cravings are something all of us have dealt with at some point in our lives. Wouldn’t it be simple if the exact foods we had cravings for fulfilled our body’s need for nourishment? Instead of an intense desire to eat a salted caramel brownie we might actually seek out an omelet loaded with leafy greens and avocado and be better off for it.
The human body is more aware of its conditions than what the brain tells us and we often misunderstand what our cravings actually mean. Common food cravings are associated with a nutrient deficiency guised as the brownie which feeds our need for a temporary and immediate mood regulator but not the innate health problem at hand.
Here some suggestions to satisfy the cravings in a healthy way. The first thing to check with your body is if it is well hydrated. It is also fundamental to be aware of which are the emotions linked to our cravings. Very often we are hungry or experience cravings and it is not for food but for connection, sense of belonging, love, self-love. Our body is a great messenger and listening to its messages can provide us with immense opportunities to transform our relationship not only with food but also with ourselves.
Emotions and stress are a big factor for us to feel crave and hunger, and not always but very often gut problems affect metabolic processes that make our bodies deficient in specific vital nutrients.
COMMUN CRAVINGS, WHAT THEY TELL US AND WHICH FOOD TO TAKE?
These are a very wide and simple suggestions.
Salt Cravings: Need of Trace Minerals.
Bone Broths:
Pink Salt:
Sea Vegetables:
Sugar Cravings: Need of Chromium
Broccoli
Raw onions
Green beans
Mushrooms
Tomatoes
Romaine lettuce
Cinnamon
Red Meat Cravings: Need of Iron and/or Vit. B12
Wild-caught fish
100% grass-fed beef and lamb
Wild game such as bison and venison
Organic meats including pasture-raised chicken liver and grass-fed beef liver
Dark greens including Swiss chard, spinach and blue-green algae
Grass fed lam
Chocolate Cravings: Need of Magnesium
Raw leafy greens
Pumpkin seed
Avocado
Wild-caught fish
Raw, grass-fed dairy products
Dairy Cravings: Essential Fatty Acids:
Wild Caught Fish
Organic Eggs
Flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds
Blue-Green Algae
This is in a simplistic way how we could tackle the cravings for specific food. In my opinion the first thing to look up when experiencing them is how and if our emotional needs are well met, if we are attending our deepest cravings for love, companionship, connection, fun, pleasure. This is our most deepest hungers.
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