Busting Myths: Cravings Are Bad
Last week we dug into the topic of Deconstructing Cravings, and this week we take the concept of cravings to the next level. Today I’m busting commonly help myths about cravings. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of thinking of cravings in such a small, limiting and negative way. Lets free ourselves from only thinking about how to work thru cravings for a cookie mid-afternoon, because that’s so small and our cravings are guiding us to understand so much more about our bodies than one area. It’s all a part of a bigger picture we’ll dig into today.
My goal in this series of blog posts is to deconstruct the myths around cravings to provide a deeper level of understanding of their purpose. I empower you to learn the incredible ways cravings benefit our overall health and wellbeing. Today we’ll reframe the idea of cravings, instead of thinking of them as something your body shouldn't have or is a bad thing, thinking about cravings as a way of your body telling you what it actually needs.
Let’s dig in! Below I’ll share with you four common causes of cravings, and the impact they have on our full picture of health.
Habits
Do you have certain foods you eat habitually without really giving it a second thought? Habits play a huge role in the cravings we experience, because they’re ingrained patterns that make choices “easier” in that we don’t have to really think about it, we just do. This could look like your morning coffee routine, or the time you eat dinner, or even the sweet treat you enjoy at the end of the day.
I’ll give you an example from my real life. My husband celebrated 6 years of being sober this year, which I am appreciative and thankful for every single day. When he made the incredible choice to stop drinking he instantly replaced evening cocktails with ice cream. Ice cream became the new habit. For several years he enjoyed a bowl of ice cream every night, which is what he needed at the time. Then about 2 years into sobriety he took a more mindful look at the evening ice cream routine and realized that perhaps it wasn’t needed anymore. He’d reach for the scoop, because it was a habit he’d formed. But once enough time had passed he could determine that it was simply a habit and one he could modify to better fit his goals of overall health. He still loves ice cream, but instead of a bowl every night he greatly down-sized to a little cup, and maybe has it a couple times a week at most. I love that he was able to observe that the habit had been formed, and adjust it to better serve his wellbeing. The key is acknowledging the habit is creating the craving, and making choices from there.
Imbalances in Primary Food
As a quick refresher, Primary Food means all the areas of nourishment that resides off our plate. Meaning our relationships, career, spiritual practices - all the big influences on our wellness that falls outside traditional nutrition. If you’re curious to learn more about Primary food, I highly encouraging check out this blog post that will take your understanding to the next level.
What I want to empower you with today is an understanding that the foods we eat have an influence on our cravings, but the aspects of our life that live off our plates have a huge influence on the cravings that show up for us. Let me give you an example. Do any of these ring true?
Feeling stressed at your job
Feeling overwhelmed with your kids
Feeling frustrated with the daily grind
Feeling lost and uninspired in your spiritual practice
All of these common challenges show imbalances in Primary food, and have a big impact on your cravings. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with your kids maybe you crave an extra glass of wine at the end of the day to unwind. Or if you’re stressed at your job maybe you find yourself grabbing quick lunch on the go, that isn’t a choice you’d make if the stress were less. When we can find the imbalances we can also better understand why the cravings are appearing. Food is a super common “cure” for emotional imbalances. But what I empower you to work towards is observing the cravings in a non-judgemental way, and doing some digging into what the real influence of the craving may be. The more you practice this mindful way of observing and processing cravings, the more empowered you’ll feel.
Dehydration
This is simplicity at it’s best - drink water! It’s incredibly common for cravings to appear simply from a lack of water. So before you go beating yourself up for craving salty snacks, try reaching for a big glass of water, drink it down and see if the craving remains as strong.
Did you know the recommended amount of water we should consume each day? The ideal is to drink half your body weight in ounces each day. Let me break down that math for you, to make it easy. If you weigh 140 pounds, half that amount would be 70, so your goal would be to drink 70 ounces of water per day. That can sound like a ton, but is totally doable if you are aware of the goal.
Pro Tip: Carry a 24 ounce reusable water bottle throughout the day, and keeping 3 rubber bands on your wrist. Each time you finish a full bottle of water, move the rubber band from your wrist to the bottle. By the end of the day when all 3 bands are around the bottle you know your goal was accomplished, and there’s not questioning if you actually drank all 3 or not. Give it a try!
Seasonal Cravings
Have you ever noticed how our bodies naturally crave the foods of the season we’re in? In the summer do you find yourself longing for fresh salads and the smell of dinner on the bbq? In the winter do soups and warm dishes inherently sound better than those summer salads? These are simple examples of how the seasons impact the foods we crave. I love this idea, because it’s our bodies guiding us towards what’s fresh and available at the given time year.
Another area to consider are traditions and their impact on our cravings. If you have specific foods that you enjoy at the holidays or celebrations throughout the year, those likely show up for you. At Christmas I definitely have childhood favorites that I’ll always get excited about. My grandma always made these gooey sticky rolls on Christmas morning, they were my absolute favorite and I’d wait for them to finally finish cooking so I could dig in. While I was far less mindful as a little kid, and definitely enjoyed more than my fair share, I still love these rolls to this day! My sweet Mom makes them every Christmas morning, and now not only do I love them, but my girls certainly enjoy the treat as well.
I hope this information has inspired you to shift the way you look at cravings, and how they benefit our bodies. If you’re curious and want to explore a bit on your own, here’s a simple way to do so. When you see cravings pop-up in your day, ask yourself the following questions:
Is this craving tied to a habit?
Is this craving guiding me toward a food that would support my health or well-being?
Try this exercise throughout your day and observe the insights that come up. I hope this greatly serves you and helps you achieve a more mindful understanding of cravings. Don’t forget, to check out Deconstructing Cravings, and take your insights to the next level!
My hope is that this has left you inspired to learn more. If these ideas have sparked curiosity, I highly encourage you to check out the Mindbody Collective, which is my holistic health coaching membership. You can click here to join the waitlist and receive amazing freebies while you wait for doors to reopen!