Cravings are just one of the many intrinsic experiences that arise for people, and they can be very ambiguous. Vague or sometimes intense cravings leave us uneasy and result in us making choices that don’t serve us, and ultimately unfinished business in our life if we don’t unravel the underlying reasons or causes for our cravings.
The definition of craving given by leading dictionaries is that is it “a powerful desire for something”, “an intense, urgent, or abnormal desire or longing e.g., a craving for chocolate or a craving for new experiences”.
We have all experienced the overwhelming craving for something sweet, salty, fatty, juicy, crunchy, warm, cold, fresh, frozen and the list goes on.
Have you also experienced the craving for something deeper, emotional craving, a yearning, searching for something more from life, something beyond our human existence that aligns with our soul in a metaphysical way?
The third craving is about our physical body, how we look and the intense cravings we can have to change our shape, size, and attributes. Throughout our life, we focus so much of our thoughts and efforts on transforming ourselves physically. This can be done through food, mindset, exercise, or aesthetics.
If we think about the mind, body, and spirit connection then we can draw parallels to our cravings, knowing that we are ‘whole’ persons and not just isolated fragments of cravings or feelings, that everything intrinsic is connected to something extrinsic and we function within a complex web of life factors.
So, our cravings can be linked to an emotional, physical or spiritual aspect of the whole body.
Let us look at cravings!
Sugary Foods
Carbohydrates that are quickly broken down into glucose molecules are a quick source of energy for the body to use straight away. Craving sugar can be a need for energy. chocolate can be metabolised to produce the biochemical neurotransmitter serotonin which is linked to ‘pleasure’. So oftentimes a sugar craving can be linked to emotions and mood. Another aspect of sugar cravings can be linked to a microbial imbalance where yeasts thrive over good bacteria in the gut.
Salty Foods
Stress in our lives can truly be the root of all evil. When we are in a constant state of stress, pushing ourselves beyond what we can handle the body’s adrenal glands will shift into a ‘flight or fight’ mode and produce less aldosterone that affecting the salt (sodium) levels in the body. With reduced salt in the body, you inevitably become dehydrated as water is no longer absorbed properly. Cravings for salt can mean a few things, an electrolyte imbalance in the body, low iodine, and dehydration leaving you craving salty foods and stuck in a rut until the stress is dealt with.
Fatty Foods
Craving fatty foods can often mean that we are efficient in fat-soluble vitamins A, K, D, and E. this means we are low in essential fatty acids. Simply incorporating more good fat into your diet can solve this problem.
Let us look at our spiritual cravings!
As we look at food, when we don’t eat enough – we crave replacements or ways to compensate for the lack of nutrients. We become hungry for food. Just like we need physical food, we also need spiritual food to sustain our spirit. This shows up for people in many ways and is often not clear or easy to interpret. Jesus referred to the word of God as the ‘bread of life’. The lord’s prayer has these words ‘give us this day our daily bread’. We need to feed our souls and have a balanced spiritual diet. We can do this by holding still, going within, being reflective, and keeping space in our daily life to nourish ourselves spiritually. This will help us to fill a void and receive guidance and clarity.
The last craving is the craving to change our own authenticity – our physical body. Having a dysmorphic or distorted view of who we are, our own body. Fooling ourselves into thinking that when ‘my thighs are thinner’ I will be happier or when I ‘lost the weight’ I can focus on building my life. Acceptance Is one of the critical learning curves for all humans, self-acceptance and living in the here and now. Who I am today is not defined by body size or shape but rather by our thoughts and intentions?