Deciphering Your Cravings
[ 28 April 2008 ]
This is a guest post from the official sponsor of the iCiNG Transformation Challenge, Emrys Tetu! (Applause!) She is a holistic health counsellor & wellness coach based out of Connecticut, & she makes my heart sing! I hope you enjoy this offering from her.
Hello, nonpareils!
Here is some extra love and support for each of you as you journey through this intense month of personal transformation! Whether your commitments to yourself during the iTC are focused around food or exercise or relationships or career or attitude and spirituality, here are a few reflections that may help you as you stretch and grow and discover new edges of yourself.
There’s nothing healthy about being miserable.
For many of us, this is so easy to forget. And it’s a wonderful test to use as you try new things. You can ask yourself, “Is this making me miserable?” If you find that it is, you’ll know that it can’t be quite right for you. This approach is excellent because it’s usually accompanied by an impulse to do something else. Instead of immediately dismissing this other impulse, explore it.
Often that which seems silly at the outset is exactly what’s required. So, for example, you may feel that…
You really don’t want to eat more salad, you want to eat more chocolate.
Although many of us would think that we should “make ourselves” eat the salad, there are probably good reasons you really want the chocolate. So, don’t dismiss those nice dark leafy greens completely, but do delve into what the chocolate craving is about!
Chocolate is the number one food source of magnesium, a mineral in which most people are deficient. Magnesium is crucial for brain, heart, and reproductive health. It helps strengthen bones and relieve muscle cramping. Chocolate is also an excellent source of antioxidants (again, highest natural food source), and many chemicals that react with the brain to improve mood, including theobromine, seratonin and dopamine. So it may be that your chocolate cravings are about a need to re-balance any of the above. (Chocolate quality varies wildly; any inclusion of refined sugar or dairy dramatically reduces its health benefits… my absolute favorite recommendation for highest quality, amazingly delicious, fully healthful chocolate that does not create insulin spikes and crashes is Gnosis Chocolate.)
A craving for chocolate may also be an indication that you aren’t getting enough rest and are looking for a pick up from a food instead of nourishing yourself with quiet time and sleep. It could be a craving based on a desire to regulate your mood, either because it is a comfort food for you or because of the way it alters your brain chemistry. Chocolate can also offer a bridge away from more intense chemicals like coffee, especially because it also offers deep flavors and a lift in energy.
I like to share this example, because people like chocolate, but we often think we shouldn’t. And when we realize that we’re allowed to like the things we like…
Sometimes the best things happen! This lesson transfers over to many other areas of life. Our cravings have so much to teach us!
Behind the surface of any craving is a complex network of memories, issues with self-acceptance and denial, and physical situations such as dehydration, low blood sugar, an excess of concentrated vitamins, and any of a number of other forms of imbalance. It takes time and attention to Lovingly unpack all that makes up a craving. Please be gentle here. The common approach of ignoring it is the least successful! Willpower doesn’t work, but working with lots of modalities together and having patience with yourself does. A support system is crucial, through a community group or a friend or a professional. Many have had success with wellness coaches such as Gala’s raw food coach, Karen Knowler, or myself (here’s what some of my clients say).
So, during this week of the iTC, get ready to enjoy your healthier, happier life! One bite of chocolate (or whatever juicy thing you allow yourself to explore) at a time! Celebrate this, your Best Life Ever…
Love, Kisses, and so much Encouragement,
Emrys
Super-love & cupcakes,
Gala 
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Wow, thats really interesting!
Now I don’t need to feel TOO guilty about chocolate =]
Wow lol, I was just opening a bar of chocolate when I read “You really don’t want to eat more salad, you want to eat more chocolate”....
I find this so interesting though, I think I’m eating the chocolate for the lack of sleep I had last night!
I wish I weren’t allergic to chocolate! Ahhhh well, there are other things.. like red wine! Yes…
hi Emrys!
it was this kind of holistic, self-supportive approach (rather than self-criticising or blaming) that helped me (successfully) quit smoking early last year. but I’ve had trouble applying it to other situations in my life, possibly because it’s harder to analyse a whole spectrum of unhealthy or unhelpful behaviours (especially when they interact) than it is to examine your reasons for lighting a cigarette!...
there are a lot of forces, internal and external, that tell us we should feel guilty for enjoying things we like (especially if you’re a woman, sad to say). it’s good to be reminded that while an excess of chocolate may be unhealthy, liking chocolate is just fine.
thanks for a timely, thought-provoking and positive take on self-transformation!
p.s. those brownies look deleeeeecious…
Dear Emrys,
FANTASTIC POST! And thank you so much for the shoutout! You are such a beautiful woman – inside and out, and I can tell you make a wonderful health counselor. Thanks for passing the word of healthFUL chocolate!!!
I guess while I’m here I would love to invite everyone to my Raw Chocolate Rave here in NYC on Friday – viewable here: www.gnosischocolate.com/chocoe…
Love and Chocolate,
Vanessa
Thank you all!
I’m so glad to read your reactions to my post.
Mmmm, I’m excited to be there on Friday night, celebrating Raw Chocolate in NYC with Vanessa and many more nonpareils… Thank you, Vanessa, for your Love and Appreciation and for radiating Love and Chocolate into the world. You do it so beautifully!
Mandy, I hope you will soon be able to fully enjoy your chocolate without the guilt! Ironically, the guilt is the part of your chocolate eating most likely to have a negative impact on your health.
Ivy, great knowledge of self… and nice synchronicity, eating your chocolate as you read this!
Annie, I’m glad the spirit of the article still resonates with you, even though thte chocolate doesn’t. You also may be interested to know that for many people, a perceived chocolate allergy is actually an allergy to another ingredient of processed chocolate or a reaction to the changes the chocolate itself has undergone during processing.
Sweet Jane, What a nice comment. It’s wonderful to read of your success (Congratulations!), your perspective on the overwhelm that can happen when we take on the big picture all at once by ourselves (don’t we all know how that feels?), and to have your encouraging tone as part of the discussion around guilt.
Thank you again, as always, Gala, for the Love, Encouragement, and Passion with which you Celebrate Life, Chocolate, and those of us who are lucky enough to connect with you. It feels amazing to have you as part of my life…
Love,
Emrys
Wow, this came right on time, I was reading about cravings yesterday ! Anyway, am going to snack on some magnesium-rich nuts.
okay, so now I feel much better about the chocolate bar I ate last night… I tried to get over it with telling myself that i’m PMSing – but hearing these words here made my day!
Thanks!
This is such a cool post! Thanks Emrys & Gala!
Ironic, given that just last night I read this:
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life…
“There is no evidence that food cravings are linked to nutritional deficiencies…”
Oh well, I like chocolate anyway.
A beautiful and love filled post. Thank you Emrys and Gala!
You are all so Welcome! It is lovely to see people enjoying…
Thank you so much for the appreciation, sushi zume, alice, irmak, and eternalvoyageur!
CC, Thanks for the link and thought provoking comment. One of my favorite things about health and nutrition is that all the scientific studies contradict each other! This is why I advocate so heartily for learning to listen to what our bodies are really saying, not just ignoring or catering to what cravings appear to be about.
It’s an interesting article, and I particularly liked that it mentions different people having different food cravings in different parts of the world, because, of course, there are many ways to use food to meet our needs.
Here’s an interesting story to add to the mix:
Two weeks ago one of my dear friends and yoga teachers told me her father had been staying with her while her mother was away, but had just returned to his own home. While he had been with her he had been drawn to enjoying tumeric in his food in considerable amounts, daily. When he went home, he stopped eating it, became jaundiced, and went to the doctor… the herbal remedy for jaundice? Turmeric.
I think our bodies are pretty wise! Plus, nature even gives the clue of turning people who need turmeric the color of turmeric!
Hope you’re all remembering that the real focus behind the food is, as always, having the Best Life Ever!
Love and Encouragement,
Emrys
I just found your blog and I LOVE it!
Thanks for the great reads.
This post was very inspiring, and not just in the area of food cravings. While I was reading it I was actually thinking of something entirely different.
The chocolate/salad thing really did apply to me well, though. I eat healthy at home all the time (my brother-in-law is a nutritionist, and his lifestyle has kind of passed on into our family). But every once in a while, I’ll go to the kitchen to get a snack only to find that nothing looks appealing except for the pictures in the cooking magazines on the counter.
My mother has encouraged me that when I have a craving I should just drink some water or replace chocolate with some celery or something. I know that my body needs those foods as well, but perhaps next time she says that I’ll show her this bit of information.
This was a really nice simple intro into a very complex topic. Thanks so much for the encouragement, and the Gnossis recommendation. Think I might go order me some chocolate now. Yum!
Fantastic post! Very inspiring and helpful. I’ve been allowing myself a few pieces of dark chocolate at night if I feel I really need it. And if I don’t feel like having any, I don’t. I’ve really been trying to listen to what my body needs.
Note to self : buy chocolate!
I don’t really get strong cravings very often, I guess thats a good thing… But I do get chocolate cravings during my time of the month and I never understood why! I usually grab a Crunch Bar at the nearest conveniance store, maybe if I stock up on yummy&healthy dark chocolate I can avoid that, and satisfy my cravings better!
What a great post. :D
Thank you Emrys!
That was so informative.
wow that was amazing!
i eat a few pieces of dark chocolate every few nights, always after iv had an average size meal, and before bed. this is because since iv already eaten, i don’t feel the need to snack, allowing me to keep my limit.
i find that it relaxes my body and relieves current stress and even calms me down. It also feels good for me, because i know that its good for my body, and makes my skin glow :D
and don’t forget the 4 bottles of water a day of course!
Thanks so much for this post! I’ve been struggling with a compulsive overeating disorder for three years, and kept telling myself that I could overcome it through willpower and discipline alone. Yeeeah, cutting myself off from the world only made me more miserable, and just made me binge more often.
I’m working through it with a therapist now, and a loving group of people. I feel and look so much better, already.