Find Wisdom in Food Cravings, 7 Ways to Make Peace with Them

Being a human, Food Craving is always a hot topic for all of us. People, often, start feeling food cravings from the taste of their mom’s home cooking afterwards out of reach to their favorite desserts, sweets and snacks. Sometimes a certain food becomes the center of attraction for your taste buds and you feel helpless to not eating that food. Food cravings are of different types and you cannot ignore or resist them. Sometimes, food cravings tell you about what type of food or nutrient deficiency your body is suffering from. You can gain insight from food cravings as a way to meet deeper needs of your body.

This article has all the information about food cravings and their relationship with wisdom and health maintenance.

Are Food Cravings Enemy of Human Health?

If you believe in diet culture, food cravings are something to be resisted and controlled. But the matter isn’t like this. 

Food cravings actually have different causes and often indicate the deeper feelings or desire for specific taste or nutrients. The food cravings are also helpful in recognizing the stressors that are lurking under the surface. Although diet culture empathizes with restrictive diets, intuitive eating embraces desires to be enjoyed and celebrated.

According to studies, this intuitive eating is the best considered mental health approach that brings many positive impacts, like:

• Overall well-being.
• Positive body image.
• Developed self-esteem.

A group of 1500 people including young and adults had been studied under specific circumstances in 2021, the results found that intuitive eating lowers the risk of disordered eating behaviors. For example, lower odds of:

• Being hungry.
• High body dissatisfaction.
• Low self-esteem.
• High depressive symptoms.
• Unhealthy weight control behaviors like skipping meals and fasting.

Experts suggest that an intuitive approach to food cravings may transform them into a source of enjoyment. They believe in the idea that dieting isn’t just about food and weight loss, it is actually related to a sense of inner dissatisfaction. Researchers also found that embracing the desire for certain types of foods is a natural phenomenon. Eating desired foods is a naturally safe and trustworthy source to listen to the inner voice that is often overridden by consistent signals about weight loss and dieting.

However, several theories claim that it is not a reliable way to define a person’s inner self on the basis of their weight or measurements. When you try to define yourself through measurements your inner self goes against you and shows rebellious behavior. Therefore, food cravings are often taken as covering up a fearful need for control on desires. This isn’t about the food at all, it is about perfectionism and control on thoughts. 

What is the Truth Underneath Compulsion?

If you’re using your food cravings to cover up your deeper feelings, controlling or repressing them, it doesn’t help you solve any related issue. 

According to studies, restriction from food urges cravings for food that you try to avoid. Specific foods attract your attention more than others. This is because your body needs that specific food. Thus cravings are actually unconditioned responses about learned habits than energy or nutrient deficiencies. This proves that food cravings are unlearned. 

Your subconscious mind tries to resolve the matter of cues that are more likely to be understood as emotional undercurrents. 

Now, the main thought is to get at the root of the desire for certain food. This can be done by getting more curious and listening deeply to their own desires. You can also take it as a theory that food can fix everything. Your investigation helps you to know your feelings instead of retreating from them. You don’t need to change what you do, but to just look and behold what you can do with too much tenderness, awareness and curiosity. Experts suggest that avoiding to cure yourself for superficial change, like swapping cookies for a rice cake can help you face the real reason to reach that certain food. Your mind takes that food as a source of comfort. This is called fixation with food.

However, at some stage of life you stop believing that food will see your life and then you feel exhausted and don’t think more about food cravings. Then you start believing in yourself rather than food  and stop using food as your surviving option.

7 Strategies to Learn from Food Cravings

If you believe the hypothesis is true that food cravings can cover up your deeper emotions, you search for the next move. 

Here are some strategies to help you find the wisdom hidden behind the food cravings. You will learn how the desire to eat works by covering up your feelings.

Sit with the Craving

Cravings for food arise naturally from time to time. Avoid ignoring or suppressing them. Also don’t try to gratify them. You just need to sit with these sensations of cravings to find out about the hidden message it has for you.

Your cravings and cues both give you insight into what your body is needing at this hour. 

To learn about the message your body is conveying you through food craving, sit quietly and peacefully and try to feel where it is in your body. Try to notice what type of memories, emotions and images are coming to your mind while you’re thinking of food. Doing this practice often helps you understand where the cravings are coming from. Don’t panic to figure it out immediately. Just stay quiet and let the information arise naturally on its own. 

At the next step, try to find out if the craving can be lessened. You can do this by:

• Calling a friend.
• Drinking some water.
• Going for a walk.
• Taking a warm bath.
• Taking a cat nap.

After trying these techniques to meet the desire, you may learn about what type of food you have in your mind. If the strategies work to lessen the desire, this means the craving is not due to hunger. When you become able to explore the craving, you can decide whether you go for eating the thing you have desired or skipping it. 

If you want to eat the food, go for it without any fear or hesitation and allow yourself to enjoy it whole heartedly. The practice is not for improving your will power, it is just about the exploration of your body’s needs. 

Be Aware of Your Belly

Experts think that giving attention to your belly, because this area of body everyone wants to cover up, is the main topic when you talk about food cravings. Bringing your thoughts back to your body shape and decide whether to go for eating the food or not. Now, it will be easy for you to decide whether eating the desired food is too much necessary or not.

Delegate the Decision-Making

This is the part where often people get tripped up as the question is should they eat or not. You may feel overwhelmed and spiral when you make a decision. So delegating the task is the best option for you.

Your metabolism rate and calorie burning calculations are not under the control of your brain. So when you try to delegate, the control and rust on the body start working. This is known as trusting on your body. The part of the body that is responsible for craving knows how to respond to the question about eating or not. So start thinking that everything including your metabolism is under control, you may feel more peace. You may think of it as a company that is run under the control of a supervisor. Your brain is the CEO of the company and you have a team to work under the CEO. You should rely on your workers and trust that workers are working well for you. That’s why the whole business is under control.

Learn Your Cues

Sitting peacefully with your craving and feeling the sensations about your belly are the steps that lead you towards the inner desires of your body. Practice makes you more perfect and you are able to interpret your body’s cues. 

If you indulge in the aesthetic side of diet culture like diet culture you may start people’s tropes, the magazine’s tropes and eventually lose your intuition. However, learning about your guess is the best way to get back in touch with it. Cues are present there for you but you often numb them. Sometimes cues are in the form of craving, fullness or hunger. But you start numbing all firms. This is the way your body starts screaming to get your attention. When you pay attention to your body, you get more in touch with your body’s needs.

Celebrate Your Cravings

Experts notice that people often feel fear about their cravings. They often misunderstand the idea of intuitive eating because they are frightened that if they start eating according to their desire, they will lose control of themselves. 

Research suggests that stop fearing cravings, instead celebrate them. Because craving is the way of communication between your body and mind. You have built a strong connection with your body through cravings and this is a thing to celebrate not to get feared.

Ask What Else am I Hungry for?

AS SOON AS YOU GET CURIOUS ABOUT YOUR CUES, YOU UNDERSTAND THEM MORE ACCURATELY. THEREFORE, ASKING YOURSELF ABOUT WHAT ELSE YOU WANT TO EAT IS A BEST WAY TO CONNECT WITH YOUR BODY. For example, you may want cake as breakfast. This is because your intuition guides you that eating cake for breakfast is not aligned with your health. Then you may get curious and say no. That’s why you get deeper for your craving and think about what you are actually hungry for.

A number of thighs may come to your mind, such as:

• Pleasure.
• Love.
• Intimacy.
• Rest.
• Acceptance.
• Community.
• Comfort.
• Validation.

You can get more accurate answers by staying with your cravings and listening more to your body.

Keep the Food You Crave in the House

Keeping the food you crave for in the house is the most convenient idea to eat what you desire. If you want to keep your eating habits healthy and safe, reinforce the idea that food isn’t such a big deal. When you try to minimize or limit the cravings they become intense. Don’t force yourself to eat desserts only on weekends. You can crave them from Monday to Friday without any limitation. So keep such things at home so that you may crave them throughout the week. 

Allowing yourself to eat what you want to eat makes the cravings less special. 

Tips for Enjoying Food and Celebrating the Cravings

Here are some tips for you that may help you enjoy your cravings and food.

• Eat when you feel your stomach is empty.
• Keep your environment peaceful and calm while you’re eating. Avoid eating in the car or any other vehicle.
• Avoid distractions while eating. Distractions are of many types like television, smart phone, tablet, books, newspaper, music or conversations.
• Eat according to the desire of your body.
• Eat until you feel full.
• Eat with pleasure and enjoyment.

These tips may help you experience true satisfaction and pleasure while you’re eating. You can get rid of sensations of shamefulness about your food cravings by following these tips.

Conclusion

Listen to your own voice to see what to eat. Giving up dieting opens a door of connection with your own body that you have lost due to diet culture. Food cravings are not just a desire for food but it is about your body;s need. Through food cravings your body tells you about its emotional, nutritional and physical needs. So listen to your body and try to eat accordingly. Treating your cravings curiously will connect you with your body leading to improved health. Eating happily brings joy and comfort to your life. You can reclaim the voice of your body by listening, respecting and trusting it.