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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Cravings

How to deal with food cravings? 

Four weeks into mostly raw vegan eating I certainly don't have all the answers, and I'm not perfect.  This morning I had pancakes for breakfast.  I don't feel guilty after all they were made of rice flour, and almond milk not butter and wheat.  I think it's much more realistic to eat something cooked every once in a while, and not think so rigidly about how I want to eat. 

The first week I was craving chocolate, bread (gluten-free), cheese and pop.  I tried to focus on why I was craving these things:

  • I think I was craving chocolate because I wanted the instant pick-me-up.  I think it was a bit of an after dinner habit too.  When I was done eating, I wanted something sweet so badly.  I substituted really sweet fruits, usually a gala apple after dinner usually takes care of it.  Or carrot, apple, orange, ginger juice.  Such a sweet treat.  So yummy, my step-mom had a sip and went out and bought a juicer!  It's that good.
  • Bread.  I swear I'm a carb addict.  When I first became a vegetarian, all that meant was that I stopped eating meat and ate more bread.  Enter celiac disease and I was forced to quit bread.  I mourned the loss, but after a while, I didn't miss bread very much.  And then I found the awesomist gluten-free bread.  Like a true addict, just one taste and I was hooked.  I'm not sure why, maybe because it makes me feel full?  I remember reading signs in the park that said do not feed the ducks bread because it fills them up, but they get fewer nutrients and don't have enough fat on them to survive the winter.  Empty calories.  I don't need to eat to bread, I want to.  I've pretty much white knuckled my way through these cravings.  When it's been ready bad, I eat air popped popcorn.
  • Cheese.  I thought when I was craving cheese it was because I needed calcium.  Cheese isn't a great source of calcium at all.  It is however, super high in calories and fat.  Usually, this craving went with a bread craving.  omg, the grilled cheese sandwich craving was ridiculous.  Every single day for at least a week.  When the cravings were bad, I ate almonds or peanut butter.  I have eaten so much peanut butter!  Before a container would last be over a year.  Not anymore.  When I was counting calories, I wouldn't eat it at all.  But now that my diet is so super low fat, I can afford the calories.  My favorite snack is celery, peanut butter and raisins.  Another favorite is fresh coconut, I haven't had fresh coconut in 10 years.  So good!
  • Pop.  Not just any pop, coke.  Sweet bubbly calories.  This has been the easiest craving of all to beat.  The juice was the cure.  I look forward to drinking green juice so much!  The flavours are so intense, pop doesn't even compare.   
I think my taste buds have changed.  Maybe they forget what so much sugar tastes like?  Somewhere around the 2 week mark, I broke and ate a chocolate bar.  But I only took a few bites and threw it in the garbage, it was so sweet it made me sick.  Before there was nothing that was too sweet for me.  I think it's not the foods that we crave, it's the way we feel when we eat them.  But it's a roller coaster ride!  Feeling so low, and then zing! I feel great, and then so low again.  I feel more even now.   

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