The Hunger Games: Making the Case to Embrace Your Food Cravings

It was the same story most afternoons. As the day wore on I would notice the tension building inside of me, my mind would become increasingly preoccupied, and my mouth would start demanding to be fed. I’d sense the awakening of my inner cookie monster, my nemesis, that unwelcome visitor that drove me straight to the pantry, followed by a pit-stop at Guilt City.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that my sweet cravings were trying to get my attention. They were asking me to look deeper, to respond to a somewhat intangible hunger which, once served, was a hell of a lot more satisfying than cookies. Instead I spent copious amounts of mental energy wrangling with these cravings (usually to no avail), cursing them, and cursing myself for giving into them.

Sound familiar?

Does giving into your afternoon sugar cravings make you feel weak and deficient in willpower? Are you convinced you are just a helpless sugar addict?

I’d like to offer you another possibility: This may simply be your body giving you a very important signal, and perhaps and invitation.

Early Warning

When our stress levels in life are high (job stress, relationship strain, even anxious thoughts about food and our weight), our bodies produce more cortisol – the “stress” hormone responsible for making us store weight around the midsection.

But did you know that high cortisol also CAUSES sugar and carb cravings? AND, it desensitizes you to pleasure so that it takes even more of those foods to satisfy you. So it may not be weakness at all!

What a great alert system from your body that you may need to get some support or make some foundational changes to ease your life stress! Because no matter how much you resist that sugar, if your cortisol is still high you won’t address the root cause of the urges.

Plus, we’ve been trained to interpret cravings as indicative of some sort of deficiency or moral weakness in ourselves. We’ve been taught to infer that the very fact we have cravings is a sure sign that we are in the grips of addiction or are otherwise powerlessness in the face of temptation. And that causes even more stress!!

Do you see where I’m going here? What you resist persists.

What if, instead of making yourself wrong for your cravings, you accepted the signal and responded to it?

Look a Little Deeper

In addition, I believe our persistent food cravings are an opportunity to explore what’s missing in our lives on a deeper level. Craving chocolatey treats all the time? Maybe you are longing for a little more sweetness or pleasure in your life. Overcome with the urge to munch and crunch? Perhaps you need to release some anger.

Take a look at some of these commonly craved foods and the desires they are associated with:

Our inner guidance can be very symbolic. It doesn’t always come right out and say, “{firstname}, you really need to create a fulfilling outlet for your sexual energy.” Instead it sends a signal of an appetite for something that represents sexy fun pleasure! When you are willing to ask the question about what part of you really wants to be fed, you can get some miraculous answers. And you can often sit back and watch as those unwanted, and ultimately unsatisfying food cravings fall away.

See the other place I am going with this? What you embrace dissolves.

Back to my story: What was I really hungry for? Permission to want what I want and be who I am. My own love & sweetness. To be doing work that I love. As soon as I started to nourish those appetites, that cookie monster hit the road.

So, what are you really craving?