the idiot's guide to cravings

I've distinguished two types of cravings. One type you should listen to, because your body is infinitely wiser than your mind. Your mind can trick you, but your body will always tell you the truth about how you're feeling or about how healthy you are. So listen to it. That said, I experience two types of craving: basically, cravings for junk food and cravings for real food.

My junk food cravings are mostly for sugar, I've had a terrible sweet tooth all my life that I basically kicked after reading Energía sin limites de Deepak Chopra. I still crave sugar a lot, but much less than before. As a sidenote, I was at a healthy weight before I read this book, but lost 5-10 pounds after reading it, because I cut back on my sugar and flour intake and instead began eating more whole grains (brown rice, quinoa, mote, oats) and white rice. I still indulge in sugar from time to time, but not on a daily basis.

My other cravings are for coconut milk, mote, vegetables, whole grains, chocolate (with very little sugar), etc. I can tell they are real cravings because 1) these are healthy foods and 2) I feel better after eating them. Whereas when I indulge in eating excess sugar, I later feel heavy and lazy, leaving me with low energy. So there you have it. Trust your body's healthy cravings. If your body feels better after eating what you crave, it means you needed the food. You can train your body to crave healthy foods. Just start adding more vegetables and wholegrains to your diet and your body will get used to them and crave them. This way you use cravings to your advantage.

I do sometimes crave sweet things that my body really wants and I eat just a bit, and feel better afterwards, but this happens maybe a couple times a week and I only eat a little, because my body is just craving a bit. I always have something a bit sweet after eating a meal with garlic. I don't know what it is about garlic, but I always follow this with something sweet.