As folks who care about regeneration, it behooves us to tune into subtle cues our bodies send us. These can include mood changes, variable energy or focus levels or food cravings. Anyone who is carefully following a diet for health reasons is right to be suspect of cravings. A hankering for a bag of potato chips or a pint of ice cream may not be one you want to give credence. However, cravings like these might reveal clues to deficits that can be tended more productively. For instance -- the craving for chips might indicate a need for electrolytes or sodium and the ice cream craving may simply indicate lagging energy and focus or a psychological need for comfort in the face of stress. Obviously, carefully curated food and/or activity choices may help the moment pass in a more beneficial way. Coconut water, miso soup, kombucha tea or other naturally fermented foods may help with the electrolytes. A nap or a warm cup of tea with a favorite book, or a block of dark chocolate or even an almond butter/raisin/vanilla smoothie might be better choices to allay the exhaustion or stress that elicited the ice cream craving.
I've been pretty healthy since I've paid more attention to lifestyle, but I recently had a perfect storm of stress and environmental toxins which led to a lengthy illness. My baby entered her freshman year of college, our room got fumigated for bugs and I caught a whiff of my husband's cigar. Then my daughter came back to see her friends, who brought germs from their own freshman dorms to share with us all. Long story short, there were a couple of weeks there which passed in a haze of upper respiratory distress. I sipped organic boxed soups or ate frozen meals but had no appetite. I was just existing. As my health began to return, I was heartened by a little craving. I wanted kale. I wanted toasted seeds. I wanted onions and garlic and organic raisins. I wanted grass-fed butter and the sunshiny squeeze of fresh lemon on top. Good craving -- I was healed.
