“But my body told me to eat meat” and other lies
A little while ago I came across a blog written by someone who was talking about how he tried becoming a vegetarian several years back. He said he starting having severe cravings for meat, which he acted upon, never to attempt going vegetarian again. “My body knew what it needed, and was telling me in the form of cravings. It was telling me it needed meat.”
It was one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read. Sure your body needs certain foods to stay healthy. But if it could accurately communicate those needs to you via cravings, wouldn’t we all be eating perfectly-balanced, healthy diets? Why is it that the most common cravings are for junk food? Because our bodies really need more Doritos to perform their best?
The truth is that cravings are only an indicator of what you (as a conscious human being) want, and not of what you need. If what you want is to eat meat, or ice cream, or twinkies, then that’s your choice to make, but don’t fall victim to the ridiculous excuse the blogger I mentioned earlier used. Just because you crave something doesn’t mean your body is better off if you eat it.
Isn’t that funny I have a very good freind who says she HAS to eat meat -because she has low blood sugar and gets sick if she doesn’t.. hmmmm.. we traveled together to thailand and i guess she felt guilty and keeped repeating this to me as her diet consited of mostly meat..I never said a word to her.. she was very defensive about it.
Well yes, there are needs and there are wants. And I certainly can see how it might be easy to use a craving as an excuse not to stick with a particular diet, but I really think there’s more to it than that.
FoodNerd, for example, who has no need to look for excuses to eat meat has also described having the sudden craving for red meat, and then realized that she was hitting “that time of the month” as it were. And she’s also had occasion to have cravings for leafy greens and other fresh veggies, often after eating a lot of processed foods while traveling for business. And yes, she is kind of odd — she was known for requesting green beans for dessert as a child — but I think it goes beyond just wanting to eat something.
I guess I’m just saying that I wouldn’t want to be totally dismissive of the idea that your body is going to do it’s best to try and let you know what it needs. I think there’s more to it, but I think at this point it goes well beyond what I can adequately sum up in a comment.
Is this something they teach at Harvard? How to make your body communicate to you via cravings?
But seriously, for every woman who craves red meat during ‘that time of the month’, there are hundreds who crave chocolate or potato chips. How can we say that one is the body expressing a ‘need’ but the other cravings aren’t?
Actually, I’m not. Who’s to say there isn’t something in potato chips or chocolate that your body really does need? Setting aside that these things are traditionally considered “bad for you,” sometimes your body might need more salt or some amino acid or its pH balance might be off, and maybe it has learned through experience that it can get substance X from Y, even if it sadly also comes with A, B & C which really aren’t good for you. And for what it’s worth, I don’t think this contradicts Pollan point about thinking about foods over nutrients.
I don’t think FoodNerd’s experience has everything to do with a history of eating a large variety of foods on a regular basis, which in my mind, may allow her body to be more specific in identifying what it needs. Unfortunately, with the decrease in variety due to the preponderance of processed foods (a point also made in Pollan’s recent article), your average consumer (at least here in the U.S.) has a much more limited palette for a body to crave from, as it were.
I actually have a low blood sugar problem…well actually it is a reaction to sugar or simple carbohydrates. When I was young I would get sick, pass out if I ate sweets without protein. I actually thought it was normal to drink milk with bubble gum. Since I’ve had my daughter this syndrome? condition? has improved a lot. I can actually enjoy pasta now. I only had to eat protein with a meal if the other components of the meal were simple carbs. which when I was young was every meal. Anyway (IMO) some people do need protein to level their blood sugar.
Hi Lily – I think you’ve misunderstood my point. I’m not in any way suggesting that people don’t need to eat protein. There are lots and lots of vegetarian protein sources in the world, and it’s even possible to eat a high-protein diet that’s completely vegetarian.
I’m glad that you have found a way to lessen your problem. A life without pasta would be tragic!
Dude (may I call you Dude?) – you’re still not selling me on the value of a craving that leads someone to eat something that may or may not improve her overall health. I’d be more likely to believe that a craving is a way for your brain to say “Hey, I’m bored! Let’s go entertain ourselves with food!” than “Hey, our processed cheese-flavored powder levels are dangerously low! Refuel post haste!” It’d be fabulous if our bodies could instinctively lead us to the right food choices, but that doesn’t seem to be what happens. It seems our conscious minds need to take control of the menu in order for us to eat healthily, especially in the food environment that exists today.
Jul- No misunderstanding. Just wanted to point out that people have different nutritional needs. Maybe this guy needed more protein or more iron or more salt and his body was telling him that through his craving. Instead of looking for ways to incorporate more protein/iron/salt in his diet he started to eat meat again.
IMO cravings are an indication of something …even when it is for candy or cookies…after all the body needs sugar too.
My diet is ridculously strict but I actually enjoy the foods I have assigned myself to eat. However, there are periods of my cycle that my body will think of nothing other then Salty foods, or red meats. Things that I wouldn’t eat if I wasn’t on a diet. This is more then dumb people wanting Dorritos.. its the internal system evaluating what it lacks and triggering the brain to find it. Very easy for some of you to be opinionated because it doesn’t happen to you.. but you look like twits. Read some science books in between your well thought meals ladies.
Interesting, I can never remember a time I have had a craving for meat. Sugar, salt, yes definitely, I am a junk food fiend and that’s where my cravings come from. But when I was eating meat, I can’t say I ever had a craving for meat or vegetables (I rarely ate them at that time) any more than I do now that I’m a vegetarian.
I found this topic quite interesting. I am a college student and while at school i eat mostly soup and cereal. I probably haven’t had meat for a good five weeks, and the past few weeks I have been craving red meat. I find it really interesting because I am not into red meat at all. When I’m at home, I have it about once a week, but now that i haven’t eaten any meat for a long time, I am craving it. I do believe that my body is telling me something. You can think its stupid if you want lol but i do think my body is telling me something.
Personally if I didn’t have meat for the rest of my life – I wouldn’t miss it. I’m usually grossed out by meat – all kinds. But I’ve been craving it. My body has been screaming at me lately. It’s just like when you know you’re getting sick. When your skin hurts, your joints ache and you just know you’re going to get a fever. You tell your friend, boyfriend, sister or mother and when they put the thermometer in your mouth it says – normal. The next morning you’re burning up with a fever. Our body has natural triggers. It literally talks to us. I had gained 15 pounds last year and I started to crave water. I don’t know what that means but I craved water constantly. I started drinking 3 to 5 liters a day. I stopped drinking soda, milk and artificially flavored drinks. 1 year later, I dropped the 15 pounds plus an extra 8. I still crave water believe it or not – I can’t walk out the door without my body forcing me to go back and drink water.
And for years, I only ate chicken when my body craved meat. Now? I want to vomit when I smell, taste or see chicken. Today I craved meat so much I unwillingly ordered a hamburger. I ate less than half of it because as soon as I bit into it…..my body was just satisfied. I was fine. I didn’t need to eat the fries or the rest of the burger.
My friend had started a new job and within 4 months she started to have pain in her neck. It got worse every week. She could move her neck by week 3. She finally went to the doctor who said that she must be under stress because she had a pinched nerve. She had to wear a neck brace and with a doctors note she took a vacation, had the company order a new more comfortable work station for her and asked to have an elevated desk so she could stand during the day. The company asked her not to work overtime anymore – her boss was scared of being blamed for her stress.
Please don’t ever reject what your body is telling you.
And don’t ever under estimate the power, strength, intelligence and mechanics of your body. It’s truly a miracle.
Let me weigh in here–pun intended, I guess. There is a lot to food cravings, and while not claiming to be an expert, I have done some research and have some background on nutrition and biochemistry.
Now, while Miami above says not to “ever reject what your body is telling you,” how do you know what your body is telling you?
Let me digress a little and talk about cravings. There are two types of food cravings: Emotional food cravings, and actual physical food cravings.
Emotional food cravings result from four basic emotions: fear, anger, shame, and stress. Without getting into them too much, it is safe to say that they, of course, trigger various cravings. There may be no physical need in the body that the craving is addressing with regard to emotional food cravings, and there may not be an easy way to determine emotionally why one is craving a certain food. There are some generalities, however; experts believe that anger may lead to cravings for crunchy foods, for example, but these, again, are only generalities.
Stress may also cause chemical imbalances in the body, so stress-caused food cravings could be emotional, physical, or some combination.
Actual food cravings may be easier to decipher, however, because there are only a few general classes of physical food cravings. There are carbohydrate cravings (including sugar), salt cravings, and fat cravings.
Carbohydrate cravings may be due to depletion of the neurotransmitter serotonin, while explicit cravings for sugar could be the result of chromium or phosphorus deficiencies, as well as the body’s levels of dopamine, another neurotransmitter.
Salt cravings could be the result of dehydration or a symptom of adrenal exhaustion.
We also crave fatty foods. Fat in our diet helps regulate our appetite, giving us the “full” feeling. A believed craving for meat or protein is actually a craving for the fat in meat. There is no physical craving for protein, since protein is flavorless. Neither is protein “filling;” both proteins and carbohydrates provide four calories per gram, while fat provides 9 calories per gram.
So when you think you are craving that burger, you are either experiencing an emotional food craving, or crave the fat in the meat. Or both.
If you think you’re craving meat for the iron, try leafy green vegetables, nuts, and dried fruit. Contrary to some opinions, vegans do not exhibit higher levels of iron deficiency than the general population since vegans consume 3-4 times the US and British minimums for vitamin C, which enhances iron absorption.
Your best bet is a giant salad with avocado, raw nuts or seeds, cold-pressed olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice. Don’t worry–you can eat as much avocado, raw nuts and seeds, and raw oils as you want without gaining weight–but they have to be raw. Raw and cooked oils are completely different–but that’s a topic for another time.
Enjoy.
What I have taken away from all dieting attempts thus far is that listening to your cravings is vital to eating healthy–listening to them, not caving immediately. I also believe that there is always a reason for a craving, but like any other impulse you have to pause and interpret it. When your mind sends you hunger pangs, your body might be trying to tell you its hungry, or it might be saying, “I’m dehydrated, and you didn’t listen to me when I told you I was thirsty, so…” I personally get cravings for french fries. Yummy salty fries. So I ask myself, do I really want the salt or the potato part? Once I get past that, I decide if I really want the potato or potassium or carbs. I then eat accordingly. There are many kinds of cravings for food, like boredom, habit, comfort, or actual thirst and hunger. It takes time to learn to read those cravings for the actual need, and unfortunately in the US we’re pretty much trained to stuff our faces for every problem.