What Came First? The Craving or the Emotion?

What came first? The craving or the emotion? I crave and then have an emotional response? Or, I have emotions and then I crave? Well, we can crave something for both physiological and emotional reasons.

Let's start with the physical reasons we crave something like sugar. First, everyone’s body is unique. Some individuals are more sensitive to sugar. For many, consuming sugar can only lead to craving more sugar. The cycle can look like this:

• You eat sugar

• You like it and crave it more

• Blood sugar levels spike, dopamine is released which feels damn good

• Blood sugar levels subsequently fall rapidly

• You feel hungry and crave food to try and continue to find homeostasis in your body

• Low blood sugar levels increase hunger and we can experience cravings for sugar and carbohydrates to try to stabilize our blood sugar levels and the cycle repeats

We may feel horrible at first, but taking out a craved food that has sugar in it will decrease our reliance on that food to feel good in our body. We will be taking ourselves out of the highs and lows and be able to feel more grounded and emotionally stable throughout our day. If you want to experiment, give your body two weeks to adjust to not eating your craved food for your body to find a new equilibrium.

Emotionally, we can get curious about why we choose to continue to eat foods that leave us feeling tired, bloated, sad, inflamed, and ungrounded. It is not that we can't ever have those foods, but we can ask ourselves why do we feel we DESERVE to feel tired, bloated, sad, inflamed, and ungrounded? Why do we believe we deserve to feel less than vibrant and bright?

Every time you choose to eat foods that leave you feeling uncomfortable, there is something deeper going on. It can be a belief around your worth, it can be a role you're playing in your life that is not resonating anymore, it can be an avoidance of emotions that feel, on some level, too intense to process, it can be trying to spark different sensations and emotions in your body that feel more pleasant to experience.

When a craving arises, we can practice exploring what emotions, thoughts, and beliefs are present and how is food coming in as a way to distract from those things that feel perhaps painful to come face to face with. You have a choice in that pause around what actions are going to support you in the moment and long term as well. Sometimes, the desire to feel pleasure, peace, calm, and relaxed will feel like it needs to happen immediately and it will, at times, feel worth it to deal with the physical discomfort later.

If you decide to reach for your craved food, that is alright! This practice is not about perfection. In those moments, you get to meet yourself with compassion. The eating is done. There is nothing you can change about what occurred. You can explore what is the next most emotionally satiating act you can engage in to continue to invite gentle loving kindness into your being. 

Being in relationship with your cravings in a brand new way is also not about restriction. Saying no to a food doesn't mean you're on a diet. Setting a boundary with foods that don't support you in feeling energetic, mentally clear, and emotionally grounded is you stepping into your power around what you deserve.

The more we say no to the foods that don't make us feel great, the less we will actually crave those foods. You will be giving your body space to release that craving where it will no longer feel as desirable. The longer you go without eating foods that make you feel horrible, the less reliance you will have on them to make you feel good.