Chocolate! Potato chips! Cookies! Pizza!
I’m in pain, and I want sugar and fat and I want it NOW!
But why?
To some extent, I know that I want sugary and fatty foods more when I’m in pain because they’re comforting. I’ve read the research about how sugar affects the brain in a similar way that heroin does. I get it.
And when the pain is especially bad, I allow myself to eat more junk than usual. So maybe it’s also a bit of that association. Those are probably why I wanted sugar this morning.
But now it’s different. Now it’s a need more than a desire. Like when I crave a hamburger and then a few hours later I get my period. My body is saying: you’re about to lose blood, you better eat some iron. It makes perfect sense. But I feel that same kind of craving right now for fatty and sugary foods and I can’t imagine why.
Are my energy reserves low from fighting the pain? Is this my body’s way of telling me I need to beef them up? (so to speak….) Is is something else along those lines?
I’ve learned a lot about my body in recent years, but this is one mystery I don’t know how to solve. It will have to wait until later though. Right now, I need to go forage in the kitchen….
What about you? Do you experience these kinds of cravings? What do you think causes them? How do you handle them?
Chronic Rants 
Burgers, pastries, candy and potato chips. I agree with you, I tend to have a hankering for meaty beefy goodness right before shark week, but I would probably be happy for the rest of my life eating only burgers for dinner. The past few months have been especially bad (involving sending the man of the house out at 10:59pm to hit the local burger stop as it closes). Normally over the last few years I’ve gotten really good at only indulging when I’m at my worst or on special occasions, but a mix of more than I can handle pain days and the fact that my stomach only tolerates fiber-less crap these days means its my main diet. I’ve always been an emotional eater so I definitely think that plays a huge role in using food as comfort when all else fails along with the chemical reaction the trifecta of sugar, fat and salt have on the body. In the end it’s more important to get SOMETHING into the body than nothing but it’s definitely not good to turn it into a habit long term. We need the nutrients from non junk options (not to mention variety), possibly even more than healthy folks.
Thanks for sharing, Ms. Mango! Your right, it’s probably even more important for us to to have healthy, balanced diets. It’s so hard to fight those, cravings, though. Good luck!