Slenderized - A Dieter’s Journey

Yesterday, I admitted that I fell off the wagon, but I also touched on a topic I wish to expand: learning to listen to your body’s needs.

I’ve never been much of a red meat eater. Since childhood, I’ve stayed far away from it and when I do eat it, it must be char-burned (cooked to the point of burning) and I must see no red whatsoever. I believe it stems from a hamburger Happy Meal incident from my youth — after taking a huge bite into the hamburger from the Happy Meal, all I could see was bright pink and it traumatized me.

But, I digress. Every so often and out of the blue, my body will crave something, for instance, red meat. Other times I would crave blueberries and bananas (two other foods I’m not very fond of). And I began to wonder why my body would start craving foods it knows my tastebuds do not find friendly. I wondered, that is, until I looked at something else: What was in each of these foods.

Red meat contains protein and iron, blueberries contain antioxidants and bananas contain potassium, manganese, and vitamin B6. When I truly thought about it, my body wasn’t telling me what foods it wanted, it was telling me which nutrients it needed.

Here’s my theory. Your body has a very sophisticated way of telling you what it needs by nudging you in the direction of foods you’ve already eaten at least once in your lifetime. (It’s rare you’ll ever crave something you’ve never eaten before.) As you eat various foods, your body takes subtle notes of what it takes from each of these foods for reference later.

Having discovered this, now, when I start craving red meat, I can usually pick up a bag of beef jerky or drink a protein shake with an iron supplement. So, the next time that you find yourself craving something, stop and think about what’s in the something. It means that you’ll probably be able to make healthier choices (unlike me at Steak & Shake the other night).

Filed under: Diet Tips