Intuitive eating and cravings – understanding and addressing them
Sometimes when starting our Intuitive Eating journey and making peace with food we can experience cravings more often, or more intensely. What does this mean? And how can you navigate this experience - I’m here to help.
What are cravings?
Cravings are different from hunger in that they tend to develop suddenly, regardless of current hunger / fullness signals and tend to focus on a particular food / meal. You may become preoccupied with this food or meal and be fixated on it until the craving ceases, or you consume the food.
Cravings can be triggered by sensory experiences - sounds, sight, smell, touch - or particular people, places as well as marketing or social media. Sometimes we may not even recognise what caused the craving.
Why am I experiencing more cravings?
First things first cravings aren’t good or bad they’re just a part of the hunger experience. It may be that you’re exploring the Intuitive Eating principles and have released any food labels, with no food off limits you are overwhelmed by choice and available options. Maybe the off-limits food you have been cutting out for years is what keeps popping into your mind. It’s a side effect of rebounding from dieting - and often passes with time.
Some other reasons -
You’re more in tune with your body (hooray) - it may have been that you’d previously ignored cravings and so didn’t realise how common they are. Or what foods you actually crave. As you start to tune in with the body you can see what food you actually want to eat and why.
It’s physical hunger - as we start to navigate eating enough after a long period of restricting it may take a while to recognise hunger signals and listen to them. Craving certain foods may be a sign you are physically hungry. C
Pseudo permission - Are you actually giving yourself unconditional permission to eat? Or are you giving yourself pseudo permission and actually dieting? By still labeling food as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ you may start to crave these forbidden foods, as you would when dieting.
Emotions / stress etc. - Are you experiencing emotional eating? Emotional eating is normal, and something we all do. When experiencing a high level of emotion, cravings can kick in for comfort food.
Hormones - Especially if you are someone who experiences menstruation and are experiencing your first period after a long time without your body experiencing such hormonal fluctuations.
There are other reasons alongside these, but they tend to be the most common. And sometimes you don’t have to have a reason.
So what do I do?
There is nothing wrong with having cravings.
Sometimes they pass, sometimes they persist. It’s recognising - are they a sign of something more - dieting, restriction, emotional stress etc.
Here are some tips that might prove helpful -
Tune In / sit with it - We often want to get rid of uncomfortable sensations, especially if cravings feel overwhelming. But sitting with it - what are you experiencing? What does it feel like - is it physical in your stomach. Are you imagining the food, smelling it etc.
Ask why - Ask yourself if anything triggered this craving. Was it something someone said, a scent in the air, a memory…
Just a bite - Sometimes when we crave something it might be due to a certain flavour, texture or more… let yourself savour that. There’s an Intuitive Eating / Mindful Eating etc. exercise of taking one square of chocolate and letting it melt in your mouth. Savouring the taste, the texture etc. and letting that craving be met mindfully.
Unconditional permission - are you giving yourself unconditional permission to eat or pseudo permission? Reflect on this - it may be that you’re still labelling food, or feeling some food is off limits. This can increase the likelihood that this will lead to more cravings of these food types.
What can I add? - Craving certain flavours? How can you add it to what you’re currently eating? Rather than removing things, addition can help meet this cravings and ensure you’re satisfied and needs are met. E.g. craving chocolate (sorry for the repetition but it’s the easiest example) can mean adding a square to porridge alongside fruit, or making some banana bread with chocolate in it.
Celebrate and savour - Once you eat the thing you crave don’t let guilt and shame take over. We’re ditching diet culture remember. Enjoy eating what you were craving, use your senses to savour it. And see how you feel afterwards, did it scratch that itch. Or do you feel conflicted, negative etc? Probe that.
Eat mindfully - We often eat when distracted, I do it all the time so don’t use it as another thing to fuel guilty about. But mindful eating can help us tap into hunger, fullness, satisfaction and more… Should you be craving something, take some time to eat it rather than between meetings, or as you walk out the front door. Make it into an experience.
Eat enough - Restricting can lead to cravings, and feelings of not being in control around food. Making sure you eat enough to satisfy those physical hunger needs can help you identify what is not physical hunger…
And if none of the above work, maybe exploring what these cravings are, what triggers them etc. can be useful to better understand your body. Your relationship with food. If you want some 1:1 help I’m here via the button in the corner.
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