Craving Deconstruction—It Actually Works!

Either you control your cravings or they control you.

In order to be able to deconstruct our cravings (food or otherwise) it’s important to look at what a craving is exactly. Cravings can be divided into three main categories: serving, distracting, connecting.

Serving Craving: If you have a real need for something that will have you feeling and living more EnergyRich™ then you have a SERVING CRAVING. These cravings may or may not make sense by societies standards. You need to get to know YOUR body. For example, some people DO crave citrus fruits when suffering from a cold or flu, but some DO NOT. It may also be about your need to get some exercise, have a moment to yourself, take a bath. Whatever it is, if it will leave you more connected to your body, the people around you and your life… go for that craving.

Distracting Craving: Unlike a Serving Craving a desire for a food or activity that drains our body’s energy is DISTRACTING. The effects of giving over to these cravings is detrimental for your body and your life. This type of craving is for foods or activities that you know deep down are not doing your body any good: sugar, caffeine, alcohol, staying up late, disrespectful relationships…a few examples.

Yearning and desire are a part of life. We yearn as human beings to have a full experience living our lives. Our bodies also physically yearn for stimulation, water, touch… A Distracting Craving fools us into thinking that the stimulation through sweets or negative action is what we are looking for, but what we are truly craving are positive experiences.

Connecting Craving: When we yearn for food or an activity that has a deep connection to our past experiences this is a moment of a need for CONNECTION. There may be a time that heeding this craving is a good idea—a trip to Italy to remember the time you were there with your grandmother. Then there are times that don’t do us so well—ice cream after a hard day of work because that was what we were given after a bad day at school. **A helpful exercise—Ask yourself: how often are you having these cravings and how often do you give into them? If you are living on a day to day or week to week basis unconsciously guided by these cravings and using them as reasons to not take action on changes you want to make it is TIME to STOP. Any excuse you are telling yourself is actually keeping you from your FULL future.

The next time you feel a craving instead of using that as permission to go ahead (I HAVE to have it; I’m craving it!) take a deep breathe and ask yourself, ‘What am I really wanting here?” Often, just that pause and that question are enough to slow you down. Then you are living your life from your TRUE choice.