Cravings
Now may be a good time to think about cravings.In my view there are mental / emotional cravings and physical cravings, each needs to be thought about a little differently.
Mental Cravings
Your mind loves being stimulated (don't be embarrassed everyone does :)), whether its channel surfing, continual texting, passing judgements mentally and/or verbally your mind likes to keep itself busy. One source of stimulation is food based. It just loves to taste the wonderful foods out there, and will encourage you to eat as often as possible in order to receive that stimulation.
Emotional Cravings
These I see as a variant of mental cravings, although they are more specific in that at some level a positive association between food and happiness has been created. Not that this is always a bad thing, its good to enjoy your food, the problem begins when due to feeling stressed / tired / unloved, you are eating as a compensatory mechanism rather than because you are hungry.
Physical Cravings
These come in a couple of variants also. The first one is honest to goodness hunger, I think we can all recognise this one - but be careful it's harder than you might think. One of the indicators I will use is my stomach rumbling loudly and often - if that's not happening then I'm not hungry. I will also consider how much work I am expending vs my previous intake and decide if I am really hungry or not. Again this is where self knowledge comes in.
The second variant is similar to emotional cravings but in this case your mind / brain is addicted to food. There is a lot of material out there regarding the possibility of addiction to carbohydrates being similar to that of heroin. I am not a medical professional however I have seen from my own and others experience that giving up favourite carbs and / or fasting can be extremely difficult.
How to deal with Cravings
There are a few methods that can be used to deal with cravings:
Distraction
While I was still adjusting to fasting I would use this method a lot. You tell yourself that whatever you are craving you will have in 30 minutes if you still want it. You have to be strong with yourself on this. Then keep yourself busy / occupied - in 30 minutes or whenever you notice the craving again (after the 30 minutes) do the same again. Tell yourself you will have it if you still want it in 30 minutes. This is a great method for gaining control.
Have a drink instead
And by drink I mean water (or my preferred water beverage water with lemon juice), often times we confuse being hungry for being thirsty. Fasting is a great way to get to the point where you can tell when you are thirsty and when you are hungry. A great resource on the benefits of water and thirst vs hunger is 'The body's many cries for water' by Dr F. Batmanghelidj
Exercise
Exercising reduces hunger, and also helps you burn calories and a whole host of other wonderful things. Another fantastic resource regarding the effects of exercising on the mind and brain can be found in 'Spark - The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain' by John J Ratey M.D
Introspection
Sometimes figuring out why you are craving something can help unwind the craving trail and you'll discover you no longer want it. For instance, lets say you are craving crisps (chips to US readers), its commonly considered that the desire for crunchy foods is linked to stress. You may ponder what it is you are stressed about - this is easy when you know what it is, its more difficult when you don't, but sitting and reflecting and looking over your day can sometimes yield some useful insights. As you may have noticed across the various posts on here, I am a firm believer in Fasting as a method of personal enquiry and knowledge and it is in dealing with our cravings that the greatest insights may be found.
Thoughts
Ultimately cravings and emotions are mental reactions to various things, that is they are thoughts. Thoughts in my view are NOT your you are NOT your thoughts, however we tend to identify with them and when we do we lose perspective on who we are.
Identifying yourself with your thoughts, is one of the reasons that we will give into cravings, however, if we can maintain the perspective that the thought is just a thing that floats in and out of our mind and doesn't belong to us more than to any other person (and yes I know its hard :) ) it becomes much easier to stand apart from the craving and not give in.
Meditation is a good way to develop the mental focus that allows us to stand apart from thoughts. Just another tool in your toolbox should you be so inclined.
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