Trusting Your Food Cravings

Hair Mineral Analysis helps us understand many food cravings. Most people tend to trust their food cravings. However, at deeper levels, often one is simply self-medicating to compensate for biochemical imbalances. For this reason, sticking with the recommended diet and not giving into your food cravings is often important for the success of nutritional balancing programs. Examples of how biochemical imbalances cause food cravings include:

SALT CRAVING IS USUALLY DUE TO A LOW ENERGY LEVEL AND WEAK ADRENAL GLANDS, WHICH CAN CAUSE AN ABNORMAL LOSS OF SODIUM. Eating some good quality sea salt is helpful for most slow oxidizers, in particular. Table salt is harmful and can cause high blood pressure and other problems. Never add salt to drinking water, as this is very dangerous.

SUGAR CRAVINGS ARE USUALLY DUE EITHER TO HYPOGLYCEMIA, DIABETES, LOW ENERGY LEVELS OR HIDDEN YEAST INFECTIONS. Rarely, other causes may exist.

CHOCOLATE CRAVING CAN BE DUE TO A LOW OR HIGH SODIUM/POTASSIUM RATIO. This imbalance may occur before the menstrual period in young women. Chocolate contains some magnesium, copper, often lots of sugar, and theobromine, a stimulant that is similar to caffeine, but a little milder. While some health authorities recommend dark chocolate, it is not part of nutritional balancing science. One can obtain antioxidants from other sources in a better way without the sugar, copper and other yin qualities of chocolate.

SPICY FOOD DESIRES MAY BE DUE TO A NEED FOR MORE DIGESTIVE JUICES OR AN INABILITY TO TASTE NATURAL FOODS. Spicy food can stimulate stomach acid and may also stimulate the adrenals. Uncooked chili peppers are high in vitamin C and beta-carotene, among other nutrients, which a few people need. Once may also crave spices to stimulate the appetite.

FRUIT CRAVINGS MAY BE DUE TO A NEED FOR SUGAR OR EVEN THE ACID CONTENT OF FRUIT THAT GIVES A SLIGHT "HIGH" TO SOME PEOPLE. Fruit is also easy to digest for anyone with weak digestion. Those with strong digestion will find fruit does not satisfy very well because it digests too quickly.

CRAVINGS MAY BE A WAY TO STOP AN ELIMINATION OR HEALING REACTION. If that elimination process is unpleasant in some way, a person may crave a large, heavy meal to "feel better." If she feels a little better, it is because it stops the elimination process for a few hours or so.

WOMEN, IN PARTICULAR, MAY CRAVE YIN FOODS, SUCH AS SWEET TEA, FRUIT, COOKIES, CAKES, TOMATOES, JUICES OR MOST SPICES. This is complex and has to do with not wanting to become to yang, even though it would benefit most of them.

What is yin and yang? These refer to specific qualities of life or physical existence on planet earth. Yang is more male, contracted, hot and centripetal in direction. Yin is more female, expanded, cool and centrifugal in direction. For example, a healthy body should be slender, warm and athletic. This is a more yang condition for both men and women. A better yin-yang balance greatly increases adaptive energy, restores negative feedback loops, restores some enzyme systems and greatly increases the energy efficiency of the body. True fast oxidizers, which are very few, are much more yang, while stress fast oxidizers and slow oxidizers are more yin. Balancing yin and yang is also essential for mental and spiritual development.