"craving a food means your body needs something that food can offer" now what the fuck does my body need with an ice cream
it makes your brain happy! your body could use some joy too
no everyone shut up and listen. truths were said
in all seriousness, if you're craving ice cream, it's likely that your body needs fat and carbs. If ice cream isn't an option for whatever reason, you can try to feed yourself something else with a significant amount of fat and/or carbs. You may also be dehydrated if you're craving sweets.
That said, sometimes your body and brain do genuinely just need a pick me up.
The more frequently you practice intuitive eating like this, the better you'll get at figuring out what it is that your body is asking for.
Also, a great trick is to take a look at what you're craving, note the nutritional contents (fat, carbs, protein, plant matter/fiber) and try and figure out what else sounds tasty for your particular craving. This can give you more data points to go off of. For instance, if you're craving ice cream, but a sweet roll sounds just as good, it's probably carbs your body is asking you for. That said, if you're craving ice cream and a sweet roll doesn't sound good at all BUT a bagel with strawberry cream cheese or avocado toast DOES sound good, you know it's fat you're needing.
If all you're craving is ice cream and nothing else sounds worth the effort, you may just need a low effort mood boost, which is also totally valid! This can also help you even if you can't have ice cream, because now that you know what your body actually wants, you know there are more ways to fulfill that order than the way it asked you to!
also, uh.. Migraines. I started getting a migraine and all of a sudden I just NEEDED Ice cream. I had some in the freezer so put some in a cup, went off, and it was instantly fixed. Turned out the cold in ice cream can alter the blood flow via the veins in the top of the mouth and that somehow can fix migraines? Ice water will do the same. But if you are getting a migraine, try getting ice cold water or ice cream to the roof of your mouth as a first step fix.
I have genuinely never regretted listening to my body when I had a genuine craving.
A couple of months ago, when we were trying to get my insulin/blood sugar all set and I was struggling real hard, I also had a HUGE craving for shellfish. I generally don't eat shellfish on account of, you know, Jewish, but when all I could think about for DAYS was eating COLD SHRAMP RIGHT NOWWWWW, I went and got some.
I felt better right away, and my wife pointed out that we usually use sea salt in our food, which usually doesn't have iodine in it. She got us some sea salt with iodine, and I stopped dreaming of shrimp, and my blood sugar/insulin situation calmed down, bc iodine helps glucose processing.
Also like... even though it was extremely treyf, it made me feel good to listen to my body and give it what it asked for, even if it was a "forbidden/bad food" the way that most Americans talk about ice cream. Sometimes just listening to yourself is what you need as much as anything.
It makes you more confident in your body, and that's rad.
Also, I use that ice cream trick for migraines all the time.
The Talmud actually directly addresses the topic of severe cravings and for the record, eating treyf in your situation was absolutely following halacha:
ŚÖ·ŚȘÖ°Ś ÖŽŚŚł ŚąŚÖŒŚÖžÖŒŚšÖžŚ Ś©Ö¶ŚŚÖ”ŚšÖŽŚŚÖžŚ â ŚÖ·ŚÖČŚÖŽŚŚÖŽŚŚ ŚŚÖčŚȘÖžŚÖŒ ŚąÖ·Ś Ś©Ö¶ŚŚȘÖžÖŒŚ©ÖŽŚŚŚ Ś Ö·Ś€Ö°Ś©ÖžŚŚÖŒ. ŚŚÖčŚÖ¶Ś â ŚÖ·ŚÖČŚÖŽŚŚÖŽŚŚ ŚŚÖčŚȘŚÖč ŚąÖ·Ś Ś€ÖŽÖŒŚ ŚÖ°ÖŒŚ§ÖŽŚŚÖŽŚŚ, ŚÖ°ŚÖŽŚ ŚÖ”ŚŚ Ś©ÖžŚŚ ŚÖ°ÖŒŚ§ÖŽŚŚÖŽŚŚ â ŚÖ·ŚÖČŚÖŽŚŚÖŽŚŚ ŚŚÖčŚȘŚÖč ŚąÖ·Ś Ś€ÖŽÖŒŚ ŚąÖ·ŚŠÖ°ŚŚÖč ŚąÖ·Ś Ś©Ö¶ŚŚÖčÖŒŚŚÖ·Śš ŚÖ·ÖŒŚ. MISHNA: With regard to a pregnant woman who smelled food and was overcome by a craving to eat it, one feeds her until she recovers, as failure to do so could lead to a life-threatening situation. If a person is ill and requires food due to potential danger, one feeds him according to the advice of medical experts who determine that he indeed requires food. And if there are no experts there, one feeds him according to his own instructions, until he says that he has eaten enough and needs no more. (Yoma 82a)
That does actually make me feel a lot better, thank you!
(Seriously, fixing my iodine levels REALLY helped my body regulate sugar.)
Iodine levels are a whole thing thatâs been backgrounded in a lot of countries because we get it through iodized salt, but if we stop getting our required iodine it can really fuck us up.
