Your Body Knows

I have always felt that if you listen to your body, it will tell you what food and nutrients it needs. A message will be sent in the form of a craving. Let's start off with coffee in the morning. The very first thing I do every morning is turn the coffee pot on. It has been fueled up the night before with water and coffee and it is locked and loaded, ready to go. There is no doubt drinking coffee the first thing in the morning is a huge habit. I also think the reason we need/want coffee the minute we get out of bed, is we crave the taste of coffee and the effect it has on us. It makes us feel more awake and ready for the day. I am one of those people that can eat the minute I wake up. I usually wake up hungry and eat very soon after getting up. It is a well-known fact that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and in my world, it is my favorite meal of the day.   

Do you ever get a craving for something? Have you ever considered that is your body telling you that it needs a particular nutrition. For instance, my body is really good at signaling me when it needs chocolate or sugar! It often says, "you need coffee to go with that". In reality, I will often find myself reaching for an orange or craving a banana. Those are quick fixes for Vitamin C and potassium. From time to time, I just need a drink of milk or some protein. I have found if I am craving something particular, I might as well eat it because the craving won't stop until I do.

I recently was involved in a two-day paddling clinic. The heat was unbelievable, and there simply was no way a person could replenish the water that they needed. The one thing that stuck out in my mind was when I got home on the second day, I sat down and ate a good portion of a chicken breast, straight off the bone, very much like a carnivore. The saltshaker was on fire; I couldn't get enough salt on it. I am assuming my body was in a depleted state of sodium because there is no way, I could ever have eaten anything with that amount of salt on it. 

I think that is why we all enjoy watermelon so much in the summer. Watermelon is 95% water, hence the name. It is a great source of hydration. In fact, some people drink watermelon juice before running as it is known to reduce their soreness for 72 hours. Watermelon is not high in fiber, but the fiber it does contain helps to support a healthy gut. It contains fluid and prebiotics, which stimulate the growth of good bacteria in the large intestine. Prebiotics help with immune function, inflammation and positive mood. We are all happy when we eat watermelon.

There is a new way of eating, it is called "intuitive eating". It simply means trust your hunger, fullness, satisfaction, and health cues rather than the rules of eating. It encourages eating all foods without thinking of them as "good" or "bad". Your body knows what it needs to eat by instinctively seeking out the nutrients it requires through food. 

It suggests eating when gently hungry, not starving. Our bodies need: protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and water. If you listen to your body, it will tell you what it needs. Your body will use a variety of ways to do that; you just need to listen to it.  

It is clear that people have a variety of food habits and tastes. I think most people eat at regular times during the day and have a coffee break in the morning and afternoon. I am a polished grazer most days. I like to put an assortment of foods on a plate for picking at. It is all about the presentation, it is the fun part of any meal. For some people it is important to eat healthy food, and they develop a real taste for it. I admire that in them, but that simply takes too much focus for me. The most important thing about food is, it is meant for enjoyment. Always remember, life is simply too short to deprive yourself of the food you love.