my body is not completely crap after all

[baratron]

You always get to hear about the myriad of ways in which my body's broken, but I hardly ever get round to telling you things it does well. So... today I woke up craving toast with Marmite. Now, this might not seem like an odd thing to fancy first thing in the morning, but I haven't actually eaten Marmite since I was 16 or so. Obviously I'm low on B vitamins, so my body decided to make me crave something high in them. And we had Marmite in the cupboard from when Alexa fancied some recently. Having eaten four slices of toast (with Marmite), I feel a lot better.

My body is actually remarkably good at making me eat things I need. I have the usual premenstrual woman craving for chocolate, and also when I'm getting depressed for other reasons. But I can crave all sorts of healthy things as well. Short of calcium? I'll crave hot chocolate (this being the only way I can bear to drink delicious soy milk). Short of vitamin C? I'll crave orange juice. Low in iron? I'll want to eat cabbage. (Until the IBS started, I would think nothing of eating an entire baby cabbage by myself over a weekend). Lacking in protein? I'll fancy Quorn or eggs or Linda McCartney sausages (my protein trigger is obviously less specific). It's kinda cool. I'm always surprised when other people moan about their food cravings because they only ever crave stuff that's bad for them. Mine are almost always useful.

Comments

[gerwinium.livejournal.com]

Heh :) You're lucky that way. I usually crave for biscuits, d'oh!

[ailbhe]

My food cravings work this way too. I crave salt when dehydrated, spinach and eggs for iron, and beans for protein. I rarely crave meat for protein; I think my body doesn't "count" meat as a source of food, although I eat it. I often wonder what will happen when I get pregnant (when, not if, please o lord) - will I crave ordinary things or weird things?

[lindsical.livejournal.com]

when i was pregnant i craved medium rare steak and strawberries

[lizw.livejournal.com]

I think my cravings are quite reliable in that way, too, at least when I'm not pregnant. I never did quite work out what nutrients were contained in Rice Krispies, wine gums, peppermints or Caramac bars that I needed so badly during my pregnancies ;-)

[inthisdiary7.livejournal.com]

THAT fucking ROCKS!