“God has given me POWER over my food choices. I am supposed to consume food. Food isn’t supposed to consume me.” -Lysa TerKeurst, Made to Crave

Ohhh cravings… imagine if we didn’t have them. Imagine if we never craved delicious dark chocolate or some form of sweet sugar? What would it be like to NOT crave creamy, cappuccino crunch ice cream and Justin’s peanut butter cups? What if I didn’t wake up dreaming about smooth, rich coffee every morning? I used to wish that I didn’t have any cravings at all! It was so hard to resist the temptation to indulge. I somehow always felt guilty when all I really wanted was to feel satisfied.

Fast forward a few years to my current ‘healthy relationship with food’. Thankfully, I’ve learned that cravings are not the problem at all! In fact, I love my cravings!! WHAT?? Yep, I’m serious. I love my cravings because I love satisfying my cravings. Cravings are NOT the enemy. In fact, the more you get in tune with your body, the more you realize that cravings are actually a good thing!

The concept that ‘you crave what you eat’ couldn’t be more accurate. I crave dark chocolate, mint chocolate chip ice cream, and gluten free pizza… but I also crave stovetop oats, loaded vegetable salads, lean protein, nourishing avocado, and fresh fruits. The key to controlling my cravings was learning to balance them.

Instead of restricting my sweets and forcing myself to avoid sugar (which ALWAYS leads to overeating) I’ve learned to eat a little sweet every. single. day. I used to be so all or nothing. I would avoid sugar like the plague and after a few days of (what felt like) torture, I’d finally cave and eat all the sweets (plus some) that I had avoided. Then I’d swear to never touch them again. You know the drill.

Thankfully, that was years ago and I’ve since learned to eat (and enjoy!!) my sweets daily. I no longer worry about cravings because I’ve trained my body to crave foods at certain times of the day. I look forward to enjoying nourishing balanced meals with a small portion of sweets afterwards. This also helps prevent the sweets from spiking my blood sugar. My advice to control cravings? STOP thinking of them as the enemy. Instead, learn to nurture those desires and keep them in balance. Once you stop restricting your favorite treats and banishing them from your life, then there’s no more pressure to panic and consume them in excess! Plus, learning to eat in a  more balanced way has taught my body to crave whole, natural, nourishing foods for the majority of the time. That’s my BALANCE 🙂

How about you? How do you feel about your cravings?