Why Do We Crave Things
Why do we have desires? Why do we want the things that we do? Where does the hunger deep inside our brains come from?
We receive cues from our brains; That are reminders to do something. It causes an emotional response. Which causes dopamine to be pumped in the brain when the action is completed. These things cause us to want more of it.
For me I am addicted to soda, I tried replacing it with tea, It didn't work. I tried juice; It didn't work.
Then I started to carefully analyze why I loved soda so much. It was clear that I loved the bubbles. The slight pain you get in the back of your throat when the CO2 bubbles touch it. The sweetness. The icy coldness of the soda, The anticipation of the sugary perfection coming up through the straw. It's something I feel I need each day, Even though I know it's bad for my body.
Could our brains really work that simply?
It quickly takes over our mind when we are deprived. We feel naked without it, We need it.
When I go without soda, I am known to get up, Walk to my fridge and open it for no reason. I struggle with this; I subconsciously feel the urge to go to the fridge, Even if the soda is not there.
I open it, Forget what I was trying to get. then sit back down to work, And the process happens again and again.
Our Prefrontal cortexes are affected by our cravings. It takes over, We urgently need it. If you are a smoker, you may feel this. You NEED it now. Even though it's extremely unhealthy, your body wants that.
The more we perform an action, The stronger it gets over us. Smokers for ten years Will struggle more with quitting than a one-year smoker.
The impact of our habits cues the dopamine to get stronger and stronger. We become more addicted to the idea of it, and We start to modify our brains to encourage us not to stop until the addiction is satisfied.
The great thing about all of this, Is with some work we can make our choices more healthy. Imagine if I ate a piece of fruit instead, Everytime I had a soda urge come on. I would be thinner and healthier.
Not all cravings are bad, Whenever I get cold, I get the cue to take a hot shower, Even if I showered a couple of hours ago, and I just sat at my computer for hours, I feel the need to shower again, This isn't the best habit. Because its bad for the environment, It wastes resources. So instead I should grab a blanket to keep warm. It's important to regularly analyze yourself to ensure what you are doing on a regular basis is reasonable.
Many of us spend a lot of time on autopilot. Performing our daily activities without even a second thought. But this auto pilot can cause us to miss out on great opportunities in life. We may give into our cravings more when we are zoned out, But we have that opportunity to save money, time and live a healthier life when we pay attention to what is going on around us.
Thank you pixabay for the photos
People don't have the ability to live their life with a "observer" of themselves. I mean, if people starts to see what they are doing, without comparing, without trying to define as a good or wrong, and just see the true and pure fact of what they are doing, them, maybe they could start doing a better analyze of they attitudes and do the corretions.
I mean, people do things automatically, according to what will satisfy themselves. But, is a complicated away of living. I belive everything we do will affect the life of someone, don't matter what person or what place in the world they live. So i try to do things without hurt the society, even if this hurt be insignificant.
But i don't know for sure, people are to much complicated. They live according to their believe, not to the reality.
Wow I love the way you described this!
This is not medical advice, I am no expert. I'm not qualified at anything.
Carbs are highly addictive and make you constantly crave for more. It's a cycle of eating a bunch of carbs, which leads to a crash, and then the craving of more carbs. It is possible to obtain energy via fat in the form of ketones , right now I'm thinking specifically of mct oil. You can put it on salads, or in your coffee, or just swallow a couple teaspoons of it. Fats can sate the hunger for longer periods of time, and don't entail the same type of crash that carbs do which cause the vicious cycle to repeat. So you can get the benefit of the food energy, without being enslaved to eating. As far as the soda goes, another idea is taking carbonated water and mixing it with flavored stevia drops, lookup sweetleaf they have 17 different flavors. The body stores excess carbs as fat, yet supposedly it does not store fat as fat. So the logic is kind of backwards from what you might think. Anywho, I would listen to your body and try being very in tune with it. You don't want to go wild on any single theory. Eating zero carbs could even end up being dangerous so you have to find a way to strike a balance. Allot of times less is more when trying new things.
Wow thanks for the tips! I agree, My mom tried a diet way back that involved eliminating carbs and she was so ill, When she ate a little bit of carbs she felt much better, Everything in moderation!