Cravings and Willpower

Have you ever suffered from out-of-control food cravings and assumed it was your lack of will-power that lead you to polishing off the entire tub of ice cream, extra large packet of crisps or pack of chocolate chip cookies in front of your favourite TV programme? Did you wake up the next morning feeling guilty and frustrated with yourself for allowing this binge to happen, for the third time that month? Did you find that you were full of resolve and good intentions, but knew deep down the same thing might happen again soon, even if you did not have a tub of ice cream taunting you in the freezer or any junk food in your cupboards? I know I have been there at various times in my life.

It is easy to beat ourselves up and feel a failure when this happens. All the processed foods that really hit the spot with cravings are intentionally engineered to make us want to eat more and more of them. Large food manufacturing corporations, dedicate a lot of time and research into finding the bliss-point of certain foods, to encourage consumers to become totally hooked and keep on buying them. These companies are under huge pressure with shareholders to make increasing profits month on month and year on year. How can any of us fight against that?

The Good News!

Cravings are a very complex thing that need to be carefully worked through, but one of the main reason we find ourselves unable to resist overeating is not due to our lack of will power or even that certain foods are intentionally produced to be extremely addictive. In fact they often have less to do with actual food and much more to do with our lifestyle and how we are feeling and doing.

Primary and Secondary Food

A key concept I learnt as a student at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, is Primary and Secondary Food and it underpins my coaching. They are counter-intuitive terms because Primary Food is in fact everything that nourishes us off the plate and Secondary Food is the actual food we eat.

The four main areas of Primary Food are Work, Exercise, Relationships and Spiritual Practice. These can be broken down further into creativity, finances, health, home cooking, education, home environment, social life and joy.

Fully Nourished Life

The idea is that in order to live a fully nourished life, we cannot focus purely on food and that Primary and Secondary foods are co-dependent. Most of us tend to focus purely on our diet and think that if we can just sort that out, we will lose the weight, regain the energy we want, or fix whatever health problem we need to. However, while nutritious, whole, unprocessed food is key, in order to benefit fully from it, we need to make sure that the other elements in our life that nourish us, are in balance and harmony with our values and aspirations. We can drink all the green smoothies, eat all the home-cooked meals with fresh organic ingredients we like and cut out sugar from our diet, but if we are not enjoying our work, have a toxic relationship with our partner or some friends and don't make time for regular, enjoyable exercise, then our health and wellbeing will be compromised and we will not thrive fully. Our digestion will not work as well and we won't be able to use all the nutrients we are carefully putting into your body. The stress we experience will cause chronic inflammation in our body and we might experience sleep problems, low moods, cravings, weight gain and many more unwanted issues, despite following a great, nutrient rich diet.

So Where Do Cravings Fit Into This?

There is a close connection between cravings, Primary and Secondary Food. It is always important to dig deep and find the "why" or the root cause behind our behaviour. If you explore your personal situation when you have been craving certain foods, you might find that it was during a time when you were unhappy, lonely, bored, frustrated or angry. Often if we are feeling strong emotions but not dealing with them, it is easy to mistakenly feel hungry for actual food and crave certain junk foods, when in fact we are "hungry" for Primary Food. We could be in need of emotional support, understanding, the comfort of being held and listened to and a deep and meaningful connection with others. It could be that we need to take a close look at one or two aspects of our lives that are not working for us and think of ways to improve them.

As a Nutritional Health Coach, I obviously spend a lot of time discussing the food my clients eat, but we spend just as much time exploring and improving their Primary Food. Through asking high mileage questions, taking time to work through the answers and then discovering solutions, we identify the root cause of most cravings and successfully gain control over them. It can be as simple as finding a form of exercise they love instead of dread or the more complex issues of a difficult relationship, work situation or life purpose.

When we are "full" of Primary Food, we thrive, our soul is full and we satisfy our "hunger" for life. Actual food stays secondary, simply providing the nourishment for our bodies to function, be healthy and do the things we love. However delicious our Secondary Food is, it does not come close to giving us the joy, meaning and fulfilment that Primary Food provides.

Our body does not tend to make mistakes and is an incredible bio-computer. Our heart does not miss a beat, our lungs don't forget to breath and our pupils dilate when it is dark so we can see better. If we crave certain foods then our body is probably not mistaken either. Instead, it is signalling to us that there is an imbalance somewhere.

If you look at cravings from this perspective, we realise it is a very different approach to the one which puts cravings down to a lack of will-power. It is a relief to know that we are not in fact weak, but need to identify, explore and address an imbalance somewhere in our lifestyle. With a little careful exploration, patience and self-compassion, you are more than able to take on and defeat those cravings. Our cravings become a thing of the past and willpower no longer really comes into it.