Food cravings

This article is an unusual departure from my restaurant reviews and kitchen experiments.

I tend to be hungry a lot of time, even though I think I am eating a healthful diet. I also put on weight easily, but I can also lose steadily if I exercise right. I’ve decided there are certain type of foods my body craves and if I don’t eat the right type of food, no matter what I eat, I will still be hungry.

For example today:

Breakfast: 3/4C steel cut oats, with 1/2C Greek 0% fat yogurt, 1 C strawberries, pineapple and blueberries. 1 C green tea
Snack: 1 scrambled egg with diced tomato, carrots and celery, 10 veggie sticks (carrots, cucumber, celery), and 1 can of salmon (130cals)

I was still hungry after that (I have a desk job!) so I had a 180 cal peanut butter and chocolate bar. Still hungry. I tried a package of sea snax seaweed (16 cal). Still hungry. Maybe I am craving fat. I poured myself an 1/8th tsp of extra virgin olive oil that I keep for my lunch salads. Bingo! Within 5 minutes, my hunger pangs went away.

Anecdotally, I notice that when I have serious hunger that my head spins, sugar or simple carbs will fix it, temporarily. If I have this unsettling growl in my stomach, it’s usually protein or fat. I suspect fat because in this case, the protein didn’t do it.

I’m also very active, today is one of those days I have less exercise, so maybe my body is still recovering.