Eliminate Cravings For Greater Longevity

By Frances Keith


A person may feel that he or she is spending too much time wanting a certain thing. Or he or she may simply want a thing too much for his or her own good. If so, this person may want to eliminate cravings.

The definition of a craving: a formidable urge or inner hunger that comes at unexpected times. A craving can be for something unusual that a man or woman does not normally want. It can also be for something that other people would not normally want.

Everyday life can be adversely affected by having a craving. A craving can come at bad times: while in a deep sleep or hard at work during the day. Or even at more difficult moments such as in a crisis or while under a deadline.

Cravings often happen during pregnancy. Expecting mothers frequently experience them. Often they are for strange things such as hot peppers, radishes, or vinegar. Often expecting mothers experience them in combinations, such as hot peppers with yogurt or burritos and waffles. The strange, unexpected needs of expecting mothers can sound strange, but they can also represent hidden nutritional needs. For instance, a craving for hot peppers can represent a need for nitrogen or even sodium. A suddenly acquired taste for yogurt can represent a need for calcium or sugar. These urges are usually temporary and often disappear when the hidden temporary nutritional need is met.

Some desires are unwanted by those who experience them. For example, a woman may become addicted to lying inside a tanning booth because her body is hooked on the feeling that is created by the powerful UV radiation. Ordinary sunlight produces chemicals, hormones, and nutrients she may crave. Or she may crave the effect of ultraviolet rays on her internal sleep clock and body rhythm. A man may crave alcohol perhaps because he is becoming an alcoholic. At a social get-together he may drink in order to mask nervousness or due to stress. The same man may drink alcohol while he is alone because he longs for personal escape or because he is lonely. Regardless, someone may decide to eliminate his or her unhealthy impulses if the cost of indulging them becomes too great. If an urge or impulse produces problems with health or even financial difficulties, one may properly decide to eliminate the craving.

A craving can be rooted in physical or psychological circumstances. Physical circumstances involve nutrition, stress, and sickness. Psychological circumstances involve depression, anxiety, and other issues. The way to eliminate unhealthy urges varies depending on whether the craving is rooted in physical or psychological circumstances.

Physical cravings can be eliminated by addressing the physical causes. If a person has a poor diet, improving that diet can eliminate the urge or desire. If a person suffers from a disease or disorder, treating that disease or disorder can result in elimination of the urge or desire. If a person suffers from stress, eliminating the stress or at least managing it can result in the disappearance of the craving.

A craving that has a psychological cause is best addressed in terms of that cause. If a food is craved, perhaps because it provides comfort, then finding another way to get the same comfort can eliminate the hunger. If someone is suffering from clinical depression, and as result craves a certain food or activity, then getting the proper treatment for this depression whether through counseling or getting medicated can eliminate cravings.




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