Cravings

Think about the foods you crave.  What are they?  Pizza?  Nachos?  Candy?  Or maybe fruit?  Salad?

Fruit?!?!?!?

I was thinking about this while talking to one of my patients today.  She is someone who has made some major changes -- she now follows a low-fat, mostly vegetarian diet.  She also now exercises regularly.  Her cholesterol numbers, as a result, look fabulous -- her total cholesterol dropped from 239 to 139, and her LDL (the so-called bad cholesterol) plummeted from 168 to 71.

She tells me that she feels better eating lighter, and she doesn't crave a lot of the heavier foods that she used to eat.  She was surprised to find herself craving healthier items.

I can understand that from my own experience.  While I once craved fast food, I now crave things like apples, strawberries, carrots with hummus, oatmeal, and even salad.  Granted, I still enjoy a little bit of chocolate or ice cream occasionally.  But those aren't regular staples of my diet.

If you are thinking about making changes to your diet, keep this in mind:  As you make positive changes to your diet, you will feel good, and your body will crave the healthy foods that make you feel good.