Pre-GAPS, my cravings were for Twinkies, Smarties, pop, etc. Especially in hot whether or after any exertion, I turned to these, desperate for a sense of replenishment.
Over the past week, I’ve started doing Bikram Yoga. During the first class, I was quite well but by the fourth, I felt terribly sick and dizzy with sensations of tingling throughout my limbs. The instructor noted that my symptoms indicated under-hydration. I had been drinking water, but we know that water in and of itself is not truly hydrating: we need electrolytes.
Coconut water and a homemade electrolyte didn’t really satisfy me. I went to the store and worked intuitively: What is my body asking for? I was drawn toward a number of foods, including dates, bananas, kiwi, canteloupe and other melons, and nectarines. I selected an orange and dates. At home, I ate meals centered on avocados, tomato paste, fish and yogurt. I drank several cups of kefir. I felt better and better upon ever bite of these foods. The following day, I got a first-ever hankering for dried apricots so ate a load of those. By this point, I felt very well indeed.
Wanting to be better prepared for next time, I finally Googled ‘foods high in potassium’. The list absolutely affirmed my intuition. Other lists explicitly name kefir and fish. (This one, too, is quite GAPS-friendly.)
Pre-GAPS, leanings cannot always be trusted. On GAPS, our awareness becomes far more finely tuned.
That’s very cool Baden! Sometimes I really crave dates, but I thought it was because of the concentrated sweetness. Recently it’s been nuts, especially almonds. I must admit, though, that I do crave chocolate at times–even though I take extra magnesium. A whole raw cocoa nib or two can squelch the urge. I know it’s not really ok on GAPS, but if I stick to that I can avoid the sugar in chocolate. Funny how our bodies work, isn’t it?
Thank you. I’ve had both the negative & positive experience with cravings. First, the negative: my cravings for sweets & carbs. That was the Candida talking. After starting an anti-Candida diet, those voices went *silent*. The anti-Candida diet I’m on now includes twice daily veggie juicing and the elimination of all honey, winter squash, and all fruits except for a little lemon and lime here and there. I’m two months into the anti-Candida diet and so far so good. I’ve had absolutely ZERO cravings for sweets since beginning the anti-Candida diet. I believe the veggie juice helps a lot. It’s rather sweet itself, due largely to the carrots I believe, but now with all sweets out of my life, even veggies such as romaine lettuce taste sweet to me. Who would have thought?
My positive experiece was with garlic and kimchi. When I was stationed in Korea for 2.5 years in the late 90′s, I took to eating kimchi with every meal since it was offered in the dining facility for the Korean soldiers in our units. Then I started popping raw garlic cloves, sometimes a half dozen at a time, eating them like grapes. The Koreans themselves eat garlic that way too.
My wife made me stop after I got back from Korea and out of the service because of the odor …
Fast forward 10 years, and I learn in GAPS that I ought to be eating a lot of raw garlic (and fermented foods like kimchi!) – and the garlic with meats – just the way I was craving it way back when in Korea. It appears that that was truly my body telling me to do something healthy for myself. So far so good.
Now my wife has to let me eat all the raw garlic I want!
What a fun comment, Gerald! Thank you for that
Best,
Baden