This most simple question was asked of me recently, and it made me smirk. Why do we crave pizza over broccoli? Intellectually, we know that broccoli is more nutritious and serves our primal body’s needs. We should be craving foods that prolong our life expectancy, not shorten it, right? The answer as to why we crave one over the other is not that simple. You have to go back thousands of years to begin to understand how our bodies developed cravings for wheat when it was introduced into society. Then, you have to fast forward to the postindustrial era when wheat was mass produced, and from there you have to arrive to around World War II, when wheat began to be genetically modified and hybridized to create stronger more resilient strands of the original forms of wheat. See, our relationship with Carbs are complicated.
But that’s not what you want to know, right? You want to know, how you feel like you can eat pizza for days and crave zero Broccoli. There’s a few possibilities and causes for this.
- Wheat and grains are imbedded in our DNA and part of our genetic makeup. For many generations back, someone has been eating breads and variations of wheat based products and its part of your DNA structure to physically crave it. While animals in the wild only crave and hunt food that fulfills their primal needs. We are domesticated humans and no longer rely on our ancient primal needs to survive.
- PHYSIOLOGICAL: You know all those 21 day detoxes and kick starts you read about? It’s backed on the science that our bodies need 21 days to physically release the cravings from certain foods. I believe that it takes a minimal of six months to establish, create and develop new habits that your brain will default to on a regular daily basis, but as far as not craving pizza to begin with; you just have to stop eating it for a solid 3 -4 weeks in order to get the body to physiologically begin to reset itself. ( and that’s just the start of this difficult process ) In other words, it’s a little bit addicting.
- PSHYCHOLOGICAL: When you were a child, were you given some steamed broccoli after a bad day? Or were you treated to some warm obey, gooey dish to make you feel safe, warm, protected, celebrated or “better.”? Pizza and other starchy carbs have been used on us since we were children as a quick, cheap and soothing device. I see adults eating pizza in many strange ways. They start picking at their children’s slices, then finally accept their desires and go in for it. I see the “I am so bad for eating this “talk before they begin to eat it as well. Pizza has a charge attached to it that goes back a long way. It’s part of your psychological makeup to actually have a “relationship” with food of this type. Through help with a Health Coach, that charge can be worked on to be removed and pizza can just become a regular food that can be eaten occasionally and sparingly with complete guilt free enjoyment. Our habits beget more habits. And the more you eat a certain way and have the same patterns surrounding a “charged” food, the more difficult it is to stop.
- GMO and pesticides: Pizza is made from flour and eggs which are most likely not Organic. This means the chickens that hatch the eggs are commercially raised and fed a poor diet and are on antibiotics to keep them from getting sick. This also means that the flour used to create the dough is most likely sourced from fields that contain Roundup and other anti-fungal disease resistant chemicals. These agricultural chemicals are addicting. See this article on how GMO’s really are the biggest source of food addiction.
My advice to you is to give yourself the gift of eating a clean and whole food based diet for One month and reset your palate. It will make it much easier to start craving more broccoli and less pizza! Need help doing so? Contact me and find out how I can help you create an individual diet and lifestyle plan based solely on your personal needs and preferences!
Diana Schiro is Certified Health Coach and holds a M.S.Ed. A lifelong interest in food, health and wellness practices has led her to professionally pursue a career in educating others about how to truly be healthy through food and balance. Diana advises lifestyle changes by emphasizing strong core nutritional values and simplifying how to add them to your life regularly.
For Health Coaching Diana can be reached at www.dianaschiro.com
