Brian here. Jessica and I were talking the other day. Neither of us were hungry yet both wanted something sweet. It’s a curious situation to be in that most of us are pretty familiar with.

Jessica was walking me through the back and forth she goes through each time. “I want something, but I can’t tell if I want something because I’m hungry or because I want something. I mean, I’m not hungry. But I want something. You know? Or is that just what hunger is? Am I just hungry?”

Which brought up a curious question. How do we tell the difference between being hungry and being whatever that other feeling is? For the sake of making up words, we’ll call it “cravy.”

My handy Macintosh dictionary tells me that “crave” means, “To feel a powerful desire for something.” Ok. If I’m stranded on an island and haven’t had a sip of fresh water for days, am I craving water? Given that I’m probably struggling with the question of, “Should I drink my own urine,” I’m going to say yes. I’m currently feeling a somewhat “powerful desire” for water. But how do we know that water isn’t just an indulgence?

Of course that’s an exaggeration. For people who’ve been stranded on desert islands, fasted for a few days, grew up in impoverished sub-Saharan Africa, or just had some hard times, you may know exactly what starving is. But for the rest of us lucky post-depression Americans who’ve never had to share bath water, sometimes the most difficult question to answer during any given day is, “Should I eat something right now?”

A google search of “Clinical Definition Craving,” leads to more vagueness. McGraw-Hill’s Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine admits definitions of cravings are ”Both imprecisely defined and difficult to measure.” At this point it’s becoming clear that cravings are vastly un-understood even in the medical world. This holds especially true for their implications on drugs and alcohol, but I can see a greater difficulty with food.

There’s little more wholesomely American than sneaking back for a second sampling of a nummy something at the grocery store on Saturday morning. If the nice woman in the hair net were serving a vial of amphetamines, I’d say easily that your desire to return was cravy as a loon. But it’s a pizza pocket, it’s yogurt you can drink, it’s juice. And I’ve yet to drink a yogurt that drove me to prostitution. “Bad” foods are so seemingly innocuous and publicly acceptable that it’s a strain just to tell them from the “good” ones.

At this point I’ve given up on simple answers. Jessica likes this explanation by Karen R. Koenig, psychotherapist, educator and published author who writes,

“Whenever you have a craving, don’t act on it immediately. Consider why you have the craving and whether eating is the right answer. Reflect on your hunger, your emotional state, and what you’ve eaten already during the day. Make sure your desire isn’t due to a diet mentality and feeling deprived of foods you love. Have a taste of what you crave and notice if it’s really what you want. In short, always think before eating, then take it slow and keep paying attention.”

Find the whole article at:  http://stanford.wellsphere.com/healthy-eating-article/the-meaning-of-food-cravings/423967

Yeah, that sounds about right. But that’s far to cogent an answer for my liking. I prefer Askmen.com’s suggestion of, “Most food cravings last no longer than 20 minutes, so if you can distract yourself for that long after your cravings hit, it will likely pass and leave you in peace. Try engaging yourself in an activity that requires intense focus — walk your dog, write down all the knock-knock jokes you can think of, or call up a friend.”

Hmm.

This solution satisfies my humorous craving not only because I consider walking a dog to require less than “intense focus,” but also because I know not more than 9 seconds worth of knock knock jokes including the part where someone else goes, “Who’s there?” and “Orange you glad I shoved all those Krispy Kremes into my mouth who?” Moreso, this solution reminds me of someone playing hide the ball with themselves instead of their dog. (Picture the fake throw.) “Where’s the ball? Where’d the ball go? Who’s got the ball?”

It’s right here. I have the ball.

Karen Keonig is right. There’s a cognitive debate waged each time we go cravy. Think it through. Deal with it now instead of ignoring it and you’re going to come out a lot better prepared to deal with it next time.

Photo by: K.C. Hohensee

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