Thursday, February 13, 2014

What do you really crave?

                             What do you really crave?


As Valentines Day approaches I think I’m craving dark chocolate as I see all the candy boxes in the grocery stores. But honestly, I don’t have to see a box of candy to crave dark chocolate!

I learned a while back that your body doesn’t crave what isn’t good for it. So if you are craving a food that is unhealthy for you it is not a craving, but an addiction. So we are addicted to that bad, but can crave only what is truly good for us. That actually makes sense to me. I have read that a little bit of dark chocolate several times a week is actually good for you!

1) Dark Chocolate is Good for Your Heart
Studies show that eating a small amount of dark chocolate two or three times each week can help lower your blood pressure. Dark chocolate improves blood flow and may help prevent the formation of blood clots. Eating dark chocolate may also prevent arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). 

2) Dark Chocolate is Good for Your Brain

Dark chocolate increases blood flow to the brain as well as to the heart, so it can help improve cognitive function. Dark chocolate also helps reduce your risk of stroke. 
Dark chocolate also contains several chemical compounds that have a positive effect on your mood and cognitive health. Chocolate contains phenylethylamine (PEA), the same chemical your brain creates when you feel like you're falling in love. PEA encourages your brain to release endorphins, so eating dark chocolate will make you feel happier.
Dark chocolate also contains caffeine, a mild stimulant. However, dark chocolate contains much less caffeine than coffee. A 1.5 ounce bar of dark chocolate contains 27 mg of caffeine, compared to the 200 mg found in an eight ounce cup of coffee.

3) Dark Chocolate Helps Control Blood Sugar
Dark chocolate helps keep your blood vessels healthy and your circulation unimpaired to protect against type 2 diabetes. The flavonoids in dark chocolate also help reduce insulin resistance by helping your cells to function normally and regain the ability to use your body's insulin efficiently. Dark chocolate also has a low glycemic index, meaning it won't cause huge spikes in blood sugar levels.
4) Dark Chocolate is Full of Antioxidants
Dark chocolate is loaded with antioxidants. Antioxidants help free your body of free radicals, which cause oxidative damage to cells. Free radicals are implicated in the aging process and may be a cause of cancer, so eating antioxidant rich foods like dark chocolate can protect you from many types of cancer and slow the signs of aging.
5) Dark Chocolate Contains Theobromine
Dark chocolate contains theobromine, which has been shown to harden tooth enamel. That means that dark chocolate, unlike most other sweets, lowers your risk of getting cavities if you practice proper dental hygiene.
Theobromine is also a mild stimulant, though not as strong as caffeine. It can, however, help to suppress coughs.
6) Dark Chocolate is High in Vitamins and Minerals
Dark chocolate contains a number of vitamins and minerals that can support your health. Dark chocolate contains some of the following vitamins and minerals in high concentrations:
  • Potassium
  • Copper
  • Magnesium 
  • Iron
The copper and potassium in dark chocolate help prevent against stroke and cardiovascular ailments. The iron in chocolate protects against iron deficiency anemia, and the magnesium in chocolate helps prevent type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. 
I wished all the foods that I think I am “craving” had these health benefits. So if they aren’t healthy, I need to ask myself why do I desire them?  Sometimes it just feels good to feed an emotion with food. Celebrations often lead to portions of food we don’t normally eat and certainly types of food I might not prepare for myself at home. Doesn’t it seem ridiculous that we choose to celebrate life events with foods that are not the healthiest for us?
So I figure an 80/20 rule. Eat 80% of the time healthy and 20% of the time foods you just want regardless of their nutrition.
Cravings and addictions run much deeper. We are addicted to certain foods because our body is telling us we are not satisfied nutritionally, so we keep trying to respond to our body’s message by giving it what it doesn’t need. When we have truly satisfied our body’s real needs, and not addictions we no longer want for something else.
We often feed our emotions with foods, instead of feeding our emotions with truth. We are often longing to be satisfied emotionally because we are not grounded in the truth in our everyday life.
So what are the basic needs in our life that we all crave that keep us hungry and filling it with the wrong things.
As human beings we all want to be loved. We all want someone to love, and we all want to have something to look forward to.
The world glamourizes a type of love in unrealistic ways that are impossible to live up to in everyday life.  Life has challenges and real love looks different than what is often portrayed on TV and in magazines.
So what is the truth about Love?  All truth begins with God.
John 3:16 says that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
So we definitely have one who loves us more than anyone in this world could ever love us, and who was willing and did die for us. Real love starts with God.
He created it, He demonstrated His love for us on the cross and it can never be taken away from us. Even if we are left feeling abandoned by someone else.
Romans 8:35; No one and nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.
So if this if you believe the bible is true, than here is a truth to cherish for life. We are loved deeply and have someone to love back who will never leave us.
Hebrews 13:5; “Never I will leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Heaven is a future we have to look forward to. Spending the rest of our life in eternity with the one who loves us most, the one we love the most and our loved ones who have gone before us sounds like a great future to me!
We have alot to look forward to everyday with God. Just like we love to give our own children and loved ones good gifts and blessings, so does God enjoy doing the same for us.
Psalm139:14-16
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Psalm 37:4 Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
I am convinced that until we truly pursue God, we will never be satisfied this side of heaven and will forever be longing for the His desire for us, yet trying to satisfy it with the wrong things.
Without God we will always seek after the world’s standards and ideals and allow others to have an agenda for our lives rather than God. In the end it is only God that will truly satisfy our deepest desires.
I am convinced that we don’t even know half of our desires, until we seek God first. He is the author of them all and knows how to give them to us.
What God intends for you, no man can take it away from you. 
All of this to say . . .
After 4 weeks into having started the new P90X3, it has proven to be a healthy choice for my body. I look forward to working out, it is short sweet and effective. I look forward to it each day.  My body is even starting to reject the taste of coffee. It seems all I’m truly craving to drink is nothing but water.
I have always been a water drinker, but the more good I do for my body I am seeing how my daily food addictions are not as strong as they used to be, until the next celebration where there will be an amazing dessert somewhere!

Happy Valentines Day!
Enjoy the dark chocolate, it is good for you.