Continuing on the cravings theme from last week, I have something to share with you.
Remember how we talked about honoring your body’s cravings, even when you’re craving something bad for you? Well, I’ve been craving something, and lately I’ve been having an internal debate – “should I just eat it? No, I can’t just eat it, it’s not right.”
I’ve been craving chicken.
WHAT?! I’ve been craving CHICKEN?!
Yes, I’ve been craving chicken. For those of you that don’t know, I’m a tried and true PROUD vegan, and have been for almost 2 years. Before being vegan, I was a vegetarian for 4 years. It’s been a long time since any kind of meat has come near my plate, let alone my mouth.
So why chicken?
I’m thinking there are probably two possible explanations for this strange craving. The first is that I’m missing some of the nutrients that chicken can provide me with. The second is that for me, chicken could mean comfort and a complete meal. I used to survive on chicken. I was never a red meat kind of girl, but I loved me some chicken.
So it’s probably a combination of both. I just got my blood work done and discovered that pretty much everything is in the recommended range, which is awesome. I know I’m not suffering from some major deficiency, but maybe there’s something in the chicken that other plant-type proteins can’t offer me. It could also be partly an emotional craving. I’m around chicken all the time at work, and to be honest with you, those pear salads look much better with chicken on them than with a scoop of beans (protein option number 2). As I mentioned, I also have this intense background of eating chicken, and my body could be associating it with other comfort foods.
Am I going to eat chicken? To be honest with you, I haven’t decided yet. I don’t want to ignore my body’s cravings. I also don’t know if I could physically go through with eating a piece of meat. The idea of eating a cute little animal, even if it was pasture-raised and slaughtered humanely (don’t get my started on how “slaughtered humanely” is such an oxymoron), just doesn’t appeal to me. So I’ve got myself a little conundrum here.
If you were me, what would you do? Have you ever craved something that you thought maybe you should but you reallllllly didn’t want to? What did you do? I’d love to hear from you!
I became vegan for ethical reasons, not because I didn't like meat. But I wouldn't eat meat again even if I had a craving for it, for the same reason I wouldn't kill someone to take their money even though I really like money. There are a lot of meat substitute products out there, and they've come a loooong way. For example, Trader Joe's has a "chicken-like strips" product that's pretty good. Why not try things like that and see how you feel?
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