Balance

[Sandra]

Hi everyone, I have been trying to figure some things out...what's new eh? It's about the connections from feeling good to feeling really bad with regard to diet and cravings.
I was talking to my nephew the other day at lunch and the topic was alkaline and acid balance within the body. It meant something to me as for a long time now I have noticed a real pattern with regard to how good i felt and wierd food cravings and dehydration.
First i love fresh fruits and veggies and I love to cook very fresh and light with light, fresh and tasty foods. However it seems that if I am well I live very well this way. I would eat lots of mixed salads and roasted veggies,olive oil, lemon, ,fresh grated black pepper maybe a bit of cheese and some nice bread and for snacks lots of fresh fruits like blueberies, peaches, pineapple and melon. Not much of meat eater because I find with the sjs it's hard to swallow and digest.
Now if I begin to feel unwell I almost right away crave dill pickles, saurkraut, mustard, beef and chocolate and bread. And can not handle any of the other foods I listed first, it makes me really sick and visa versa. Sounds wierd but I know this is no longer a hunch it's a fact. I sure wish I could figure out why as I really think it would explain allot about how I feel and am sure it would help me to find a better balance and feel much better all the time.  Anybody have this kind of issue? Is it just about dehydration and salt, because all the time when I am feeling unwell and crave those pickly/vinegary flavors I am feeling very dry as well. Thanks Sandra

[Scottietottie]

Hi Sandra 

I haven't got it figured out but I'm a great believer in the body telling us what we need a lot of the time. I had an incredible craving for Brazil nuts at one point, having never had before.

It turned out my thyroid was turning underactive. Selenium helps T4 to convert to T3 and Brazil nuts are very rich in selenium.  I also got a craving for tonic water. Now tonic water has quinine in it and quinine is an anti-malarial. The craving stopped when I was put on Plaquenil.

I still haven't figured out why I wanted to eat soap during two pregnancies though.    Antacid maybe? 

Tke care - Scottie 

[Patze]

Hi Sandra,

I'm with you on the cravings thing; I've been craving beef (mostly beef jerky) & pretzels (very salted) for a while now.  Normally I don't eat beef (mostly fish & chicken) and if I do eat pretzels, it's usually a variety with no added salt or totally salt free.

Oh, my folks used to swear there was something wrong with me because I used to drown my vegetables in vinegar (especially my greens) - I still crave it (but I pretty much quit using a lot of it in my late teens).

I wish I knew what my body is telling me, I think it would be very telling.

Take care -

Patze

[Sjenny]

Chocolate raises endorphin levels which assist the immune system in working properly (the sugar in chocolate is still really bad though but who can stomach unsweetened chocolate? ugh).

Maybe the pickley/vinegary things your body craves are to help stimulate saliva?

Sue

[pudmott]

wow this is a really interestng thread thanx for posting.

I get the salt cravings and also chocolate cravings, but since ive been in this flare i havent wanted to go near chocolate or coca cola. The body really is a mysterious thing

Pud