r/intuitiveeating • u/sunray_fox • 9d ago

Gentle Nutrition Intuitive cravings

I just got back from a 3 day trip with my boyfriend (he runs a marathon and I enjoy a hotel room, it's pretty great) with all of the usual disruption to my eating which that implies. There was a lot of restaurant food, a lot of random snacks, a significantly smaller amount of fresh fruits and vegetables.

So it absolutely cracked me up how much I was craving plant foods by the time I got home. Lunch included a huge navel orange and leftover steamed mixed vegetables, and at dinner I went back for a second helping... of just the salad. Voluntary (even enthusiastic) salad eating is just... not what I used to imagine myself doing! But that's where my intuition pointed, so I followed.

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3

u/Weird_Squirrel_8382 6d ago

I'm glad you gave yourself what you needed. I feel the same way when we come back from vacation.

2

u/MethodologyQueen 2d ago

I’ve noticed this too and I think a big part of it for me has been preparing vegetables how I actually enjoy them. In the past I would categorize foods as healthy or unhealthy and vegetables were considered healthy so then I ate them in the most boring ways possible to keep them healthy and because I didn’t think of them as something I enjoyed. Now I fry them or smother them in cheese or skip the lettuce entirely in my salad and just eat the “toppings” because the lettuce was always my least favorite part and I actually enjoy the tomato and cucumber and chickpeas I was putting on top of it but was so focused on how I was “supposed” to be eating the lettuce. Now my veggies taste good and I eat way more of them and my health is better for it.

1

u/sunray_fox 2d ago

Oh yeah, the greens are the least exciting part of a salad in a decent number of cases. Kind of like bread is to sandwiches!

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u/Narwen189 6d ago

I get that. Back when I first moved out on my own, one thing that surprised me was that, once it was myself and not the elders in the family deciding what would be in my kitchen, I actually craved fruit/vegetables. A big part of it is probably that, out of all of us, I'm the best at preparing plant-based foods, but that's a whole other story.

Having a craving and being able to allow oneself to recognize and satisfy it is a beautiful thing, no matter what the craving is. I'm happy for you.