Welcome to Fit to Be Real and a little extra.
Do you ever get cravings and you're always wondering what they're about?
You're like, why do I want chips right now?
I just had dinner.
Or why do I want something really sugary?
I haven't really ever liked sugar.
There's a reason for all of the cravings.
So Carly is going to break down.
I am going to break down.
Yeah, I'm going to break down.
Oh good.
I hope that happens again so we can talk about it for another year.
And also she's going to break down the reasons why we have certain food cravings
because it's not what you think.
I'm Victoria.
Hey guys, I'm Carly.
And we're talking about cravings today.
I know Victoria already said that, but it was really interesting researching this
because I specifically did this because I get cravings every single day.
And I said this to you a couple of weeks ago.
I said I am wanting fruit every day all day and I don't know why.
It was last week.
Was it last week?
It feels like a year ago.
Literally less than seven days ago.
And so I started researching into why we crave certain foods at certain times,
different times of the day, different times of the week.
Those are certain times.
I love holding the reins to this podcast today.
They feel like I've already lost the reins.
And Victoria is about to take over.
But I do.
I have been craving fruit and while I did.
Hold on.
It's specific for it's like cold grapes and watermelon.
What are my watermelon season?
It's watermelon.
It's not watermelon.
What did I say?
Watermelon.
Okay.
But specifically those, I think if there was another cold fruit that I kept in the fridge,
I would want that too.
And we'll get into why that I've been craving that, but I really had to look it up because
I kept saying like, why do I want this so much all day long?
Why do I need this?
Yeah, it's odd.
I mean, I also crave chocolate.
Well, it's all forms of sugar.
Yeah.
But what is a craving really?
Oh my God.
I'll tell you.
Yes.
A craving can signal that something is out of balance in your body.
Okay.
It can also be just a form of habit as well.
So it doesn't necessarily mean you're deficient in something or that your body is needing something
to, you know, get on balance.
It could just be that you're used to having chocolate at three o'clock every single day.
So your body's craving it because it knows.
Yeah.
It's time.
I have found, since I've moved into this new apartment, so I'm in what, two years?
Two years.
This is my second year.
Okay.
I, so I have, we've talked about this.
I've gained some weight and part of the reason I have figured out recently is because I
don't have a dining room.
No way.
I sit, my meals are on my couch.
So when I sit on my couch at the end of the night, I think I need to be eating because
this is where I eat my meals.
Because that's what your brain is telling you.
It's time to sit on the couch.
So that's time to eat.
Yes.
And I can, I'm not a nighttime eater.
Like if I'm out of that habit, that's not a thought.
I can easily sit for the rest of the night and enjoy myself and go to bed.
And it's not a problem.
However, I have created this habit since I moved here because I have, so I do have a
kitchen island.
You do.
But I took Carly's stools because they're free and, you know, free, but they're too
high.
So when you sit on the stool, you have to like crouch.
Right.
I feel like I'm six foot five.
Like you have to crouch over and it's not comfortable to eat.
The kids, it's great for the kids.
So I don't eat there.
I don't eat in my one kitchen spot with like a normal table or whatever.
So I sit on the couch.
And that tells your brain.
When I sit on the couch, I should be eating.
Right.
I should be chomping.
And that's part of what a craving is, is a timed body clock.
Yes.
And I know that this is what you should be eating at this time.
It's hard to break too because I, at the end of the day, what do I want to do?
I just want to sit on my couch and zone out, but I don't necessarily want to be eating.
However, my body is telling me that I do.
And sometimes I'm like, I'm not hungry.
Why?
Why do I feel like I need to go into the kitchen and scrounge to see what I have?
Do you ever open the refrigerator and you're like, haven't gone food shopping?
What do I have?
Nothing.
10 minutes later, what's in there?
Like you do that thing.
Nothing's changed.
Exactly.
I'm going to talk about that too.
How to battle or sort of fight those cravings.
Let's get into it.
Into it.
So there are two types of causes of cravings.
There's physical causes and mental causes.
Some of the physical causes are basically just an imbalance in being hungry or full.
And it can cause people to experience food cravings, some more than others.
So maybe you're somebody that doesn't get hit by cravings very often.
That just means maybe you're severely hydrated in a good way.
If you are hydrated, that is like the number one way to battle against cravings.
I am not somebody who is hydrated at all.
You are though.
I'm very hydrated.
This is a habit.
I know mine is a habit at this point.
Which is a mental.
Yeah.
I figured it out because it has been bothering me since I moved here.
So I am there.
I'm overly sometimes hydrated.
So I know it's not that.
But that's a really good reason.
I don't know.
I can't remember if we've ever talked about this, but Victoria has been so overly hydrated
that she had almost a stroke because she was so overly hydrated.
She drank so much water that it caused her electrolytes to be non-existent.
And she went into stroke mode and I had to be there.
And I had no idea what the heck was going on.
I called you.
Yeah.
It was movie night.
You were having movie night and I was like, I think I'm tapping out.
I'm just going to hang out at home.
Yeah.
It was a Sunday night in COVID times, wasn't it?
And I called you and I was like, you need to come over here now.
Like something's wrong.
And I remember crawling to, I had a balcony in my condo and I crawled to the balcony to
throw the keys down to let you into the building.
And that was like climbing Mount Everest.
Like it was the hardest thing I've ever done.
And I got myself back to the couch and we won't go through the details, but like your
muscles start to cramp and I couldn't control.
She couldn't speak.
I couldn't speak, but I couldn't control.
Like my hands were cramping and curling and I couldn't straighten my fingers and my wrists
were bent and I felt completely out of control.
And do you remember?
I was like, call mom.
I need to say goodbye.
Yes.
I can't remember that.
Like I thought that was what death was.
And I've had a lot of major accidents at this point in my life.
I know, which is weird because we never had any issues.
But I thought that no accident has ever felt as close to death, not even collapsing along
as this moment.
Yeah.
It was pretty severe.
I mean, when you're looking at her laying on the couch and her mouth is open and she
can't speak and she's trying to speak through her nose basically.
She's trying to tell me what's happening.
And then.
What do we call Dr. Justin?
Well we called Carmella and she came running over because I was like, mom, this is bad.
And Justin was like, how much water has she had?
And you kept feeding me water.
I know.
You were like, drink this.
Because we didn't know.
I thought I couldn't breathe.
Oh, it was horrible.
We figured out it was an overdose of water.
I think Brooke Shields just did that.
She did.
Well, not just, but she just started talking about it.
And Bradley Cooper lived in the apartment building on over top of the restaurant where
she was and they called Bradley Cooper to go to the hospital with her because she was
overly hydrated.
How come you didn't call Bradley Cooper for me?
Same.
I called Dr. Justin.
Is he not the same?
In any case, you do not want to overwater as much as you want to.
Don't want to underwater.
I mean, there's a balance.
There's a balance with everything and that I am severely under hydrated.
And she's always over hydrated.
Is that why you want sugar?
Yes.
That's why I want fruit because I'm dehydrated.
But we'll get into that.
One of the other physical causes of cravings is being pregnant.
Well, hormone changes.
That's obvious.
Having your period hormone changes.
Those are physical.
Lack of sleep, too little or very poor quality makes you feel very hungry.
It keeps your sleep wake cycle as possible, intensifying food cravings, especially at night.
So sleep is a huge factor with cravings.
If you are not getting enough sleep, you are going to crave wildly the next day.
And if you do that repeatedly over time, then it becomes a habit, which becomes mental.
We say that a lot.
I don't think I've ever connected it to cravings in the body and what the chemical
imbalances.
But we say when you're tired, you're not making good choices.
And then it becomes the last one is in the physical causes is a nutrient poor diet.
So once you have that nutrient poor diet, you start to crave nutrient poor things.
And then again, we get to poor hydration.
It all goes right down the line.
Or if you have a lack of physical activity, your cravings are different than if you had
a very good exercise routine.
And if you are used to highly processed foods, the sugar may cause addiction like symptoms.
So those are all the physical.
Now we're going to get to the mental causes of cravings, which is stress.
Yeah.
I mean, everybody can vouch for that stress can increase your levels of hormone cortisol
and high cortisol levels, maybe linked to hunger cravings and higher stress or binge
eating when you're stressed.
I mean, I'm raising my hand.
I binge eat when I'm stressed because it's some weird connection of that instantaneous.
This tastes so good.
I feel so happy.
The stress kind of melts away.
However, whether it's salt or sugar, you crash and then all the stress comes back and all
your cortisol levels rise and fall and it's a roller coaster cycle.
All of it.
Do you like how I used cortisol in the correct way?
You proud of me?
Yes.
Also a mental cause.
I'm just going to bypass that.
The mental cause of a craving is your personality.
What?
If you have an addictive personality, you're more apt to be like a craver and go for the
addictive behaviors in craving.
Yeah, sure.
You become impulsive.
It's not necessarily just with food, too, though.
You can be addicted to exercise, to running, to when our mom does this.
When she watches a movie, it becomes real life.
She's reading a book.
It's real life and the characters are real and it's happening to her.
She's actually in the story.
It's like this weird addictive, she can't put the book down and the rest of life stops
because she needs to finish the book type of thing.
Right.
She goes hard and we do that with in our family.
We obviously get it.
Everything gets passed down from your parents, but she's a sugar addiction.
Yes, for sure.
I have a sugar addiction.
So do I.
You know I can house Oreos like nobody's business.
Proud of you.
Thank you.
I'm a special talent that I have.
The next one is eating context.
Now this one was really interesting for a mental craving, which is basically what we're
talking about with you.
Your brain has become habit.
So you sit on the couch and you feel like you should eat.
So your brain sees something and feels like it should have something.
It's associated with a specific element, a specific time period, a specific feeling.
I feel happy.
I need to have this as a reward.
I feel sad.
I need to have this to make me feel better.
So that's a mental craving and you sort of.
It has nothing to do with hunger.
And it's the same way.
And the last one, a mental craving is your mood.
Certain moods trigger cravings for specific foods.
If I'm really happy, I don't think I'm going for the French fries.
I'm going for the ice cream.
But if I'm not feeling so good, I'm probably going for the cheeseburger and the fries.
That's me personally.
Interesting.
So you're salty when you're salty.
I hate you right now.
Let's get into these types of cravings that you might have.
So we talked about the physical, we talked about the mental.
Now we're going to talk about the actual.
So if you're craving salt, this means that you have low levels of electrolytes, dehydration
and stress.
Pretty, pretty obvious.
Yeah.
If you're craving French fries and salt and.
Potato chips.
You need water.
Yeah.
Water.
But what you should be eating when you feel like you're craving salt, you should be eating
nuts, seeds, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
Yeah.
Which are definitely more savory of the natural food items.
I mean, always eat what you enjoy.
But if you feel like you're craving this six out of seven days a week, maybe look at how
much you're drinking, how much water, what your mood is like and all that kind of stuff.
The second one, chocolate cravings.
This is me.
Yikes.
After every lunch, every single day, I crave chocolate.
Lunch.
After lunch.
No.
After lunch.
And it's a, your body is asking for magnesium and vitamin B. So what it says is to actually
give in to the chocolate craving, but have one small piece of dark chocolate and that
will give you the amount of magnesium that your body might be craving.
I take magnesium and vitamin B every morning.
You do?
It helps with carpal tunnel.
You didn't tell me that.
We have different problems.
But that is interesting.
I mean, I feel like dove chocolate does a little small dark chocolate bite.
And do you think you'd be able to stop with that though?
100%.
You are.
If I, but I would, I couldn't have it in a bowl sitting out on my table because then
I'd be like, Oh, I had one in two hours later.
I'd be like, well, that didn't happen.
Did it?
It was a little one.
Yeah.
Or, you know, you have to put it away.
I would have to put it away.
Like we got some Girl Scout cookies and I told Andrew he had to hide them because just like
with my Oreos, I cannot just have one.
Yep.
That's a problem for me.
That's a family issue.
We all do that.
I know.
I mean, I wasn't kidding when I was like, go hard or go home.
So like we go for it.
The next one, if you are craving protein.
Love a good chicken breast.
No, but some, well, that could just be like if you're craving a burger.
That's not, you know, doesn't have to be just, you know, you're hungover and you really want
a salty burger.
If you're craving a burger or steak or, you know, yeah, that means you have a protein
deficiency.
I mean, eat more nuts, eat more avocado.
I mean, yes, have more chicken.
Have more, but if you, if you're not a meat eater, Victoria, what do we eat?
Oh, there's so many things.
Chickpeas,
Avocados,
Lentils,
Shrimp.
But that, yeah, that means you might have a protein deficiency if you're really craving
it.
This one was interesting because I've only craved this a few times that I can remember.
Craving milk.
Ew.
Have you ever, no, you're not a milk drinker.
I hate milk.
I know you do.
But have you ever craved a bowl of cereal?
Dry.
Yes.
You're just like my kids.
My kids won't eat cereal with milk.
Because when it would get soggy and we would be forced to eat it, it caused trauma because
you waited too long to eat said cereal.
Milk is absolutely rancid.
So no, I cannot, I cannot understand this craving, but I do know a lot of people can
just drink a glass of milk and like one another glass.
I don't know those people.
So I can't just have a glass of milk, but I feel like I'm saying milk weird.
Milk.
Some people say M-E-L-K.
Milk.
Milk is not an actual word in English language.
Everybody let's say it together.
Milk.
So milk is 87% water.
So if you are craving this, you might just be craving water.
Isn't that crazy?
I did know that it's not a lot of actual like dairy in regular milk.
I know it's a lot of water, but I didn't know it was that bad.
Well, it has a lot of vitamins too.
Things that we don't produce in our bodies.
In human bodies.
Correct.
Because cow vitamins.
So you could be a little deficient in vitamin A or vitamin B12 or calcium or magnesium.
There's many, many things that you might be neglecting otherwise, which is why you're
craving milk.
You might never find out exactly which one, but I'm not saying go drink a glass of milk.
I'm just saying maybe drink some water.
Fun fact.
And it's not a fact, but I saw it on the Tik Tok and wasn't Tik Tok.
It was the old person Instagram.
Is it called Facebook?
No, Instagram.
Oh, because the old person Instagram is Facebook.
Apparently Instagram is like for old people.
It's not for the young.
Wait, what?
Yeah.
We told you that they make fun.
All of my little dancers, they say because I see something I'm like, oh, I saw on Tik
that they're like, Tik Tok.
I'm like, no, I saw like a reel on Instagram and they're like, oh, figures.
It's like that's like mom telling me.
Mom telling us she heard it on NPR.
We're just going to have to lie to these kids and say we saw it on Tik Tok, but it was really
like the news.
Yeah.
Oh my God.
Okay.
That wasn't my fun fact.
But if you get a straw and you know how you can like slurp up in the straw and then put
your finger on it and it holds the liquid in the straw and then you put the straw full
of milk, milk, milk in the cream of an Oreo.
It expands the cream filled part of the Oreo without dripping the milk out on the other
side.
So you just have to put it in halfway.
It blows up the Oreo and then you can eat it like a ice cream sandwich.
Why?
Why do you tell me these things?
Why?
I don't think you should get the Oreo Thins.
I think you need like the double stuff.
Double stuff, always double stuff.
Yeah.
Try it out.
I saw it and I was like, how's this going to work?
But it, it worked.
All right.
I'll be sure to report back.
Please do.
On said craving.
Please do.
I can't believe you just told me that.
Okay.
Next.
Cheese cravings.
Ooh, a lot of people do this.
I do not crave cheese.
Do you?
I cut it out so many years ago.
It's not a part of my life.
Yeah.
But I know people can't live without cheese.
I don't necessarily know if people are like, I need a block of cheese.
It's very possible.
But if you're craving cheese or fried foods with cheese or other high fat cheese, you
could, you couldn't need more essential fatty acids such as omega threes.
So eggs, if that's not for you, there are, there's like a vitamin.
You can take a pill.
You can take an omega three pill.
If you're like, I'm not into eggs or I'm not into avocado.
Avocados.
Yeah.
I mean, there's a lot of things with the omega.
Really fatty.
Fish, oil fish supplement, but it just might.
Fish supplement.
Fish, oil supplement.
What did I say?
Oil fish.
Oil fish supplement.
I take a fish oil every morning.
I take oil fish.
Very different.
But being deficient in omega three might include dry skin, dry eyes or lower moods.
So don't avoid those cheese cravings, but maybe don't have said block of cheese.
Yeah.
Give it something else.
This one's a big one.
Craving carbs and not like broccoli and cauliflower, like carbs, carbs, like your
craving bread, your craving pretzels.
That means savory carbs.
It's the sign that you are low on energy and might need that protein.
So you don't necessarily need the carbs, but you might need to up your protein if you are
really craving like the bread of the burger, but not the burger so much.
Interesting.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
But also things that have carbs that are good carbs are fruit, apples, bananas, vegetables,
all that, all that kind of stuff.
You know, I know when you're really craving bread, you're not going to go for broccoli,
but that put it in the air fryer.
Same thing.
Same.
Air fryer changes everything.
I can honestly say I've never once in my life had this craving and it's a vinegar craving.
Oh, yes, you have for real vinegar chips, salt and vinegar chips.
Oh, I love that's my favorite chip in the whole world, but I can't say I went out to
the store to specifically get them because I needed them right now.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
But that is my favorite.
I have vinegar cravings, white vinegar.
I love, you know what's really good, white vinegar on broccoli.
That's my craving.
So when I'm teaching, you think I'm paying attention to the dances, but I'm not.
I'm thinking about what I'm going to make for dinner to sit on my couch in my habit.
And sometimes it's white vinegar on mixed.
I usually do like mixed vegetables and put it in the microwave.
You're the one who taught me that in New York.
You know who taught me that dad?
Dad used to put white vinegar on our broccoli all the time.
That's where I.
Oh my gosh, I crave.
I've had it every night for the past couple of nights.
It's the best.
But I and now I'm probably going to have it because now I'm craving it.
Well, what is the connection with vinegar?
It's a symptom of low stomach acid and that's something our body needs to produce to help
with digestion.
So if you have low stomach acid, that means your body is not digesting properly.
Yeah, I believe that.
I have always had digestion.
I'm sorry.
Can you see?
I've always had digestion issues.
So enjoy the vinegar.
Lean into the vinegar.
Love it.
Okay.
Why are you saying it like that?
I don't know.
Just so angrily.
No, this one.
I love.
I love this craving.
Cake craving.
Not just a sugar craving.
Cake.
Yeah.
Craving.
All right.
That's that's.
It's not just sugar.
It has the carbs.
It's kind of a mixed bag.
It's got it's got the dairy.
It's got the carbs.
It's got the sugar.
It's got the everything.
Is it kind of a mixed bag?
It's cool.
Cool.
It means you're craving baked goods basically and just sugar in general, which means
you are deficient in energy, maybe sleep and dehydration.
It's like everything put together.
Yeah.
Okay.
And maybe you should not have said cake and have nuts and seeds because it's.
It tastes the same.
Love a good nut cake.
It basically says try drinking water.
I can't even say it the right way.
Water.
Try drinking water and it might help.
Here's mine.
Craving fruit.
This is why I started looking this up because I was craving grapes, everything cold.
Pineapples.
Oh my God.
Cold pineapple.
Is that not the best?
Cold bothers my teeth.
So I don't crave anything cold.
Guess that's sad.
But guess what it said?
I have the healthiest craving.
You're annoying.
But it can be a symptom of dehydration.
Everyone just rolled their eyes.
Low blood sugar.
I'm with all of you.
And a change in hormones such as pregnancy, which that's not me at all.
However, I could be messing with my hormones because of so many other things.
Chalking.
But it can be one of the biggest symptoms of a fruit craving is dehydration.
And you know I don't drink enough water.
Yeah.
We got a couple more, a couple more.
What?
I know.
We've covered them all.
I know.
I have never craved this, but craving fish.
Anyone out there?
No.
Please DM us if you've ever craved.
I've never been like a big piece of tilapia.
I need a flounder.
Got to go home and have some flounder.
Again, it's the same thing.
Lack of omega-3 fatty acids.
And the same thing could be dry skin, dry eyes, lower moods.
So take that omega-3 pill or avocado or eat a fish or yeah, or just eat a salmon.
Last one.
Okay.
Cravings for sugar.
It's the body asking for fast energy, like immediate energy and then you're going to,
yeah, then you're going to crash.
That makes sense.
And that is, that replays on a loop just like a habit.
The more you crave sugar, the more you eat it for that fast energy, the more you crash,
the more you do it again.
Yeah.
So that becomes a hamster wheel, but they say if you are going to go for the sugar,
do 90% dark chocolate.
Have that little piece, maybe put it in some yogurt with granola and then it's okay.
90% is not the dove dark chocolate percentage.
That is a bitter, dry, it's a specific taste.
It's basically like the bean.
Like the chocolate bean, right?
With no added anything to make it taste like you want to go back for more.
I actually love the high percent.
There's a, I don't know what the brand is, but there's a chocolate bar that gives you
the percentages.
Like a 90% dark chocolate.
Really?
50, yes.
70% they have paired with like a chili, a red, so it's spicy chocolate.
Oh, it's really good.
Oh, I can't do that.
You can't picture them.
It's like a white label with gold trim and.
No, but buy me some.
No, eat a grape.
You have the healthiest craving.
Oh, man.
Okay, so now that we've gone through all of what you might be experiencing with your cravings,
let's talk about how to get through them.
Suck it up and don't eat it.
Just stop.
No, it actually says to indulge in your cravings with a balance.
But do you know how hard that is?
I mean, you know how hard it is.
I know how hard it is.
Just the balance.
Like just the moderation.
Find it.
That's what it says.
Like find the balance.
Like enjoy the foods that you want to enjoy, but don't in life, don't do it every day because
once it's every day, it's not a craving anymore.
It's a habit.
It's a problem.
Right.
It's a problem.
So number one thing to avoid these cravings is to avoid crash dieting because once you
restrict every single one of the things that we just said, you will binge.
That's a mental thing.
Right.
That's a mental craving.
That's a mental thing where you, it's the forbidden fruit quite literally.
Right.
You tell yourself, you can't have this because you need to be healthy.
Well, that's all your brain's going to think of.
I want this.
I can't have this.
I want this.
And then you probably will binge.
But here's the opposite of that.
Victoria and I cut out sugar and alcohol for almost nine months straight.
And the more we didn't have it, the more we didn't want it.
Like I didn't crave sugar when I wasn't eating it.
Sure, it was hard in the beginning, but I don't remember feeling like I needed that
chocolate after lunch, after maybe two weeks of not having the sugar.
And it goes away because I have to get past the threshold.
You have to get past the threshold.
I would venture to say 90%, which is a number I'm making up of people can't get past the
threshold of the wanting what you're not putting in your body.
Right.
And then once you get past that, then you're like, oh, I could have it or I could not.
It's no big deal.
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, no, I totally know what you mean because when I didn't have sugar, I didn't want it.
When I didn't have alcohol, it wasn't even on the table for me.
Like I didn't want it.
Victoria still has not had it.
I do it enough for the both of us.
So that's fine.
That's a different episode.
But yeah, if you restrict it, yes.
Sometimes you binge and you overcompensate and then you go the completely other way.
But if you can just make it, so I don't know how I feel about avoid, I mean, crash dieting.
No, you should not crash diet because that's the, that's not how we want you to think about
it.
If it's something unhealthy that you need to eliminate from your life, you absolutely
should do everything that you can to go down that path.
If you want it enough, you'll do it.
That's true.
And it's nine times out of 10.
The what?
The cheat.
I don't know what other word to use for right now, but like the quote unquote cheating and
like going back on what you said you weren't going to eat, right?
Is just like mental.
And we don't like calling them cheat because it's not, it's not, once you find, once you're
reaching a place that you want to reach and you're achieving the goal, I should say, then
you can have a balance, but you can't.
It's just like if you have an alcohol addiction, you can't once a week just have one beer.
Correct.
You have to cut it out.
And of course there's a process and we're not, I'm not talking about alcohol addiction,
but it's the same type of headspace.
You can't, what's it called California, California sober or California sober where you, you don't,
you smoke weed instead of drinking or do doing drugs or you're having beer instead of hard
liquor and so you're not your California.
Addicted to alcohol.
It's BS.
All of its tied, all of its connected, all of its the same thing.
So if sugar is that addiction for you and you're like, I can't have sugar, but I'm just
going to have one of the sugar items in my life, one Oreo a week.
No, no, you have to cut it out.
So there's a balance.
And for us, we, I know we both feel the same way that once you get over that threshold,
you have to, you have to hit a certain point before you can bring that kind of stuff back
in or else you're never going to make it.
I feel like the slippery slope just, it makes you backtrack.
That's what I was trying to say.
That's a better way to do it.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
That makes more sense.
But less words.
I like California sober.
It's like, that's like a joke.
It's funny.
I know.
What, who was it?
Demi Lovato was like, I'm California sober even though I just OD'd twice.
It's like, what?
Well, who just said, oh, you're not going to know this reference James Kennedy on a Vanderpump.
He's British.
Yeah.
He's California sober right now.
He told us.
All right.
The next defense that you're not taking Molly or X's or something like that.
Is he a DJ?
Yeah.
I can say that.
He's a DJ.
Yeah.
That's totally normal.
The next defense you have against these cravings are.
Defense against the dark arts.
Thank you, Harry Potter.
I'm out of here.
Oh my God.
It's only you were dying.
Okay.
It's sleep people.
It's sleep.
That's the point.
The next defense is sleep.
When you are tired, you have less willpower to beat these cravings.
You just will give in.
And that's, that's fact.
It happens all the time when you are sleep deprived, you are, you tend to have a worse
diet than if you are well rested and you, it suppresses your appetite.
Yeah.
For real.
This one's really hard.
The next defense is to manage your stress.
And I feel like that is just so much easier said than done.
We'd all like to manage our stress.
Well, you can if you start.
Don't listen to her.
First of all, it's all about having that positive mindset throughout the day.
BS though.
I call BS on that because positive mindsets are fleeting as is happiness and as is sadness.
So like toxic positivity is actually a thing.
And I firmly support that.
That toxic, you cannot be that happy every single day and think everything is going to
be okay.
Like you have, there are moments where it can dip down and then go back up and whatever.
So if positivity is not a managing stress tool, I mean it is.
You want to try to have a positive mindset of getting through an obstacle, but there
are actionable things that you need to do to manage your stress.
Right.
Journaling, walking outside, drinking water, feeling healthy, eating better.
I mean, just trying to do your best.
Just knowing that doing your best is enough.
Right.
Affirmations can help do that.
Getting away from toxic people, it's really hard, but she walks in every week.
So you walk in every day.
You should be careful.
But those are all managing stressors.
And so they're actionable things.
It's not just, I'm positive that things are going to change.
You have to do stuff to make things change.
Right.
And that's why I think it's a little twofold because it's very hard to manage stress.
It's very easy to go in the pantry and fix the stress with whatever is in there.
And then what do you feel more stress afterwards because you're really mad at yourself.
So the next one is to keep unhealthy foods away or out of sight, which is what I have
to do sometimes with Andrew.
Be like, get these cookies out of my sight because when I'm, if it's around me and I
see it, no one's okay, but I know I have a problem with having one.
So for me personally, I need them out of my sight.
I don't buy peanut butter.
Well, let me rephrase.
For years, I didn't buy peanut butter because I can't spread it on an apple slice and be
good like, right?
Booting it out and eating it until it's like, I'm going to vomit is like peanut butter is
amazing.
So of course I get a dog and putting peanut butter on things to freeze so that they have
something to do and stop barking at you.
It's really hard.
I get like horrible peanut butter, so I don't want it.
Yeah.
But I can't have that stuff in the house.
So another tip that they sort of say to help you with that is keep portion control amounts
in your sight.
It doesn't matter for me.
But just if you can keep one of those little peanut butter cups like those five, I know,
but only because you'll know what they are.
Keep opening them.
Right.
I don't have anybody to hide stuff for me.
I'm the.
Yeah.
I can't do that.
Even with like pre-portioned popcorn bags.
It's like, so awesome.
I'll just keep opening them.
Right.
Yeah.
I'll just have to avoid and keep them out of sight.
And some people are like me and some people can absolutely like Andrew can have a bite
of ice cream and be like, I'm good.
I just needed a little bite.
That is the stupidest.
But some people can do that.
I don't know how he does it.
And you're in the middle.
If you pre-portioned, you'll just have one of the portions.
But I need to not know where the rest of the bag of cookies is in the house.
So people with kids, I do feel for you because you tend to have some of those.
No, but here's the thing.
You know, crappier items.
Buy the good stuff for your kids.
I mean, yes.
I mean, there, do you know, this is a side note I just saw on the news that the number
one early death on the rise right now is ultra processed foods.
Like people are dead.
People are dead in our fit to be real story that I posted.
Was he Irish?
Yes.
I posted that this morning.
Used to be tobacco and nicotine.
I heard it on NPR and it was, it's the number one.
It's just said on the news.
I mean, everybody knows I don't watch the news.
The news of the old people, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok.
Guys, I heard it on TikTok.
It's real.
But is it's the number one killer ultra processed foods.
And I feel like that's all my kids eat.
And if you, because that's where money is, and that's what the government and everybody
wants is money.
So they put more crap out to get more money, but it's killing the people.
So if you take, I always want to say this and I want to stand by it.
I don't do it, but I really, really want to don't feed your kids something that you would
not eat yourself.
Oh my God, you do not follow that.
I know.
That's what I mean.
Like I'll give my kids macaroni and cheese.
I would not eat that.
And I don't eat it.
You mean like craft?
Yeah.
Or like give them, you know, the junk that I have in my house.
Like all the junk that I have, I would not eat it myself.
So why am I feeding it to them?
Keep them quiet.
I mean, that's like the number one everybody does.
Like it makes them happy.
It keeps them relaxed and like in the other room.
I'm not saying that you do that, but no, I definitely do.
And I think if we did more research on, it's trying to help.
If we did more research on snacks and yes, it might be a little more work to maybe make
the snacks that are a little healthier or put together or go to a different store that
will go farther away.
It's more expensive as well for healthier, organic.
Even that like Annie's mac and cheese or it's still it's still not good for you.
So it's, it's more expensive to be healthy.
And that's why more of the unhealthy, less expensive dollar store food, right stuff is
in everybody's pantry.
I mean, what do we always say?
If it's in a box, if it's processed, we don't eat it.
We tend to go for the clean, clean stuff.
So why are we feeding our kids all of the box stuff?
I mean, it's, it's so horrible.
So don't keep that stuff in the house and then they can't eat it.
I mean, and when it comes to the kids, you're just starting an early addiction.
Yeah.
And those horrible food habits and cravings, the gummy bears and the goldfish.
That's your salt craving that they want after school, every single solitary day that you're
creating a habit.
It's all the same things.
And we did it.
We had chips ahoy and cool whip for our Friday dessert.
And I like distinctly remember that.
But here's the thing.
That's a Friday dessert.
That's not an everyday dessert.
We did not have dessert every day.
No, we absolutely did not.
However, that has shifted.
Oh yeah.
My kids have dessert every day.
Moving on.
That's a different episode.
Check your fit to be real stories.
Fit to be real news.
The NPR.
Last one.
Eat enough protein.
Now this is for real because research has shown that a diet high in protein usually helps
manage hunger better than low protein diets.
Because you stay hungry or you stay satiated longer.
So you don't want more food if you're eating high protein dense foods, which isn't just
like meat.
Right, exactly.
And I think that's a really important thing because people are scared to eat protein.
Why?
They think it's going to bulk you up because protein and weightlifting and like it.
People said protein and weightlifting one day in a sentence and it I feel like ran.
And now if you eat too much protein, you're going to look like a bodybuilder.
And that's just something that's something in people's heads.
I don't know.
There's something connected to that though.
So protein is good for muscle building and muscle mass.
And as you get older, you need to keep your muscle mass and it does start to deteriorate
if you're not taking care of yourself.
Carbohydrates, good carbohydrates, that's for energy.
That gets you through the workout.
Protein does not get you through your workout of feeling like you can keep going and go
harder and whatever people think.
Carbs is what you need before your workout.
Protein is what you need to build your muscle.
So you all hear that just because you're eating a piece of chicken though, you're not going
to like your next not going to go pop pop.
Like that's insane.
So that I know that taboo.
It's basically yeah.
It's basically taboo.
That's what it is.
So you I'm going to give you a list of questions that you need to ask yourself when you're craving
something.
You need to like go down the list.
So put my voice on repeat.
Oh my God.
I'm smiling.
Carly's smiling.
What was that reference to?
You got to tell the people.
A full house.
Oh my God.
I love when full house goes French.
Okay.
Each time you experience a craving and I'm not saying like stop and do this every five
minutes.
If it's happening at the same time every day or if you're noticing you're craving something
like I noticed I was craving fruit way more often than I normally do.
That's what I'm talking about.
Don't do this every five minutes.
Okay.
But when you are feeling a craving, what are you craving?
A specific food, a certain flavor or texture.
Where are you?
Where's your location?
Are you sitting on the couch?
Are you out?
Are you at work?
Yeah.
Exactly.
At your desk?
Are you bored?
What are you doing?
Are you driving?
Are you watching TV?
Are you physically?
Are you shaky?
That's definitely a protein one.
You need to up your protein.
Are you lightheaded?
These are all sorts of the questions you need to feel.
Are you feeling emotional?
Who are you with?
Because I, that's a huge one.
Some people have cravings with different people.
Yeah.
Because it's connected to a feeling or a vibe.
It says the next time you have a craving, sit for five minutes and actually think, do
I want this?
Drink some water.
And think if you actually want this or not and let your mind take control instead of
your body.
Because if you really want it after the five minutes and not just don't just sit there
and be like, I know I'm going to eat this in five minutes.
So I just need to put the timer on and then that means I really want it.
Like really?
Yeah.
Do I really want it?
Or am I bored?
Am I really hungry?
Or am I just like?
I want to feel happy for a second.
Yeah.
Like there's all these reasons that you have cravings.
And this was really interesting for me because I really said, why do I want chocolate after
I'm already full?
It's not just like I wanted, like I was so hungry and I skipped a meal and that's another
big one.
Don't skip meals because then you will eat the wrong thing.
But I was full.
But guess what, Victoria?
What?
It's a little game.
It's called Cravy Baby.
Oh my God.
You ready to play?
If you watch Southern, no, Southern, yeah, Southern hospitality.
You'll know what Cravy Baby means.
Oh, I have no idea.
I thought you might groovy baby from Austin Powers.
We're going to see how Victoria is feeling right now.
Okay, Victoria, pick a breakfast food.
Smoothie, stack of bacon, cold cereal, pancakes.
These pancakes though.
I don't necessarily want them right now, but always make.
Pick a salad dressing.
Ranch, green goddess, vinegar and oil, Italian.
All good choices.
Vinegar and oil.
Oil and vinegar.
But I don't know why.
Pick a snack.
Banana, cheese, ice cream, chips.
Right now?
Yeah.
We're going to see how you're feeling right now.
Ice cream.
Always.
Pick a cereal.
Oatmeal, Lucky Charms, Cheerios, Fruit Loops.
How are you feeling right now?
Cheerios.
Oh.
I love Cheerios.
Okay.
Pick a dessert.
Cake, ice cream, pie, brownie.
It's a hard one because they're all pretty good.
Cookie.
Okay, cookie's not on the list.
All right, ice cream.
Pick an ice cream flavor.
Vanilla, cookie dough, chocolate, peanut butter, coffee.
Or coffee, by the way.
Always coffee.
Love coffee.
Are you serious?
Oh my gosh.
Is that the one you're picking?
One of the best ones.
No, I love cookie dough.
You know chocolate peanut butter was on the list?
I know, but I love cookie dough.
Pick a pizza topping.
Sorry.
Just cheese.
I'm doing the hands.
Pepperoni, veggies, sausage.
Veggies.
That is a good one.
All right.
Guess what?
You're in a good mood.
Oh my gosh.
I was feeling a little on the upbeat side.
Maybe it's not the best day ever, but it's going pretty well.
And they told you that by the foods that you picked.
But they didn't tell me I was dehydrated or I needed protein.
It's crazy, baby.
It's not that kind of quiz.
Last week I was grumpy.
This week, you're on the up.
We know she's on the up and her food choices just told us, guess what?
You won.
Cheerios always win the day.
But yes, I mean, that game is fun.
It's a, there are a ton of quizzes you can take online that will tell you what you're
deficient in or what you're cravings say about you and some are fun.
And also don't take them for a law.
Yeah.
Listen to yourself.
Listen to your body.
If they're good, you should take them for law.
If they're not, if you don't get good results, then they're just BS.
We can't.
Listen, this was insightful.
I actually really enjoyed this and it's basically, I mean, if you're going to recap all of the
craving options, it's eat well, drink some water and sleep and enjoy the food that you're
eating.
Just don't make it.
Don't overdo it.
And those cravings won't be cravings.
They'll just be balanced.
It's very easier, so much easier said than done to not overdo it.
Break a habit.
If it's a habit, you gotta break the habit.
That's the mental.
It's a mental thing and mental cravings are real.
It's in there.
You know what I mean?
Like that's hard to break.
Maybe I'll sit on the floor at the end of the night.
Instead of the couch.
It sounds horrible.
Why don't you eat on the floor?
So, but it is interesting to see if you can jot down where you have your cravings, maybe
what time of the day you have your cravings, who you're with, how you're feeling to see
if you can pinpoint exactly why you might be having these cravings.
Because I think it's interesting to see for yourself.
Your body, figure it out.
Figure it out.
Your body.
That sounded like a 90s commercial.
Your body, figure it out.
I learned it from watching you.
Cheese me please.
It's crazy, baby.
We're done.
All right.
Well, we hope you're curaving another episode of Fids Be Real.
As always, we want you to remember that you're always fit to be real and always allowed to
be a little extra.
For legal reasons, we have to tell you that this podcast is meant for entertainment and
educational purposes only.
We are not healthcare professionals.
For all of your health, wellness, fitness and self care needs, please refer to the medical
professional in your life.
Your primary care physician, your therapist, a certified coach, whoever it may be.
And then let us know what they say because I guarantee we need to know what to do.
Okay?