allergic to certain foods are also addicted to them; that is, they get symptoms when they don’ t consume them. Therefore, the elimination of allergenic foods will provoke a short period of unpleasant withdrawal symptoms( similar, in fact, to a“ healing crisis”), which can be dealt with as discussed above regarding addictions. The most beneficial result of breaking the vicious cycle of addictions and allergies is the disappearance of unpleasant symptoms, both physical and psychological. Also, several of my students reported that a variety of unrelated allergies( to cats, feathers, even wheat) vanished when they eliminated just sugar and dairy from their diets. DISCHARGE Cravings can also arise from discharge, the cleansing the body undergoes when you start on a healing diet. According to the holistically oriented natural-healing schools of thought, this is what probably happens: Over the years, you have stored toxins in the intercellular spaces of your body. These toxins can be by-products of metabolism that have not been excreted, or perhaps even electrical charges left by food. When you change your diet to a healing mode, it seems that the immune system begins to sweep out those toxins, dumping them into the bloodstream for eventual processing and disposal through kidneys, lungs, skin, or liver. Before they leave the body, these elements, or charges, get a free ride through the circulatory system. In the brain they pass by the hypothalamus, which acts like a tape recorder head, picking up information from the bloodstream as if the latter were a magnetic tape running by. * The information the hypothalamus picks up from the residue in the blood activates memories of hamburgers and mother’ s key lime pie, and cravings for the old familiar foods appear as if out of nowhere.“ I suddenly had this absolutely clear desire for a big, juicy steak, just like the kind I used to eat,” one of my students once said in class.“ I wanted it so badly I could taste it. So I ordered steak for dinner, and halfway through I realized that I didn’ t want it at all. In fact, I felt quite sick from it, that evening and the next day too. It was, now that I think of it, a memory more than a wish.” How do you recognize cravings of the discharge type? Often they are for something familiar, something you used to have a lot of. They also often disappear after a few hours. If they don’ t, and you’ re still not sure whether you actually need the steak or are just“ remembering” it, try the“ hair of the dog” method already mentioned. That is, when cravings or aches seem to be associated with the discharge of meat, sugar, dairy foods, processed foods, or stimulants, you should regard them as honest body needs and heed them. You should take what you want— IN SMALL AMOUNTS. 3 According to homeopathic medicine,“ like cures like,” but in opposite quantities; a small amount of the food you used to eat in large quantities will eliminate the craving for it. Thus, if my student had had only a bite or two of the steak, she would have been just fine. IMBALANCE OF SYSTEMS To understand the various cravings that can arise from imbalance we have to keep in mind the various models we’ ve discussed in this book:
• Nutrient proportions
• The expansive and the contractive
• The acid and the alkaline
• The Five-Phase dynamics 1. According to the chart of Nutrient Proportions in Food( see this page), a craving for sweets( carbohydrates) could come from either an excessively high protein, fat, or mineral / vitamin( even salt) intake. Conversely, a craving for animal protein would have as its goal filling the space created by an excess of carbohydrates, minerals( including salt), fluids, or fats.
However, I have also noticed that a craving for sweets, especially when accompanied by a craving for fats, often signals a minimal protein deficiency. I have seen this happen especially in boys and men who have switched to a vegetarian or a macrobiotic regime. They crave juices, sweets, bread and butter, peanut butter, nuts, tahini, and so on. Curiously enough, the craving for sweets and fats disappears when more protein foods( beans, fish, chicken, eggs) are added to the diet. 2. According to the expansive-contractive model( see this page), a high intake of contractive foods( meat, salt, grain, cooked food) will create a demand for expansive things( fruit, sweets, alcohol, salads). If the craving is not heeded, the eventual result may be a big beer or ice cream binge. It works both ways: Too many expansive foods will create a desire for contractive ones, although from what I’ ve seen, the cravings in that case will not be very strong. A high-fruit diet, for example, may make you wish for beans or meat, but the desire for those foods is somehow more easily ignored or rejected, and then the