Instincts

Mizzi very sensibly often proposes following one's instincts when choosing what to eat on a CRON diet. As a rule, I do this myself. But this bug has totally messed up those instincts and for the last few days I have been eating what I think I should eat, hitting my RDA's etc, but missing something out somewhere because I have been hungry. Hungry as in "foraging around the fridge" hungry, hungry as in "Cooking? - hell, no! Bring it on raw!" hungry, hungry as in "Are you eating enough? Errm, maybe not actually... oh dear" hungry.

It's not been nice.

Yesterday evening I was seriously craving carbohydrate. Toast. Pitta. Anything bready. But there was none in the house, and nothing else would do.

So this morning on the scales I'd dropped another few ounces (Hello, 108! Hmmm...) and even after my usual breakfast and extra strawberries, I was still craving bread. Not just any old bread though; it had to be either rye toast, or fresh warm french bread. My cravings are nothing if not specific. Again, nothing else would do. Not almonds, not gojis, not pumpkin seeds. No. Bread.

Anyway, the upshot of it is that I decided that if my cravings were this strong, perhaps they were beyond cravings and into animal instinct, my body demanding something that only comes in bready form. So... yes, I drove to the farm shop and bought a freshly baked white(!!) baguette and have eaten a hefty chunk of it (unweighed!!), still warm, with fresh orange marmelade and fresh black coffee.

And I feel 100% better for it. I am seriously amazed.

So, I have learnt that trusting my instincts is good (duh!) - or rather, distinguishing between random craving and instinct. Sick, my body might need all the broccoli, spinach, kale and butternut squash I can throw at it, but it also needs and wants a lot more calorific energy than I've been giving it to throw off this sickness. And if that calorific energy needs to come from something that usually I would consider to be nutritionally empty and so resist eating, so be it.

Now, I just need to resist the rest of the loaf that's sitting on the counter top wafting scents of bready deliciousness at me... :-)

I am off to London this afternoon for a few days at the end of which I suspect 108 will be a distant memory. P has prepared me mushroom and tofu chinese leaf parcels for dinner tonight and one of his fabulous veggie soups, so he says. There is Whole Foods to continue exploring at lunchtime tomorrow. On Friday evening we are going to The Taste of London Festival in Regent's Park. And on Saturday I am having my rescheduled hen party, which will be civilised afternoon tea with a small group of close friends at The Landmark Hotel in Marylebone, no doubt followed by uncivilised drinking of champagne elsewhere. I am determined not to let this lingering cold get in the way of any of that; I have been weak and feeble too long.

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(I am somewhat mocking myself with this "Sara Eats Some Bread Shocker". I just despair at myself for not seeing the blindingly obvious sometimes. :-)