Listening to the Body: Understanding What We Truly Crave

Healing the Connection Between Cravings and Emotions

When you start to see your cravings as your body’s way of asking for something specific, everything changes. It’s not just about the food, the drink, or the habit, it’s about what’s underneath it. Since I started fasting, I’ve noticed I can hear my body’s signals so much more clearly. I’m not doing anything extreme, just giving my system a chance to rest and reset. I usually fast anywhere from 20 to 36 hours, and honestly, it’s not as long as it sounds. I’m sleeping through half of it. What I’ve gained is the space to notice what’s actually driving my choices.

What Do You Crave?

When you crave something? Sugar, soda, chips, wine, shopping, scrolling, gambling, what is your body really asking for? Cravings are rarely about the thing itself. They’re emotional echoes from a time when we needed something we didn’t get. Safety, comfort, attention, nourishment, love. Our nervous system learns early how to find relief. When life feels uncertain or we’re triggered, our fight, flight, or freeze instincts kick in. The craving becomes the body’s shortcut to safety, or at least, what once felt like safety.

My Craving for Soda

For me, soda was never just a drink. It was survival. When I was a kid, food wasn’t always there. Water wasn’t something you drank; it was something you bathed with. But soda, that was the treat, the comfort, the thing that meant nurishment. When we were hungry, when we needed comfort, we had a soda. So as an adult, when stress hits or I feel ungrounded, that craving still whispers, “Grab a soda.” But what my body really means is, “I need nourishment. I need to feel secure again.”

When you look within, you can see deeper. A person is meditating peacefully by a tranquil riverside, silhouetted against the soft glow of a golden sunrise.

Unraveling the Real Need

When we start to trace cravings back to their roots, we begin to see how deeply our emotional, mental, and physical health are connected. We stop judging ourselves for having the craving — and instead start asking, what do I actually need right now? Maybe your craving for sweets is really a need for affection. Maybe your craving for a drink is a need for rest or quiet. Maybe your craving for control is really a need for safety. When you start asking these questions, you begin to build awareness. You start to create new ways to meet those needs. Through nourishment, movement, journaling, stillness, and self-compassion.

Finding Your Safety

Healing isn’t about restriction or punishment. It’s about remembering how to feel safe in your body again. Whether that’s through journaling, meditation, a walk in nature, or simply taking a slow breath before reacting. Every small step helps you reconnect to yourself. The goal isn’t to stop craving. The goal is to understand what your craving is trying to tell you.