A couple of days ago, I walked to the other side of campus just to buy a cookie. The dining hall didn’t have any desserts that were appealing to me and, in that moment, I needed sugar. So, like the independent college student that I am, I put on my coat and wasted a solid ten minutes of my life feeding my sugar cravings. Could I have gone without a cookie? Sure. Was it a pain to walk all the way to the student union to buy it? Of course. Was I going to ignore my craving? Absolutely not. It was windy, snowy, and cold that day but it was nothing that I, a Minnesotan, couldn’t handle. I bought the slightly stale cookie that was probably the size of a grapefruit and I ate it without a second thought.
Food cravings happen for various reasons. They happen when hormones are high, such as during a period or a pregnancy. My mom always said that she would crave cantaloupe and cottage cheese (yes, together) when she was pregnant with me and I’ve always found that my appetite for sugar increases on my period. They happen when a person is stressed, like during finals when anxiety is high. They happen after a long workout. Back in high school, I used to want nothing more than chocolate frosting after finishing a three-hour-long swim practice. For me, they can happen after watching an hour of food videos on Instagram. The cheesy ones especially kill me.
There’s usually an explanation for my food cravings but the day I bought that cookie, I had no justification. I was full, I was content, I just really wanted a cookie. I think that my stomach is slowly but surely beginning to control my actions. My desire for a cookie forced me to walk around campus in the cold, who knows what else it’s capable of? I’ve learned that food cravings can make me take drastic measures. Maybe one day I’ll actually be able to control them but for now I’ll let them do their thing while I do mine.