Last week I baked a molasses cake. It was the second time I've made this moist, delicious treat. The first time was a year ago.
I had never eaten (or even heard of!) the dessert, but I woke up one morning and all I could think was, "I need to bake a molasses cake." It was a truly odd experience to be craving a food I never even knew about.
But since I have an agreement with my body where I promise to listen and take its requests seriously, I googled "Molasses cake recipes," bought a jar of molasses (oh for the days of casual grocery shopping) and whipped one up.
When I took my first bite I heard my body say "YESSSS!!! That's exactly right!!!! Thank you!!!" Success.
(I call this image: "Talia and Molasses Cake Definitely Not Posed.")
I sometimes tell this story to my clients when teaching about intuitive eating. I used to approach eating from a more perfectionist stand point: eat the right number of calories, get the right amount of fat, fiber, vitamins... I would read nutrition labels to make sure I was "getting it right."
Intuitive eating is about relearning how to trust our bodies. When we listen, our bodies give us all kinds of information about what it needs, including vitamins, macro and micronutrients. We don't have to obsess about getting it right because our bodies will let us know. Sometimes my body asks for sweets, sometimes veggies, grains, etc.
So because I was curious, I looked up molasses. Turns out molasses is full of magnesium, vitamin b-6, potassium and a host of other things I probably needed. More evidence that this whole trusting my body thing seems to work. Delicious.
Have you ever craved a food you'd never eaten? Would love to hear your stories.