Salt

Just scoffed some green and blacks 70% dipped in peanut butter - I was really craving something salty and have been for the last couple of weeks - I've probably had a lot of crisps over the last 4 weeks actually. And I have been adding a fair bit to my food when my boyfriend hasn't needed any - it's not like me really I only normally bother if I have chips - rare these days.
It just dawned on me that in one of my recipe folders I have a torn out article about different cravings and what they mean, and how to get over them.

It says that cravings for salt or salty foods - crisps, pizza (had two in the last fortnight), marmite, soy... all linked to stress! That makes so much sense for me right now! These last few weeks I have felt properly stressed, not just the usual being a bit stressed from being busy at work and stuff but properly stressed feeling. The article says stress weakens the adrenal glands that regulate the balance of sodium and potassium in the body, the brains natural calming chemical, gamma-aminobutyric acid, is depleted by stress so needs to be supplemented by you to restore balance.
They recommend I get more essential fatty acids like those found in oily fish, nuts and evening primrose oil.

Is tuna an oily fish? I'm having that for dinner tomorrow! Going to give this a go and make an effort to eat more foods with EFA's and see how I feel. Got prawns for lunch tomorrow and I'll have some of my seed mix with extra almonds as a snack instead of a banana. Have salmon for dinner later in the week and a big bag of prawns for lunches.

Going to think about taking evening primrose oil again as well, I took it when I was in school for period pains/symptoms and although the pill sorts most of that out these days it's still a rather unpleasant experience, I just keep forgetting to pick some up!


Have also been reading around about drinking too much water after a chat with my mum and came across this
"As the water content of the blood increases, the salt content is diluted. Consequently the amount of salt available to body tissues decreases, which can lead to problems with brain, heart and muscle function."

Now I don't think I'm drinking a 'dangerous' amount of water or anything but I have massively increased how much water I'm drinking and it's interesting about the salt thing too.... is it obvious I'm bored tonight!?