I have been trying to answer a question that I have been asked by someone in a message for the last half hour or so, I have typed it several times and then two seconds later deleted it.
I will set the scene for you; this person is Vegan and over the last few months has been craving Fish and asked me what thoughts I had on it.

Now I know when I was sick at Christmas I had a few ‘meat/fish’ cravings myself and I have put this down to the fact that when the body wants something it tends to send signals to the brain that trigger memories and associations of things it has come across in the past.

The job then is to first of all find out why it is. Is it because it is lacking in something for example iron or maybe its something more complex like Vitamin B12, or is it just that I have been eating the same thing day in and day out and my body is telling me it wants a different flavour or texture.

Now for the solution to the problem has to be two fold as I can’t know for sure without blood test if its something missing in my diet I tend to go for the hit all the birds with as many stones as I can route.

First thing I do is make sure I’m getting lots of fresh colourful fruits and vegetables as I can, this way I know I’m getting as many vitamins as I can. I know for some of you, you will be thinking he’s Vegan all he eats is vegetables what’s he going on about? Well I know that but I can get stuck into a rut as far as food is concerned, I don’t always feel like cooking food and will happily sit and eat vegemite on toast 24/7. There was a time in my life when the only green thing I ever put in my mouth was a green M&M, so now whenever I start to get cravings I tend to first of all think ‘what junk have I been eating?’

Now the second part is really easy I find. Taste and texture, if it’s fish I start to crave I tend to introduce more sea vegetables into things, maybe make myself some veggie sushi. This way I not only get that fishy taste I can also get some important minerals from the sea greens too. If I how ever get a craving for meat it tend to be a texture thing going on, this is when I have turned to Tofu as a good substitute. I weigh down some firm Tofu over night to get out as much water as I can and to make it firmer and easier to cook with, then I make up a spicy marinade or dipping sauce and make kebabs out of it always remembering to add onions and peppers to it for more bite.

Now I know every one will have different ways of dealing with things like this but this is my way, I know at the end of the day I will never turn to eating meat so I have to find a way to solve the problems as they come about.

Bear. x