How I Deal With My Cravings: What's Really Behind that Desperate Desire For A Slice Of Pecan Pie?

During the winter break, my husband, Angel, our two kids, 9 1/2 year old Cara and 14 1/2 year old PT and I drove my step daughter, Janelle and my little step grandson, Aiden back home to North Carolina.  We also invited Cara's cousin, Angelica to join us for the trip.  We arrived on the 27th and on the 30th we left to go back to New York.

It was great seeing Janelle and Aiden again but it was a really stressful trip.  I'm just not used to dealing with the needs of a baby anymore.  I notice that I just don't have the patience that I used to have when PT and Cara were kids. I'm not very resourceful anymore when it comes to children whining and asserting their independence.  I guess I just act old sometimes.  It's also tough because I rarely see Aiden and consequently don't feel very connected to him. I need to take steps to remedy that.  Perhaps it is another great opportunity to do some tapping.

Anyway this was the scenario, the two girls were in the back seat of the Excursion watching the DVD player, acting crazy, laughing and carrying on and being drama queens as little girls do, my son, PT was in the center seat complaining about not being able to sleep with all their noise and I was sitting in the passenger seat next to Angel finishing up a great book by Gloria Arenson called,  A Substance Called Food: How to Understand, Control and Recover from Addictive Eating.  I was feeling quite stressed since I was preparing for a presentation and wanted to get some good background information on food as an addiction to share with my audience.  As I read, I took notes on my laptop. I was beginning to feel the anxiety rise in my body as I listened to the girls' giggles and felt the heat of the laptop on my lap.  We hit a massive traffic jam in Washington and were stalled, crawling for about 10 miles bumper to bumper.  I felt hunger and I had to go to the bathroom.  I was really started to get frustrated and very upset with the girls for their silliness.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity and was in reality only about 40 minutes, we pulled into a rest stop and decided to have dinner at a roadstop Denny's.  I was so hungry that I could have eaten a cow and so frustrated that I really wanted to just to quell my anxiety.  I was hungry and tired, not a good combination for a sound eating plan.  I was feeling very vulnerable and just wanted to eat whatever I wanted to make me feel safe and comfortable and to relieve the stress of the past few hours of the trip.

I had already had a lovely brunch meal of French Toast, lightly scrambled eggs tea with lemon and a piece of sausage earlier in the morning and was satisfied that I wanted to have a light dinner that evening to balance out the day.  As we sat down at the table, I had mixed feelings about following through with my original plan.  I had chosen to eat a light grilled chicken salad and a cup of soup.

Feeling hungry, tired, and irritated with my daughter and her cousin for being difficult to control and overly noisy and distractingly chatty, I noticed that I was feeling challenged by my decision to eat lightly and my eyes locked on an overhead sign displaying the most sumptuous slice of pecan pie I've ever seen.  All of a sudden I was overcome with desire for that silly pecan pie.  Just to clarify ... I think I have only eaten it twice in my life and enjoyed it but never felt particularly drawn to it.

Feeling frustrated, upset and overcome with a desire to ditch my healthy eating plan and order a slice of this blasted pie, I listened to my self talk which said, Andrea, you know this stuff works when you work it now go take care of this craving NOW!

I excused myself from the family and headed to the restroom for some privacy.  I used the tapping process that I teach the women in the Craving Zapping Program class.  When I left the table and began the tapping process, the craving was a 10, as high as possible.  As I tapped and began the setup phrases, I was shocked and amazed when my eyes began to tear up as I uncovered the feelings of loss that I felt over my Nana'a death and how the pecan pie reminded me of her and the times that she and I used to bake and spent many wonderful hours in her warm aromatic kitchen when I was a child living in New York City. 

After a few more realizations and rounds of tapping, I gauged where the craving was and realized that the desire for the craving was really just a disguised drive to reconnect with my Nana and her extraordinary ability to love and make me feel loved.  About 5 minutes later, I returned to the table feeling free, light and easy,  with a big smile and a sunny disposition.  The craving was down past a 0.  To test it, I continued to glance up at the sign of the slice of pecan pie floating overhead and felt nothing.  I made note of the fact that it even looked a bit sickening to me.  With a big genuine smile and a feeling of inner peace, I ordered my planned dinner  and never once felt deprived.  When it arrived, I enjoyed it thoroughly, eating slowly and drinking up the warmth and love of my family's company.  Honestly, I don't know where I'd be if I didn't have tapping as a resource to deal with my feelings and to balance my energy. I truly love it and now love to share it with others as often as I can. It is truly a blessing.