Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Day 36 - Cravings and Olfactory Hallucinations

Diet tip of the day: Know when your cravings are justified. If you have a persistent craving, try to figure out why. Your body might be telling you it's missing something important.

I've been feeling slightly anemic lately for several reasons, the least of which are exam stress and the fact that I haven't really eaten much red meat since the beginning of my diet. I've been taking a multivitamin every day, but realized that it does not have iron in it. So, no wonder I was craving burgers. My body wasn't getting enough iron. My senior year I took a class in Child Development, and we learned that most of the cravings pregnant women get have to do with the fact that they are not getting all the nutrients they need. It's not just pregnant women, though. I'm not going to say I'm in-tune with my body and its needs, I'm just saying that sometimes my cravings make sense. And I'm 100% not pregnant, so don't take that away from this post. :)

Last year in my Intro to Psychology class, we learned about the different kinds of hallucinations that people can experience. Yes, we were talking about mental disorders, but "normal" people can experience them too. I experienced two "Olfactory Hallucinations" today, which are scents you perceive that aren't there. I was reading a book, which prompted one of them. I suddenly smelled the scent of Crayola paint that we used in grade school, the kind that came in a 2 gallon jug. It was strange, because I can't even remember the last time I used that kind of paint, but it has a distinct chalky smell to it. I found it really strange that I could remember something like that, but scents are actually our strongest links to memories. So it's no surprise that the next scent hallucination cheered me up quite a bit. Again, I don't know why, but I suddenly smelled the scent of my mixer at home, that metallic, electric, smell paired with vanilla, flour, and sugar in a mixing bowl. I can't even tell you how badly I want to make cookies, now. I just found it funny that I would experience such strong scent-triggered memories so close in succession.

I'm sorry it's been so long since my last post. Exam week is a terrible, terrible time at my school. It's 1pm on a Tuesday and I had trouble finding a seat in the biggest library on campus. However, I finally finished writing my two 4-page history essays. I had a bit of a melt-down during my second one, but my boyfriend pulled me out of it. It's hard when so much of your grade depends on one piece of writing. I am a pro at writing English papers. I am not a fast writer, because I obsess a little on every sentence before I can move on. If my sentence isn't making the best statement it could, I am stuck, frozen, until I can fix it. I also really enjoy adding bits of alliteration into my papers, and I've found that English TA's usually enjoy them, too. So little things can get me really stuck. Imagine how stuck I was when I couldn't come up with one cut and dry answer to why the U.S. got involved in every war it's fought since the Civil War. That's a really broad question. One of two essays I had to cram into 4 pages each. Oh well! I'm done with it. It's in the hands of the TA and the professor.

I hope to keep up with my posting from here on out, or at least not take a 3-day break again. Keep up the feedback. I'm still waiting for healthy recipes! theshapeshifterblog@yahoo.com

Exercise tip of the day: Do something relaxing. If you're stressed at work or school, it's not always best to hit a punching bag. Do something that calms you, like doing stretching to soothing music.

1 comment:

  1. Your exams are more important than blogging, so don't apologize. Fingers crossed that you did well!

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