Hi- I have been mostly raw for around 6 years or so, and used to post on this forum once in awhile, but have been away from these boards for the last couple of years. Lately, though, I have been checking out all the cool info and questions that come up for discussion within this community, as I re-commit my determination to stay very raw. These days, I am very high raw, except for some steamed veggies, miso soup, and the occasional egg. I also enjoy cold-processed hemp and rice protein.

Anyway, lately I have been craving black foods- to be precise, prunes, licorice, and blackstrap molasses. Now, I am not normally a licorice lover, nor have I ever consumed molasses straight up, but that is exactly what I have been doing almost on a daily basis for the last week or so (I have always liked prunes, but don't always have them around.. until now).

Any ideas as to what this is all about? Maybe it's just a flavor thing--- truth is my palate has gone a bit off the grid the more raw I go; I crave some weird stuff at times: kim-chee; bitter veggies; any and all sea veggies and algaes... and tend not to like sweet things.

Has anybody else gone through some weird craving periods, that just passed almost as soon as they arrived?

BTW, I am female, 47 years old, very lean and physically active.

You are probably after manganese...
Manganese food sources include bananas, blueberries, figs, grapes, kiwifruit, strawberries, blackstrap molasses, maple syrup, black pepper, black beans as a good source of manganese. Other Manganese foods include nuts, seeds, avocados, seaweeds, raisins, spinach, broccoli, whole grains, egg yolks, peas, orange, spinach and other green leafy vegetables.

Manganese serves many functions in your body. It primarily works as a coenzyme that facilitates various metabolic processes in the body. The benefits of manganese in the body vary largely. It is involved in bone formation, thyroid function, formation of connective tissues, sex hormone function, calcium absorption, blood sugar regulation, immune function and in fat and carbohydrate metabolism.

Agree that it could be manganese, but also it could possibly be iron, as well. Good luck figuring this out : )

thats interesting

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Thanks for the info. Janabanana- (by the way, your name is way fun to type), manganese could be it. But it's odd that I eat most of the foods on that list on a daily basis anyway, you would think I have consumed enough.

Oh, well. Perhaps it's an iron, or combination of trace minerals...

My breakfast Wheat Grass juice is the best craving eliminator that I know of because its got a great mineral profile.

i have read in a number of sites and different vitamins/minerals/macronutrients etc. (not sure tho if it is the case with this particular one or not tho so dont quote me on it lol) that quite often an over abundance of any one particular nutrient can also mimic deficiency

im not sure how or why , but im sure the big brains here can can either back me up on that or shoot me down

either way id like to know lol

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Buddhistforlife,
Interesting cravings, maybe they are just concentrated calorie sources, especially if you are very active, or unusually active these days. The molasses is very high in sugar, and maybe a more acceptable source of sugar for you rather than the refined white variety. There are minerals in molasses also, so its hard to say.

Perhaps there is some psychological factor to the deep color. I have been attracted to some black chickpeas which recently became available at a local healthfood store. The clerk was nice enough to give me a sample of them to see if they would sprout. I am still deciding if they will sprout. I also found black lentils, I am sure they will sprout.

An ayurvedic book suggested eating particular color foods on particular days to strengthen ones body, mind, chakras and even ones subtle body. There was a black/blue day. I don't remember which colors for which days. But black and blue colors are a bit more difficult to find than most others. Black lentils, black garbanzos, blue berries, black rice, blackberries, black seasame seeds could help.

You could get a double benefit by eating blueberries, the blue color, and blueberries are an excellent source of manganese. In case the theory of manganese proves correct!

jgunn,
Gabriel Cousens addresses something like that in "Conscious Eating". He mentioned cases where a mineral toxicity and deficiency can co-exist at the same time. Particularly in the case of consuming large amounts of calcium from milk. How it ends up shorting the bones, but also causing calcium to deposit in the joints. This had something to do with the ratio of phosphorus to calcium. Its not favorable in dairy and animal foods.

my first impression was maybe your body needed iron.


i crave green foods, like kale, romaine, broccoli, etc...

Mislu, interesting thoughts.... especially concerning the psychological aspect. I have been drawn to black foods in general. In fact, about a month ago I bought a small bag of "Organic Chinese Forbidden Black Rice", even though I don't generally eat rice. It just looked exotic and, well, "forbidden." Ha! Well, perhaps there's some insight right there...

I do eat blueberries every morning, tossed into my green smoothie. But now, come to think of it, I just recently bought a bag of blackberries, something I usually pass over.

Okay, I am leaning towards the psych route, and will just enjoy my "black/blue" period during this raw journey.

Buddhistforlife,
Yes, I think enjoying the black/blue period works! Some people think that darker pigmented fruit and foods have more value pigmentwise. There seems to be a lot of truth to that, as blueberries, blackberries are high in pigments. Limes are supposed to be better than lemons, via being darker in color and having a broader spectrum of pigments, even if you don't see them all. If there were a black lemon that would be the ultimate! Crowberries were one of my favorite foods as a young adult, I haven't had them for a long time. I liked them because they produced such an incredible amount of sweet, rich, dark inky juice. It turns out that crowberries beat almost all berries in every nutritional profile comparison. It even beat out bilberries on at least one chart! that is something, very, very difficult to do!

black is timeless, classic, and also slimming. It will never go out of style. your taste buds are obviously very fashion forward.

Lol... hey, thanks for that! I am a New York City girl, after all, where black is the "coin of the realm" of the fashion world.

Be glad your not getting really odd cravings. Just a little while ago I started having cravings for 7up, and then chocolate milk. I haven't had either one in like 10 years or more. I found that really, really WEIRD! especially since I could taste each, like I had just drank each.

I like watermelon & collard greens too.

cbuilder,
those sound really good! I tried a 'black' variety. (its actually very dark green)
I found out they are incredibly loaded with nutrients. Someone online said they make broccoli look like junk food!