What are you teaching yourself to crave?
Maybe you don’t have to wait until you want the healthy choice. Choose it. Consume it. The craving might catch up.
Hey y’all. Welcome to More Lovin, the podcast that brings more laughter, light, and love into everyday life. I’m LeAnn Austin, and around here, love isn’t just something we talk about, it’s something we practice through the More Lovin Method: MOVE. CONNECT. LOVE. Three simple choices that can change your day, and over time, your life. Let’s practice a little More Lovin. Here we go:
Today’s episode #249: We Crave What We Consume
I came across this phrase recently, “We crave what we consume.” and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It reminded me of an idea Lisa TerKeurst talks about in her book Made to Crave, that we can develop cravings based on what we repeatedly consume.
And I started wondering, what if this idea is much bigger than food? What if your cravings aren’t just telling you what you want? What if they’re also telling you what you’ve been consuming?
Think about it. You eat something sweet every night, and suddenly 8:00pm rolls around and your brain says, Where’s the chocolate? You scroll your phone every time you’re bored, and suddenly you don’t even realize you’ve picked it up. You watch one more episode, and somehow Netflix is asking, Are you still watching? And then there’s me. I actually start craving a workout. I know, weird.
But here’s what got me thinking. Maybe we don’t always crave something and then consume it. Maybe sometimes we consume something and then learn to crave it. And if that’s true, what are you teaching yourself to crave?
Let’s start with food. I’ve noticed this in my own life. There are foods I used to think I couldn’t live without, and I don’t really think about them anymore. And there are things I intentionally started doing more of, walking, lifting weights, getting outside, drinking more water, and now I actually miss them when I don’t do them.
That has made me realize how much more hopeful this idea is than restrictive. I don’t have to constantly fight myself. I can practice consuming more of what I want to learn to crave.
Have you ever noticed this? Have you stopped eating something for a while and realized, Huh, I actually don’t miss that anymore. Or maybe you’ve started eating something regularly and suddenly you’re thinking about it all the time. That’s because our food preferences aren’t completely fixed.
Repeated exposure can influence what we like and what we’re drawn to, which means something really encouraging. You don’t have to wait until you crave the healthy choice to start making the healthy choice. Sometimes you make the choice first, and the craving catches up. This isn’t about never eating chocolate or whatever you love. It’s about noticing, what am I regularly feeding my appetite?
Moving on. What are you feeding your mind? Imagine consuming outrage every day, comparison, bad news, criticism, drama, other people’s highlight reels, arguments, fear, and then wondering, Why do I feel so anxious?
I’m not saying one Instagram post creates anxiety, but what if we started paying attention to our patterns of consumption? What are we repeatedly putting in front of our eyes? What are we repeatedly listening to? What are we repeatedly thinking about? Because attention is a form of consumption.
Let’s talk about our phones. You can pick it up to check the weather. Suddenly you’re watching a woman organize her refrigerator, then you’re looking at somebody’s vacation in Italy, then you’re watching a dog who apparently has a better life than all of us, and 27 minutes later, you’re like, Why am I holding this?
But here’s the question I really want us to ask: What are you training yourself to reach for? Because every time we repeat a behavior, we’re making it a little more familiar. And sometimes what feels like a random craving is actually a well-practiced habit.
And then there’s another kind of consumption we don’t talk about very often. Who and what are you surrounding yourself with? Who are you spending time with? What conversations are you repeatedly having? What kind of energy fills your home?
What happens when you’re around someone who makes you laugh, someone who listens, someone who tells you the truth but does it with love, someone who lets you be completely yourself? Don’t you sometimes walk away thinking, I want more of that. That’s fascinating to me because sometimes we don’t realize what we’ve been missing until we experience something different.
And this is where it gets really personal for me. What am I consuming spiritually? If I want to feel close to God, but I’m rarely praying, rarely reading scripture, rarely slowing down enough to listen to Him, rarely creating space to listen, I might ask myself, Am I creating space for the relationship I say matters to me?
For me, this is where the phrase gets really beautiful. Maybe we can develop an appetite for God. The more I turn toward him, the more I notice him. The more I notice him, the more I want to turn toward him. And suddenly the cycle is working for me instead of against me.
There’s a beautiful principle in scripture: “Draw near unto me, and I will draw near unto you.” And Jesus taught that what we treasure matters. In the Bible, Matthew 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” I love that because it reminds me our attention and our affection are connected. What we repeatedly turn toward becomes important to us.
Think about this loop: consume, crave, consume. We consume something, we become familiar with it, we begin to crave it, we consume more of it, and the cycle continues.
But what if we flipped it? Choose, consume, crave. Now, the great news is we can interrupt the cycle. Maybe you don’t have to wait until you crave vegetables to eat them. Maybe you don’t have to crave movement to move. Maybe you don’t have to feel like praying to pray. Maybe you don’t have to feel connected before you reach out. Sometimes the choice comes first. The craving can come later.
And you know what made me think of this? MOVE. CONNECT LOVE. Because maybe more lovin isn’t just about what we do. Maybe it’s also about what we feed. MOVE. What are you consuming that makes you want to move? CONNECT. What people and conversations leave you craving more connection? LOVE. What are you consuming that helps you become more loving towards yourself, toward other people, toward God, toward this crazy, messy, beautiful life? Hmmm, something to think about and practice.
Now, just to clarify, this doesn’t mean every craving is created by what we’ve consumed. Our biology, emotions, environment, sleep, stress, habits, and lots of other things influence what we want. But our repeated experiences can shape what feels familiar, what we enjoy, and what we reach for. And maybe that’s the whole point of this experiment, not to control what we crave, but to become more intentional about what we’re feeding.
Here’s your challenge: The More Lovin Appetite Experiment.
For the next 24 hours, become a curious scientist. You don’t have to change anything, don’t judge anything, don’t restrict anything, don’t label anything good or bad. Just notice, what am I consuming? What am I putting into my body? What am I putting into my mind? What am I watching? What am I listening to? Who am I spending time with? What am I giving my attention to? What am I feeding my spirit?
And then ask, is this something I want to practice craving? That’s it. No guilt, no shame, just curiosity. And if the answer is no, you don’t have to overhaul your life. Just choose one tiny thing to consume a little more of tomorrow. More movement, more water, more sunlight, more laughter, more scripture, more prayer, more music, more nature, more connection, more kindness, more love.
Because around here, more lovin isn’t just something we talk about, it’s something we practice. And maybe it’s something we can learn to crave.
Before we go, grab one thing from today’s conversation and remember the More Lovin Method: MOVE. CONNECT. LOVE. Here’s to choosing a little more of what we want to crave and a whole lot more lovin. You got this.
Thanks for spending part of your day with me. If you’re ready to put the More Lovin Method into practice and create more of what matters most in your life, I’d love to help you through one-on-one coaching. You can learn more at leannaustin.com
Because around here, more lovin isn’t just something we talk about, it’s something we practice. Have a good one y’all.