pica, how many people have minor versions of it

[Lyudmilascience]

my friend and mom thinks we should all be intuitive eaters. I dont agree with intuitive eating .which is the notion that people crave the things their body needs and you should follow what your body needs. i just feel like no one agrees with me on this point and i feel like im weird. there is a disorder called pica http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/mental-health-pica it is a disorder where you crave things that are not nutritional. I have family members that loved eating candy but they need to eat something else to stay healthy, and you have to force them, they dont like most vegetables. The site only said what percentage of institutionalized people have pica. I am wondering how many people actually do crave things that are non nutritional and just restrict themselves from eating it and don't tell anyone. I feel like im weird becasue as a kid I used to like the taste of packing peanuts, the glue ones not the Styrofoam ones.I feel bad for liking them but I do not know how to make myself not like them. I used to eat them sometimes. I would sneak them out of the packages if we had non Styrofoam ones. I think it could be some minor version of pica because thats the only thing I like. I always restricted myself from eating them and have not eaten any since second grade. I still like them I think. I have never told anyone else this besides my parents, they think I grew out of it. I also don't understand how it can be treated by reinforcing mentally good things to eat, for me it isnt mental, in general cravings are not mental they are physical. I can tell myself its bad to like them but its not going to make myself dislike them. I cant say I love broccoli, and then like it after that, I still wont like broccoli. I mean its not a problem right now. im just worried I will become addicted to something inedible like in the show my secret obsession. i tired to avoid that show on tlc because the commercials were scary.

 

Does anyone else have anything they crave to eat?

 

How can you treat a craving with therapy?

 

 

[StringJunky]

My pica habit, as a kid, was Lego pieces. I used to chew them to destruction. I love the taste of Aspirin tablets, especially the fizzy ones, and will relish the taste when I have to take one or two but I won't take them if I don't need to.

[DrmDoc]

If I followed my eating intuition, I'd be typing this from my reinforced bed on the ground floor of my home while several attendants struggle to lift my enormous rear for a sponging.

Edited August 8, 2016 by DrmDoc

[EdEarl]

I get hungry and think of brownies because they are my favorite sin. However, it's not a hunger for anything specific. Eating a salad will satisfy me, but neither carbs or protein will. It's not a pica, but similar since I'm diabetic and that much sugar can be poison.

[Lyudmilascience]

If I followed my eating intuition, I'd be typing this from my reinforced bed on the ground floor of my home while several attendants struggle to lift my enormous rear for a sponging.

ha ha ha me too, if I followed it I would be in really poor health and probably be going to the doctors thought life.