“The Weight We Carry: What do emotional cravings really mean?

There’s a moment usually after the kids are finally in bed, or when you’re alone in your car, or when you sit still long enough to feel something. When you realize your body has been carrying conversations you never had, disappointments you swallowed down, and emotions you tried to outrun. The body remembers what the mind tries to forget.

And if you’re anything like me, you were never taught to notice the stories your body holds. You were taught to tighten your jaw, suck in your stomach, square your shoulders, pray harder, smile politely, keep the peace, and keep going. Meanwhile, your nervous system was whispering the truth:

“This is too much to carry alone.”

“You don’t feel safe.”

“Something needs care, not ignoring.”

Part 3 is where we get honest about how the nervous system records emotional pain, and how, with God’s help, the body can finally release it. Will also talk about how food comes into play because I am a Health Coach. This is the deep work. But it’s also the healing work.

1. The Front of the Body: Where Vulnerability Lives

If you ever notice how you instinctively cover your chest when you’re hurt, or cross your arms when you’re unsure, or place a hand on your stomach when you’re stressed, that’s not random. The front of your body is the tender territory. It’s the place where fear, grief, disappointment, shame, and emotional overwhelm tend to show up first.

The Chest (Heart-Space)

Tightness in the chest often comes from emotional inhibition, fear, relational injury, and grief. Researchers note that emotional suppression increases sympathetic activation, creating chest pressure and shallow breathing (Gross & Levenson, 1997).

Scripture speaks to this experience:

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” — Proverbs 13:12

It’s where the body says, “My heart needs protection,” long before you admit you’re hurting.

• Tightness.
• Pressure.
• Short breaths.
• A heaviness you can’t stretch away.

The Gut (Stomach & Lower Belly)

The gut-brain axis is real. Neuroscientists call the gut the “second brain.” I’ve written a few posts on the gut-brain-heart connection

because it holds its own network of over 100 million neurons communicating emotional states through the vagus nerve (Mayer, 2011).

Scripture has been telling us this long before science caught up:

My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen on me. Psalm 55:4

The Hebrew word for “anguish” here implies a gut-deep churning. The gut is the emotional data center. It’s why you get knots, nausea, bloating, loss of appetite, or sudden hunger. Over the years, I’ve shared the perils of my digestive system, and I have learned that some have been unprocessed traumas from childhood. I’m writing from experience. When you’re pretending to be “fine,” your gut knows you’re not. It’s always the first to tell the truth.

Throat + Jaw

The “I can’t say this out loud” zone. The clenching, swallowing, tightening. That’s where unspoken truths live. If your chest is the place you feel, your throat is the place you silence. None of these responses is “dramatic.” They’re adapted and ultimately protective. Your nervous system is doing what God designed it to do: offer a protective shield.

2. Why Digestion Reacts So Quickly to Emotions

Your gut and brain are in constant conversation. They communicate more than your teenagers. And the messenger delivering every update is the vagus nerve. The main pathway of calm, connection, and safety. When something triggers your fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response, digestion is the first thing to shut down. Because your body says:

“Survive now. Digest later.”

This is why emotional stress can cause:

• bloating
• slowed digestion
• urgent digestion
• nausea
• constipation or diarrhea
• no appetite or overwhelming appetite

You’re not “sensitive.” Your nervous system is reacting to emotional load, not just food that doesn’t serve your body well. Sometimes the issue isn’t what you ate. It’s what you haven’t released.

3. Food Cravings Are Not Random: They’re Messages

Hear me: cravings aren’t a lack of discipline. Your nervous system is sending a message. When you feel overwhelmed, food steps in as comfort, distraction, numbing agent, grounding tool, or emotional anesthesia. Different cravings are trying to tell you different things.

Sugar Cravings

Sugar cravings often rise when you’re overwhelmed, hurting, or exhausted, not because you lack discipline, but because your brain is trying to soothe itself. When emotional pain or chronic stress builds, the nervous system reaches for something fast and familiar that offers a moment of relief. Research shows that sugar activates the brain’s reward centers in the same pathways associated with emotional comfort, which is why it feels calming when you’re stressed (Avena, Rada, & Hoebel, 2008). Chronic stress also raises cortisol, and elevated cortisol makes the brain more sensitive to reward-seeking foods such as sweets (Adam & Epel, 2007; Epel et al., 2001). When the brain is overwhelmed, its ability to self-regulate decreases, making sugary foods even more appealing (Tomiyama, 2019).

So when you crave sugar, it often means:
“I need relief from what hurts.”
“I need softness somewhere.”
“I’m worn out, and my body is asking for comfort.”

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” — Psalm 34:8

There is a deeper sweetness your spirit is longing for. This is not spiritual bypassing this is reflection and reconnection. What are we taking to the pantry that we should be taking to the Cross?

Crunchy, Loud Foods

Crunchy foods are often the body’s built-in tension release. When anger, frustration, or unspoken pressure has nowhere to go, the jaw becomes the outlet. Studies show that chewing can reduce cortisol and temporarily ease stress because the jaw muscles directly influence the sympathetic stress response (Hasegawa et al., 2007; Smith, 2010). Trauma and emotional suppression also commonly settle in the jaw, leading to clenching, grinding, and tension patterns that make crunchy textures feel relieving (van der Kolk, 2014).

These cravings frequently signal:
“I’m holding anger or tension.”
“I need an outlet, but can’t find one.”

“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,” — Ephesians 4:26

and don’t shove the anger away with a bag of chips.  Anger isn’t the problem. Holding it in your body is. When I came to this realization, and I am craving chips, or I have literally said, “I just want something crunchy,” then I asked myself What are you not saying? 

My cravings are telling me how I am feeling, and then sometimes I just want something crunchy.  But it’s a powerful reflection tool. Revealing what I’m feeling and why the craving is showing up.

Salty Foods

Salt cravings often appear when you feel depleted, disconnected, or overwhelmed and dehydrated. Salt plays a key role in adrenal function and electrolyte balance, both of which are impacted when the body is under prolonged stress. Research shows that chronic stress can disrupt sodium balance through its effect on the adrenal glands, which may increase salt cravings as the body seeks regulation and grounding (Marquez et al., 2009). Emotional exhaustion can mimic sodium deficiency, leading your body to seek salty foods for a sense of stability.

In emotional language, salt cravings often mean:
“I’m depleted and disconnected.”
“I need grounding.”

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” — Matthew 5:13

Salt represents stability, identity, and presence. The very things your body may be longing to return to.

Overeating or Emotional Eating

Overeating is rarely about food. More often, it is an attempt to soothe emotions the heart hasn’t had space or language to hold. Emotional eating is strongly linked to the desire to avoid difficult emotional states, as researchers have found that food temporarily dampens limbic activity, especially during sadness, loneliness, or overwhelm (Macht, 2008; Tuman et al., 2015). Most of the front body encompasses these feelings. Individuals who struggle to identify or articulate their emotions are significantly more likely to overeat because food becomes a form of emotional translation or escape (van Strien, 2007).

These moments often whisper:
“I need comfort.”
“I want to feel full because I feel empty.”
“I don’t want to sit alone with this pain.”

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” — Psalm 73:26

God is not shaming your hunger. He is inviting you into His comfort. We feel alone and isolated, but the Lord will never leave you nor forsake you. It’s hard, but when we feel the feelings, it’s time to cling and abide in the Savior.

Questions That Shift the Experience

When I offer somatic therapy, I always invite my clients to acknowledge instead of judgment, pause, and ask:

• “What is my craving trying to comfort or distract me from?”
•  “What emotion is coming up right now?”
• “What does my body need that food cannot give me?”

Cravings are not condemnation. They are invitations to listen. And when you pause, breathe, and take a moment, you will be surprised at how much your body wants to say, but you’ve been ignoring it so long. 

4. Scripture Is Embodied: Not Abstract

We talk about rest like it’s something you stumble into on vacation. But biblical rest is embodied. Tangible. Felt in the breath, muscles, and nervous system. It’s only with God. Like it has always meant to be. Abiding in Him.

• Rest is unclenching your jaw.
• Rest is breathing slowly enough to feel your heartbeat again.
• Rest is letting your shoulders drop out of your ears.

“Come to me, ALL you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. — Matthew 11:28

Rest is not a luxury; it doesn’t have to be earned, it’s a gift that is given, it’s a promise.

“He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I WILL be exalted among the nations, I WILL be exalted in the earth.” — Psalm 46:10

Stillness is a bodily practice, not a mental idea. 

“He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.” — Psalm 23:3

Restoration happens in real time, in real bodies. God has always cared about your nervous system. The world may rush you. But God regulates you.

5. What Somatic Regulation Is, and What It Is Not

Let’s be absolutely clear, especially for the women who have been taught to fear their bodies or mistrust anything that sounds reflective or embodied:

• Somatic regulation is NOT self-worship.
• It does not center the self as savior or source.
• It does not elevate the body above God.

Instead, somatic regulation helps you notice the honest signals your nervous system is sending so you can bring them to God instead of being ruled by them. This aligns with research showing that the body carries unprocessed emotional memory and expresses it through physiological responses (van der Kolk, 2014), not as spiritual rebellion but as survival. Your body is not asking to be worshiped. It’s asking to be listened to so you can respond in truth.

• Somatic regulation is not empty mindfulness.
• Mindfulness without God may be quiet, but it is hollow.
• It is embodied awareness with the Holy Spirit that becomes discernment.

Breath work is not “new age”

Calming practices like slow breathing, grounding, or softening tension are not about “emptying the mind.” They help restore the nervous system’s regulatory capacities. It brings us back to the first gift, the “neshamah,” the “ruach,” the presence of God. It’s what takes us from the acts of the flesh in,

Galatians  5:17; For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They conflict with each other, so you are not to do whatever you want.

And to the differences of acting in your flesh (Gal 5:19-21) or your sympathetic nervous system and your spirit (Gal 5:22-23), your parasympathetic nervous system is activated by a breath. 

What psychologists call neuroception, the body’s subconscious ability to detect safety or threat (Porges, 2011). When neuroception is overwhelmed, it becomes harder to think clearly, hear God clearly, or make wise choices (Dana, 2018). Physiological calm creates space for spiritual clarity. Your body becomes still enough to be led instead of driven.

Regulating is not “new age”

Dr. Bruce Perry describes something profoundly aligned with both Scripture and what we observe in the body: the Three R’s sequence of healing — Regulate, Relate, and Reason.
In his neurodevelopmental research on trauma, Perry shows that the brain cannot think clearly, make wise decisions, or access higher reasoning until the nervous system is regulated first (Perry & Szalavitz, 2006).

In other words, nervous system regulation is not optional.
It is the prerequisite for clarity.

Perry’s model explains it this way:

1. Regulate:
The body must first return to a felt sense of safety.
This involves breath, grounding, movement, warmth, rhythm, and all the practices that calm the brainstem and limbic system. Without regulation, the brain stays in survival mode; reacting, bracing, numbing, craving, or shutting down.

This matches everything Scripture tells us about stillness:
“Be still and know…” (Psalm 46:10).
Stillness (regulation) comes before knowing (reason).

2. Relate:
Only after the body is calm can a person truly connect with others.
Perry notes that co-regulation; feeling safe with another human, is essential for the brain to shift from defense to connection.
This is why community heals what isolation magnifies.

This reflects biblical truth:
“It is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18).
God heals us through relationship, through belonging, presence, and connection.

3. Reason:
Once regulated and relationally safe, the brain’s cortex becomes accessible.
Only then can we think clearly, reflect, make sound decisions, evaluate cravings, and engage in meaningful spiritual or cognitive work.

“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. Isaiah 1:18

Reason follows regulation, not the other way around. You cannot discipline a dysregulated nervous system. You cannot think your way out of what the body is still holding. You cannot expect a triggered body to make wise choices, spiritually or nutritionally, without restoring safety first.

Regulate → Relate → Reason

This is God’s design reflected in neuroscience. This is somatic discipleship. This is the embodied path to transformation.

Somatic regulation is not “new age.”

This is what Scripture describes when it calls us to be “sober-minded,” “still,” and “watchful.” God never asked you to silence your mind. He asked you to slow down enough to hear Him. Somatic regulation is not “new age.” The new age movement did not invent breath, grounding, or embodiment.

The capacity to sense, notice, and regulate your internal state is built into your biology. God formed the nervous system long before somatic therapy had language for it. The body’s stress responses, bracing patterns, and cycles of activation and deactivation are not mystical ideas; they are measurable physiological processes (Sapolsky, 2004; McEwen, 2007).

Embodied practices are not “new age.”

Even trauma research confirms that the body responds to overwhelming experiences long before the mind does, which is why embodied practices are essential for healing emotional wounds (van der Kolk, 2014; Ogden, Minton, & Pain, 2006). These findings don’t belong to the new age world. They belong to God’s design.

Long before “nervous system regulation” became a wellness trend, God commanded His people to rest, return, breathe, stand, be still, and let Him restore their souls. (Genesis 2:7; Psalm 46:10; Isaiah 30:15; Psalm 23) “New age” simply mimics what God authored.  Reclaiming His design is not new age; it’s stewardship.

What IS Somatic Regulation? 

Somatic regulation is the God-designed process of bringing your body back into a felt sense of safety so you can respond to life rather than react from survival. When your nervous system is dysregulated, your body moves into fight, flight, freeze, or fawn patterns that influence your thoughts, your cravings, and even your spiritual receptivity (Porges, 2011; Schore, 2012).

Calming your body helps restore executive functioning, emotional clarity, and interoceptive awareness. The ability to sense what is happening inside your body (Farb et al., 2013). This is essential for spiritual formation because when you are physiologically overwhelmed, it becomes difficult to discern God’s voice from your fear. Somatic regulation is simply the embodied side of discipleship. Your body is practicing what your spirit is learning.

When you:

• slow your breath
  
• unclench your jaw
  
• soften your belly
  
• ground your feet
  
• place your hand on your heart
  
• or notice tension with compassion
  

You are not engaging in self-worship. You are becoming calm enough to surrender. This is physiology bowing to theology. Your body becomes the place where you practice trust, peace, and presence. Somatic regulation is not a spiritual replacement. It is the physical posture that makes spiritual truth accessible again.

Listening to your body will tell you so much about yourself

Your body is not dramatic; your body is honest. Every tight shoulder, every upset stomach, every craving, every jaw clench, every heaviness in your chest, and every moment of fatigue is your nervous system trying to tell the truth you’ve been too busy or too burdened to hear. It’s your body saying, “Beloved, I am holding too much.

But the same God who formed your inward parts knows how to restore them. You don’t have to keep carrying emotional pain in your body. You don’t have to pretend you’re fine. You don’t have to hold everything by yourself. Your body remembers, but it can also release. And God is with you for both.

Coming next: Part 4 — The Release.

If Parts 1–3 helped you understand what your body carries and why, Part 4 will walk you into the part most women never get to experience: how the body actually releases emotional pain with the help of breath, Scripture, and nervous system safety. We’ll talk about embodied forgiveness, spiritual regulation, somatic release, and how God restores what your body has been holding for years. This final part of the series will give you practical tools, biblical insight, and nervous-system-informed steps to experience freedom in your body, not just in your mind.

If this series has spoken to you, I invite you to subscribe so you don’t miss the final part.
And if someone you know is carrying more than she’s letting on, would you share this with her?
It might be the thing she didn’t know she needed.

“What Your Cravings Are Trying to Tell You.” FREE GUIDE

One more thing, Before you click away, I want to invite you to go one step deeper.

If this teaching spoke to something in your body. The cravings, the tension, the exhaustion, the emotional weight you’ve been carrying. I created a free guide just for you:

“What Your Cravings Are Trying to Tell You.”

It’s a short (10 pages), powerful resource that helps you decode emotional cravings through
a faith-filled, nervous-system-informed lens so you can respond with compassion instead of shame.

Click below to download your free guide and begin listening to your body in a new way.
Your healing starts with understanding.

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