--- title: Intuitive nutrition case studies author: Issa Rice created: 2023-06-09 date: 2023-06-09 --- For what I mean by "intuitive nutrition", see [this fairly introductory post](https://meditationstuff.wordpress.com/2020/05/10/intuition-based-nutrition/) (see also [here](https://meditationbook.page/#nutrition)). On this page, I try to collect case studies of people eating in this way and the ways in which it's helped (or harmed!) them. - Elizabeth Van Nostrand's [thread](https://twitter.com/acesounderglass/status/1504591434707468316) about [[MealSquares]] and V8 - Qiaochu Yuan on electrolytes, see [here](https://twitter.com/QiaochuYuan/status/1506108907470483458) for instance but he's talked about this in a bunch of places. - I used to get a lot of cravings for sweets (especially chocolate) in the evenings. At the time, I attributed this to some combination of "lol I guess I am addicted to sugar huh" and "I guess I have low willpower at night or something??". Then when I started eating 1--2 tbsp butter every day (not specifically to stop the cravings -- it was recommended to me because it seemed like I wasn't getting enough saturated fat), I noticed that the cravings stopped. Now whenever I don't eat butter for a few days the cravings return (for some reason, the cravings are still *specifically* for chocolate, not for butter), but otherwise I basically don't crave sweets anymore (aside from very rare occasions, like once every two months or so, for reasons I haven't yet figured out). I still keep chocolate on the dresser in my room for whenever I feel like eating it, and it just doesn't feel like it takes any willpower at all to prevent myself from eating it. I haven't tested yet whether it's specifically saturated fat or fat in general that I need (I'd like to try substituting olive oil maybe). - Mikhaila Peterson on eating liver: (need to go back a bit from that timestamp), liver tasting "sweet" when your body needs it. - [Case study](https://x.com/PeatPill/status/1787123481538162963) of a baby who took cod liver oil until he healed himself of rickets, then stopped taking it. ## Counterexamples - Some time ago I realized that my angular cheilitis was due to lack of B vitamins (I think specifically B2). I'm very sure of this because every time I stop the B vitamin complex, the angular cheilitis comes back, and every time I restart the B vitamin complex, the angular cheilitis goes away. However, despite this clear symptom being the result of a deficiency of a vitamin, I have never developed a craving for the B vitamin complex (since I can't swallow pills, I take it by dumping the capsule contents in to water and then drinking it; it tastes very gross). In fact, it takes as gross as when I first started taking it. Even when the angular cheilitis is present, I don't crave it. I don't crave any B2-rich foods like eggs either.