Woman Claims Bread And Cheese Cravings Are Actually Longings For Parental Love
The claim lacks crucial scientific evidence.
@thisismariyaofficial / TikTok An online spiritual guru has caused quite a stir with her hot takes on people's diets. And while her claims have resonated with some online, her comments have inspired quite a bit of eye-rolling as well.
If you're a person who craves things like carbs and dairy, you're definitely gonna want to hear what she has to say — and then probably you should forget you ever heard it.
Mariya says you crave bread and cheese because you want parental love.
Mariya, known as @thisismariyahofficial on the app, bills herself as an "intuitive, energy alchemist, podcaster, entrepreneur and author," with a focus on spirituality and all sorts of New Age topics. Among her beliefs is that the things we eat impact us spiritually — which is not particularly controversial in and of itself, of course. Tons of faith traditions, Judaism and Islam among them, include dietary habits as part of their spiritual practices.
But Mariya takes the notion to a new level that seems... well, a bit strange, and maybe even dangerous, to a lot of people online.
For starters, she positions veganism and thinness as part of the path to spiritual expansion. And to get there, she advises getting to what she believes is the root of your non-vegan cravings for foods like bread and dairy.
All of us have had those moments when we'd give everything we have for a piping hot pizza — I've had four or five of those moments just today alone. And who can blame me? Pizza is delicious.
But Mariya says there's something far deeper to wanting a pizza, or a bowl of pasta or a hunk of warm, crusty bread than just the fact that they are absolute bangers when it comes to food enjoyment.
According to Mariya, craving carbs is a sign you want your father's love.
"You are craving baked goods or gluten...like pizza, pasta, breads, croissants...all the baked goodness, usually what you're craving is the energy of your father."
Photo: @thisismariyaofficial / TikTok
So your sourdough bread hobby is because you have daddy issues? Well, not exactly.
Mariya went on to clarify, "you can have a terrific...relationship with your father, or you can have a really bad relationship with your father." But either way, she says, "subconsciously, you are craving the nurturing of your father or his energies in your life again."
And when it comes to delicious cheeses and ice cream and a nice tall glass of chocolate milk? Well, sorry your mom didn't love you enough I guess!
Mariya claims dairy cravings are a sign you want your mother's love.
Mariyah says, "If you're craving dairy, cheeses...milk, you're craving [your] mother very often. Again, there is an exception to every rule, but these are some of the things."
Photo: @thisismariyaofficial / TikTok
Okay, but counterpoint—maybe I'm just hungry?
There's no science to back up Mariyah's claims.
Many found her claims ridiculous — and even dangerous. Unsurprisingly, Mariyah's assertion that you crave bread and cheese because you want parental love didn't go over all that well with people on TikTok. "Or... stay with me...," one woman wrote, "we're just hungry and carbs are delicious?" Another commenter felt that "this is getting out of hand," while one woman quipped, "so we’re just saying anything now."
They've all got a point. While Mariyah's claims have no scientific basis, there is plenty of data about what cravings mean, including cravings for dairy, which often indicate vitamin deficiencies, and cravings for carbs which often point to low blood sugar levels or an actual addiction to sugar.
Of course, emotional eating is absolutely a thing — as a lot of us know firsthand, since according to the American Psychological Association, more than a third of us have a habit of eating to manage our stress — and they can often have a psychological component. But as the video below explains, that often has more to do with having a boring or restricted diet, like the kind Mariyah advocates for spiritual enlightenment. (Disordered eating, anyone?)
Emotional eating is one thing. Claiming specific foods have specific spiritual connections to specific people or issues — and telling people they have a spiritual duty to manage them — is another. It doesn't make much sense, but it's an awfully good way to manipulate people into looking to you for answers to the difficulties in their lives.
As one commenter put it, "I'm really spiritual but this is pushing it, girlfriend." Yeah seriously. Just go eat the pizza.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.