Last night I had the strangest dream. I was eating a super-sized order of french fries from McDonald's. In the dream I was eating them very slowly, savoring each bite. They tasted soooooo AWESOME. It was one of the most realistic dreams I have ever had.

My questions is, during my waking hours, I don't really crave this kind of stuff. I wonder why I would have such a specific dream about french fries. So strange. Anyone else have these kind of dreams?

I had this thought when I was craving Dominos pizza. I thought that my subconscious was telling me that I needed carbs, and since I was in a stall at the time, I was scared that my mind was fighting my body. Silly, I know, but once I figured it out, I felt much better AND broke out of my stall!

I've never had a dream like that while low carbing. But when I went on a strict ultra-low-far diet about 25 years ago I dreamed about food every night! In my case always sweet and chocolatey things. I'd have very VIVID dreams about eating an entire pan of brownies, or a whole batch of Tollhouse cookies warm from the oven, or a huge hot fudge sundae. Hardly a night went by that I didn't have dreams like that. But during my waking hours I used to crave and daydream about all those foods also - which finally broke the diet for me.

I just thought it was really strange. I have never had a dream about food before in my life.

But this was like one of those TV commercials that go in slow motion with the wind blowing through your hair that make eating look really sensual. Very over the top.

Maybe it's because I have been spending so much of my time thinking about food (good low carb foods) in general and it's just on the brain. Anyway, it won't break my diet. No way!

There is a theory that states this is one of the things dreams are for: the brain uses this downtime to harness the whole brain to use imagination to game out future scenarios for us to use in decision making.

Such vivid dreams that engage all the senses are supposed to be an indicator this is what our brain is doing.

So if we think of it as our "imagination at work" we don't see it as a sign of something we either want, or fear. It's a mental construct for us to be able to do something... without actually doing it.

Then we can figure out if we really WANT to do it. Or not.

When we look at it that way, it's so useful!

I actually just experienced this for the first time last night. Like you, I never really dream about food, but in my dream I was at a cookout and I knew I was on LC so passed all of the potato salad and such, but then ate 3 brats with buns and ketchup (which I never used on brats even before LC). But like you, don't even crave the carbs during the day, especially bread, was never a big bread eater.

MANY years ago I went from a 3 1/2 pack-a-day smoker to Zip-Zilch-Nada. To kick-start my lungs back to proper function I took up racewalking; to deal with the 'oral' habit, I chewed toothpicks. I was in the military, so I could NOT gain weight.

What a happy time that was...

And I would frequently dream about smoking: of lighting up, inhaling that first lung-paralyzing draw, and exhale the smoke through my nose (thereby dyeing my upperlip 'mustache' to a decernable tobacco brown). And during this entire dream-sequence I would be telling myself how STUPID it was to start smoking again. Because I KNEW I would just have to go through the extreme discomfort of having to go cold-turkey.

It has been nearly 30 years...and I still occasionally have dreams where I light up, although the dreams don't seem to be near as detailed or contain quite the sensation of 'real experience' as they once did.

Please, Lord...tell me I will not be having dreams of stuffing my face with candy, cake, and donuts! True nightmares!