I nearly ran over myself coming downstairs after putting the kids to bed last night. It was shortly after 8 p.m. and I had had a chocolate craving all day. Actually, I had been craving carbs all day. Chewy and sweet was what I was after. And, I wanted brownies. Fudge brownies. When I have a craving, it's bad. I haven't had one this bad in a long time.

"Mmmm, don't you want some ice cream?" I prodded my husband.

"No, I'm not an ice cream-aholic like you are," he said. I was disappointed. I thought I could have convinced him to join me in some indulgence.

I didn't need it anyway, I thought to myself, so it's just as well that he didn't want that hot fudge sundae I had been talking about earlier. But, man, this desire to eat was absolutely intense. So I sat down on the couch with a box of Fruit Loops.

"I thought that medicine made you not hungry," my husband said, joining me on the couch.

"Oh, I'm not hungry," I said matter-of-factly. "I just want to eat."

He didn't respond. We've had this conversation before; the I-just-want-to-eat discussion that always seems to baffle him.

Frankly, it baffles me, too. I don't know where this intoxicating need comes from and I certainly don't know how to get rid of it. It drives me nuts that I can't control it. One good thing is that it often doesn't last long. I can tell already-since I finally got what I was looking for this morning-that I'll be much more under control tomorrow. I have wondered lately if it's maybe some sort of rebellion. That I've controlled myself for some time in terms of allowing myself to splurge and have treats that my brain just goes crazy-like a lack of oxygen-and decides that it needs to go overboard to get that fix that it has been denied.