Trigger foods

[kate58]

Re: Trigger foods

I am totally like you Denise, all is fine if it's a planned part of a meal, all is lost if a trigger food is eaten alone.

I cannot eat a 'few nuts'. I actually threw most of a packet of macademia nuts out the window of my car last week (just the nuts, not the packet before someone acuses me of littering!!). Let the birds enjoy them, because I KNEW that by the end of my journey there would have been none left. But I can put nuts on salad, toast a few to sprinkle over veg and use peanut butter in cooking - I just added some to a curry for this evening's dinner - and have no cravings at all.

Same with desserts, I do plan them 2-3 times a week, enjoy making them and as long as there are no leftovers can eat them without any after effects. But the other day when I baked a (legal, but very high calorie) cake to serve with coffee to some visitors, I ate 3 slices before I knew what was happening. It wasn't part of a meal, so I had no control.

I even have a very, very dark but delicious chocolate - Green & Black's 85% cocoa - which we have 3 squares of after Sunday dinner. It's become a ritual. 3 squares is 10g and has 2 carbs. I keep 100g bars of that in my fridge and have NEVER touched it, or been tempted to, except on Sundays, and never wanted to go get more then. That is miraculous to me, before this one bar of chocolate wouldn't have been enough.

Actually snacking generally is a trigger for me, no matter what it is, savory or sweet. I just can't eat a tiny bit of anything and then stop. So I stick to my meals and leave it at that and don't eat between them at all. And to be honest don't feel the need to.

[ValidRouge]

Re: Trigger foods

Denise, you touched on a topic Mitzi and I were talking about in another thread the other day. The fact that some food BOTHERS us or we binge on it until it's gone. Once it's gone it is no longer a problem. Nuts, like you describe are a problem for me that way.

I yearn for them when I see them in the store, but it's not a problem until I buy them and bring them home. Once the package is open, GAME ON until they are all gone. Once they are gone, the urge passes (for the most part) and I can return to "normal". Or, until I can muster the willpower to throw them away (and pour something FOUL on them to completely make them inedible).

I, too, wonder how much of that is the food or a mental thing. Probably BOTH. I do not have this problem with any vegetable, beans, fruit, etc. Nuts mostly and any "dessert" I make that combines dairy and artificial sweetner.

[*Emma*]

Re: Trigger foods

I'm the same with nuts, thats why i missed out the nut rung, its something ive never been able to control, same with crisps.

[chicamarun]

Re: Trigger foods

For me - anything too salty causes me to want sweet stuff. I don't like salt period - if it's cooked in I can't do much about it - but I don't ADD salt to anything and somethings I have gotten (like even a Wendys burger - which to me is salty) will make me crave something sweet to almost balance it out.

However - something sweet does not induce the opposite reaction of making me want something salty.

[Elizellen]

Re: Trigger foods

A very interesting thread

I am a 'nut binger' so only nowadays add them to dishes rather than snack on them.

However I have found that in 'emergencies' like knowing I will have to go long hours without eating (waiting in hospital emergency wards) or attending a dinner or meal where I will have no control over what food is put on the table (going to a Xmas dinner this Tuesday with my Red Hat ladies for instance) having half an ounce of sunflower seeds in a small container in my bag means that if I really feel I cant resist the dessert offered I can crack and eat a few kernels and feel less stressed.

Having to crack and peel each one individually means that usually I dont even eat half of what I have taken with me and keeps me from grabbing something else less Atkins-friendly.