Whether you believe that food addiction is real, or not… (I use the word for lack of a better term) there are clearly some foods that it’s harder to say ‘no’ to, especially when they’re in your face, than others.
I thought I’d share some of the foods that have been incredibly difficult for me to moderate… i.e. once I start, I can’t stop.
Being honest with myself about the fact that moderation of certain processed foods just doesn’t work for me, has been very freeing.
Cereal. This is a little embarassing to admit, but I can eat a box of cereal in 2 days. That’s not an exaggeration. When I used to eat cereal, I’d eat it out of a salad bowl. If you’re someone for whom moderation isn’t a problem, you might say, “BUT, why don’t you just eat a smaller bowl of cereal?”… I have an all or nothing personality and if I’m eating cereal (or anything) I want to keep eating it until I’m full.
Crackers. The same thing goes for crackers. I can and used to eat an entire box of crackers in one sitting.
Nut butters. I don’t find them as addictive as cereal and crackers, but once I start putting peanut butter in my oatmeal, in smoothies or making vegan desserts with peanut butter… I find that I do it EVERY. DAY. and that leads to fat gain because peanut butter is very high fat and very high calorie. Also, once I’ve been in the habit of putting nut butter in my oatmeal every day, it takes quite a while for me to enjoy oatmeal without it again because my palate has readjusted to expect that creamy, rich taste. So, I find that skipping the nut butters alltogether works best for me.
Why am I sharing this with you?
Because I want you to know that if you’ve been struggling with moderation of calorically dense, packaged foods that, A) you’re not alone, and B) it’s ok to say ‘no’ to the foods that have an addictive-like quality to them.
There are so many other things to eat. When I eat pototoes, for example, I get to eat as much as I want without thinking about calories or weight gain. I don’t need to moderate how much I eat, I get to eat under I’m comfortably full without having to portion control or count calories and that feels freeing.
Learning about the calorie density of foods was a turning point for me – I understand now why it’s so hard to say ‘no’ to the junk food – not just because it’s processed and contains salt, sugar and oil, but because it’s the calories in it are much more concentrated than any whole food in nature… the food our bodies were designed to use as fuel.
For so long, we’ve heard the phrase “moderation is key”, but when it comes to the moderation of chocolate, ice cream, cookies, pizza, chips and sugary sodas, it isn’t always that easy. For some people, they truly are able to have one or two cookies without wanting to devour the whole package, but not me. Crackers, and cereal just make me want to binge on more packaged flour products and as a result, I also eat less whole plant foods. Abstinence from certain foods is just easier.
