Back in August, one of my birthday gifts was a small book which title would basically be translated by “The body of one’s dreams for lazy girls”. It’s meant to be funny, not derogatory, and it’s actually full of good advice about how to do what’s needed to lose weight (eating, exercising, all the stuff) without it looking and sounding like it’s THE daunting task of the century. I haven’t finished reading it yet, so I can’t talk about everything that’s in it. One thing stuck to me, though: at some point, the author mentions that you need about 6-9 weeks to get used to eat healthily and not want the junk food anymore.
Tell you what, it’s not true. Perhaps it depends on the individuals. Perhaps it depends on your upbringing, on whether you’ve been eating junk food since childhood or only in the past few years. The fact is, for me, it’s not true, and it’s one of my serious current struggles with food. Oh, of course, it’s true to a certain extent; there are vegetables I tolerate better now (I haven’t reached the point when I can say I like them, but I’m getting there), certain foods I can’t eat anymore because they feel too rich or their less-caloric counterpart tastes so much better… Learning to eat better and healthier foods sure wasn’t and isn’t a waste of time and resources! However, reverting back to the old habits is still easy, damn easy. I’ve started this, when, back in January? It’s sure been a hell of a lot more than only 9 weeks!
In my heart of hearts, I don’t know if I’ll ever be totally freed from this attraction for non-healthy foods. I still like my croissant with chocolate and a bit of suger on it in the morning (add a “s” to the word, come to think of it—one is never enough). I still like pizza, especially when it’s cold and dark outside and I have this feeling that I need “foods that fill me”. I know that it’s only my mind at work here; yesterday, my lunch was made of raspberries, ham, a big warm bowl of pumpkin soup (alright, and a few almonds at 4 pm), and I wasn’t hungry until around 7 pm, which tells me my body does NOT need to be stuffed with grease and sugars to survive and feel well. It’s all in my head, all about impressions and fears of not having enough, of needing the carbs, of this and of that. I don’t “need” chocolate after each dinner. I don’t “need” ice-cream to get my daily nutrients. Only my mindneeds it—falsely.
So what about that? This shows me that I still have to work on this. I can have treats at times (McDonald’s won’t kill me if I eat there once every few months only… although I Suspect that if I let enough time pass, I’ll just feel disgusted by it anyway). I can have a slice of pizza at times. I just have to be careful, since I now know that a relapse is easy, too easy, and that I can get myself used to the unhealthy foods again in no time. After all, “at times” multiplied by “twice a day” makes it a lot calories in the end.
I think I could replace the book’s opinion on this by another one: 6-9 weeks is probably what your body needs to be “cleansed” of its habits for junk foods, but for the same process to apply to the brain, it takes much, much longer…
tags: eating | food | health | weight loss
October 25th, 2005 at 23:25
I agree. While my physical, sometimes uncontrollable cravings for junk food may have disappeared, my desire and want for it will almost certainly never cease. It is human nature to be attracted to comfort foods and delicious tastes, and there is absolutely nothing in the world wrong with eating them… in moderation. That is where my problem comes in. I do treat myself, and often, but I’ve found that with certain foods, I simply cannot trust myself to stick to reasonable portions, and for that reason, I’ve found it best to just avoid them whenever possible. It’s a balancing act, as I’m sure you’ve grown quite familiar with, but no matter what they say, I don’t, for one second, believe that I’ll ever be “cured” of my desire to eat junk food. *Sigh* But wouldn’t that make all of this so much easier though? ;D
Beverly
October 26th, 2005 at 16:28
Yeah…my toughest one is my wheat bagels w/cream cheese in the morning and an iced mocha latte. I don’t know if it helps but I scoop out the inside of the bagel and I ask for the latte to be “light on the mocha”. I can’t seem to give those up but I can survive without pizza pretty well and pasta too I’ve found. Dessert is tough…every night around 8pm I desperately want something sweet…sometimes I give in and sometimes I don’t.
October 27th, 2005 at 15:55
In moderation, indeed–and this is where I still have lots of progress to do! I thought I could “manage it”, but the past weeks have proved me wrong. There are still so many of these foods with which, if I start, I can’t stop. Like getting into the habit again of eating chocolate bagels for breakfast. They’re not even *that* filling, and I end up eating three or even four of them! Urgh. If we could be cured, it’d indeed make things waaaay easier!
Robin, I also pretty often get cravings for desserts in the evenings. There was a time I was convincing myself that I “needed” it, that a half-bar of chocolate would stop making me feel hungry, but the truth is, if I wait 10 minutes, I stop feeling hungry just as well, and cherry on top, I don’t feel the temptation of eating the rest of the bar too * LOL *