Changing taste buds- moderation vs. cold-turkey input please!

So here's the deal. I have a bad bad addiction to packaged sweet and salty foods. For instance today I ate an entire bag of chex mix that put me about 1100 calories over what I was supposed to eat.

My question is, everyone preaches moderation. What if moderation isn't for everyone?? Doesn't it take about a month to change your "taste-buds" as they say?

Has anyone gone cold-turkey cutting out packaged crap from their diets and succeeded? Advice?

My goal is to change my cravings. I want to crave healthy whole foods, not packaged processed foods.

HELP!

I went cold-turkey on all the fatty, salty foods I loved.  I just restocked the house with healthy food, and started fresh the next day.  I find it easier if that kind of food just isn't anywhere in my vicinity, at least for the first couple weeks.  Kind of like quitting smoking :)

I'm also an advocate of cold turkey. I'm all for moderation AFTER the addiction is gone.

I went cold turkey from processed foods and all sugars. The first few days, you'll truly understand why people call it 'an addiction' For me, the first few days were difficult, and very cranky. By the end of the week, the cravings were pretty much gone.

After two weeks of non processed/sweetened foods, my tastes had already changed drastically. Suddenly, little debbies just taste like... sugar, and it's unappealing. The same for processed foods, they just don't taste anywhere near as good as the homemade alternative to even have the power over my they used to.

A month later, I began adding some small portions of these foods on occasion, but the cravings are still nonexistent and the ability to eat in moderation is.., well, easy. When I want ice cream, I eat a 90 calorie cup of it. Prior to cold turkey, I needed a huge heaping bowl : )

I actually started a topic not long ago about my new found love of really tasting foods. To be able to tell if one type of squash is sweeter than the other and to taste the complexity of one's fruits and vegetables. Fruits taste so sweet, that I even eat them in moderation now. Just give it a go, your tastes will change if you stick to it, and if you enjoy that change, you won't even miss the processed crap : )
(actually, it was kind of disappointment when I decided to treat myself to a small DQ blizzard one day. Why did I ever love these? Why was I wasting my calories on one?)

Hope this helps.

I'm with the above.  Cold turkey is the only way to go.  It's the only thing that worked for me.  After a month or so of cold turkey you can start to add the occasional sweet in moderation, and you'll be surprised to see how easy it is to stay in moderation, but if you start before the month is over you'll just re-awaken your cravings and eat the whole bag.

I find this whole concept of "cold turkey" very interesting.  Great job to all of you who did it, you are very inspiring!

Kankan- if you want to go cold turkey I will try to take the plunge with you, and we can be eachother's cheerleaders!!!  I am SO up for it!  Gotta figure out SOMETHING before the beach in a week!

Original Post by kankan213:

My question is, everyone preaches moderation. What if moderation isn't for everyone?? Doesn't it take about a month to change your "taste-buds" as they say?

Maybe I misunderstood what you were saying there, but moderation isn't about changing your taste buds, it's about incorporating those foods you enjoy into your diet in a reasonable manner.

I imagine moderation isn't for everyone. I'm one of the lucky ones that was so pig headed going into this that when I do indulge, I'm pretty anal about measuring out a serving and only eating that...

So far, I have only found one food that "moderation" doesn't work on for me, and that is one specific flavor of Frozen Yogurt. It is so tasty that I just can't keep it in the house! Everything else though, I've found that if I take a serving and take the time to enjoy it, instead of scarfing down twice as much w/o tasting it like I used to, it's actually all I need to satisfy my craving. :o)

Cold Turkey - it's crap food anyway.

Another vote for cold turkey here. :) My story and personal point of view are very similar to minda`s, so I won`t go into details.

Also, you`d be surprised how much the entire concept of moderation is altered after you manage to ween off the addiction. At least 90% of your old favourites will taste either too sweet or too salty, so instead of having them once a week maybe, as you probably currently imagine, you`ll have them much more rarely, if ever.

Of course, there are some evil foods that will always and forever taste great *cough*ice cream*cough*, and that`s where moderation kicks in.

Best of luck to you!

Original Post by makenasmom:

Original Post by kankan213:

My question is, everyone preaches moderation. What if moderation isn't for everyone?? Doesn't it take about a month to change your "taste-buds" as they say?

Maybe I misunderstood what you were saying there, but moderation isn't about changing your taste buds, it's about incorporating those foods you enjoy into your diet in a reasonable manner.

I imagine moderation isn't for everyone. I'm one of the lucky ones that was so pig headed going into this that when I do indulge, I'm pretty anal about measuring out a serving and only eating that...

So far, I have only found one food that "moderation" doesn't work on for me, and that is one specific flavor of Frozen Yogurt. It is so tasty that I just can't keep it in the house! Everything else though, I've found that if I take a serving and take the time to enjoy it, instead of scarfing down twice as much w/o tasting it like I used to, it's actually all I need to satisfy my craving. :o)

 

 

 

 Basically what I'm trying to say there is that I can't do moderation. BECAUSE I feel like I truly am addicted to the processed junk! So I am considering trying cold-turkey. But from the responses everyone has given (thank you!) I am hearing pretty much that moderation is do-able AFTER changing taste-buds.

So thats what I will do.

COLD TURKEY here i come! Dplatzer, lets do it!

Maybe thinking about tasty foods to add in rather than things you have to take out would be helpful...

I changed all my eating habits by tiny increments, and I have solved everything but a rather salty tooth (but I never put salt in cooking and I pretty much only eat homecooked food so it's probably ok to add a little at the table sometimes) - and wine, sigh. I think the best way to turn yourself off junk is to turn yourself onto good food (ie not "low calorie substitutes"). Get into fish... or thai cooking... or aubergines... or summer berries... or incredible vietnamese papaya and mint pork salads... etc.

I went from eating packaged foods, frozen meals, huge fast food meals with fries and drinks, 2 big bottles of soda per day, snack foods, donuts, candies, cookies, etc..

To eating whole, natural foods that I prepare myself, drinking water or tea, and never really needing to cheat.

Most of the changes I ever made were cold turkey. Especially soda. You stop missing it after a little while.

Original Post by kankan213:

Original Post by makenasmom:

Original Post by kankan213:

My question is, everyone preaches moderation. What if moderation isn't for everyone?? Doesn't it take about a month to change your "taste-buds" as they say?

Maybe I misunderstood what you were saying there, but moderation isn't about changing your taste buds, it's about incorporating those foods you enjoy into your diet in a reasonable manner.

I imagine moderation isn't for everyone. I'm one of the lucky ones that was so pig headed going into this that when I do indulge, I'm pretty anal about measuring out a serving and only eating that...

So far, I have only found one food that "moderation" doesn't work on for me, and that is one specific flavor of Frozen Yogurt. It is so tasty that I just can't keep it in the house! Everything else though, I've found that if I take a serving and take the time to enjoy it, instead of scarfing down twice as much w/o tasting it like I used to, it's actually all I need to satisfy my craving. :o)

 

 

 

 Basically what I'm trying to say there is that I can't do moderation. BECAUSE I feel like I truly am addicted to the processed junk! So I am considering trying cold-turkey. But from the responses everyone has given (thank you!) I am hearing pretty much that moderation is do-able AFTER changing taste-buds.

So thats what I will do.

COLD TURKEY here i come! Dplatzer, lets do it!

 I know what you mean by feeling truly addicted to processed foods and sugar. Whenever I try to quit cold turkey I get headaches and am really grumpy. Try eating a lot of fruit for the first two days. It makes the switch from refined sugars to natural a little easier... kind of like a nicotine patch ;)

When I started watching what I ate, along with being more active with exercise, my doctor mentioned two words to me: moderation and portion control. I'm a believer in moderation if you stick to it. People who go on diets sometimes tend to treat diets as a death sentence in that they won't be able to eat ice cream anymore, eat fast food anymore, eat things they loved that they know are fattening anymore, etc. This is usually what causes people to fall off the wagon. For about 7 weeks, I have lost 19 lbs. with a couple of trips to fast food restaurants, and a once in awhile scoop of ice cream. I use my food log at CC to see what calories I have taken in each day, and maybe plan to have a burger or ice cream on a cone. It also allows me to see when I had that burger or ice cream last, so I can get an idea about when another time would be for those things. Going cold turkey usually doesn't tend the best results, as people will want something that much more while going cold turkey.

I found that I got headaches when I first switched to healthier eating cold turkey, but like many others I found that simply not having certain things in the house helped enormously.  That doesn't mean that I didn't eat them, it just meant they weren't around most of the time.  If I wanted chips I bought one of the single serve bags at the convenience store, my craving was satisfied, but the portion was contained.  Now I don't even want most of that stuff.  I had Frtios a couple of days ago, a very small portion, and they gave me the most incredible stomach ache.  Don't fret if you slip, but it really is easiest to just keep it out of the house.

amb19440: I agree that moderation and portion control are great, if one can do them. I could not. Many diets that didn't work for me was because I couldn't continually fight off the cravings. Not the 'let me just have a serving' craving, but the 'I can take out 2000 cals in a sitting' craving. The cold turkey we're supporting is more like a... detox I guess. It really is amazing at helping with craving control to just get all of it out of mind and body for a month, to force the body to control its own blood sugar without simple sugar boosts all day, etc. It took 3 days of no sugar and processed foods for me to understand that cold turkey was what I needed. Not because I felt good, but because I felt horrible. And nothing makes me realize how far from healthy I had gotten than having withdrawal from junk food.

And it's not cold-turkey forever. I have a 90 cal cup of ice cream almost every day. I eat out on occasion without worrying too much, etc. It's just giving it up completely for a short time to really kick the cravings, binges, and to help the taste buds adjust to healthier eating. If you're capable of sticking to moderation without doing so, then power to you. I needed a drastic reset to be able to.

minda_spk : Yes yes yes! You are exactly like me! Wish me luck on my endeavors.

I find that if I look at it as a life-long process, I fall off the wagon less!

Greetings,

This is my first post here on this board - I'm a lurker.  However, I felt maybe a story from my own life may answer your question in some way.

As a part of a religious practice, I spent a month in meditation, where we ate in a ritualistic manner and portion sizes were very small, but all food was from an organic garden.  I'm not really an altogether unhealthy eater, but I do enjoy an occasional pizza and other "junk" foods.

During the course of this month, I did not lose cravings for junk food - especially pizza.  After the month was over and I was able to go back to civilization, the first thing I did was order a pizza - I thought it was what I really wanted.  I had such high expectations for this pizza, it's quite funny.  When I took my first bite, I was sorely disappointed.  All the delicious memories of pizza I had were fabricated from idealized versions of how much I loved the food.  In reality, the poor pizza was never going to be able to meet my expectations.

In short, I know I don't lose cravings for certain foods.  I haven't eaten meat for about 5 years now (due to religious reasons), but that's not to say I wouldn't love to take a big bite out of the cheeseburger I see my friend eat.  I guess it takes a certain attitude to understand that reality isn't quite as grandiose as fantasy.  That's how I remain off most junk foods.

I hope this helped.  Take care.