looking down at some foods

Hey everyone,

You smart people out there have probably figured this out but I recently realized that looking down at some foods keeps me from overeating or binging. For example, my dad bought this bunch of dessert looking snacks and they looked yummy but I tried like half of one and I was like "this is not as good as it looks, for this amount of calories I could be binging on something way better than this, i better not eat it" and it worked! Same with cake the other day, I was like "I've definitely have had better cake than this one, this does not meat my expectations". Im so excited to have discovered this, I used to be someone to eat anything that she saw along, good or bad so now I'm glad that my taste buds are a bit more demanding. Just a tip.

I do this too. If it's not really good I just don't bother eating it! Why waste calories on something you don't LOVE? :)

I try not to drink my calories. Sometimes I will look at a coke, and think "mmmm...that looks tasty" but after just a sip, I realize that it's not that tasty, and definitely not worth 140 calories a can. Last night my hubby and I had lemonade from a restaurant (mine was diet) and he was like, "eww gross...diet" and I said if I am going to waste some calories (around 300) I am going to have some icecream,  or something better than lemonade. However, I didn't have icecreaam, it was just an example. I try not to think of foods as inherently good or bad, I just try to think of whether or not my body needs it, and whether or not the calories are worth how good it tastes.

I look at calories like money - "Is it worth spending 150 calories on that cookie???"

:p

There are certains foods that I have just decided to give up kind of like an drug addict. I was addicted to potato chips because I am a salt junky. I realized that if I made potato chips an end of week treat for dieting I would just crave it more during the week. I have decided to just give it up entirely. After awhile your body just forgets. When I was a kid I was addicted to soda, but one day my mom just stopped buying it and I had no choice but to start drinking water. Now that I'm an adult I rarely ever drink soda and I never crave it, I don't even want diet soda.

Original Post by evitarolu:

"this is not as good as it looks, for this amount of calories I could be binging on something way better than this, i better not eat it"

I do this all the time now!  I've found that when I splurge on something that I used to love, it just doesn't have the same appeal.  Particularly cake, like you mentioned.  I have a bite or two and then I think, "You know, this is okay, but it's not that good."

The exception is pizza.  Ohhhh how I love pizza.  But even with pizza, I know I can make my own and get a lot fuller for less calories.  And with fresher veggies.

Haha, it's funny what you say about the cake. The only cake I like is my mom's, and even recently trying a "favorite" cake I have not been able to get my hands on in years, I've decided it wasn't worth eating, and that my mom's was better.

I'm picky about taste, so especially with things like cake, I'd rather have the indulgence be really worth it. :)

I have to agree with inkblue.  Some foods are just addictive, for me it was Doritos.  I used to buy a bag, yes the full size, and a pound of sour cream.  Then I'd sit down for a couple hours of tv, and dip and munch away until bed.  Talk about nuts.  I love all salty, spicy, starchy things.  And all dairy.  I made myself sick off of that routine once though, and have never touched Doritos again.  Lousy way to break a bad habit, wouldn't you say, lol.  I also can't do the weekend reward thing, it just bleeds over into the rest of the week.  I guess I'm an all or nothing kinda girl...now if I could just give up the coffee.....

I agree that it's not a good idea to make certain foods "good" or "bad", but I also agree about the "not wasting calories" thing. I think they go hand in hand. Like, I will allow myself some treats, but if I take a bite and it's not as good as I thought it would be, I veto that decision. But if it is worh it, I'll eat it. just not to excess. Like for instance, we get pastries at the office in the mornings. Sometimes those blueberry muffins look awesome, but I know it won't be as awesome as it looks. But we also have these Hershey's dark chocolate squares with bits of cranberry and blueberry and almonds in them....mmmmmmm. they are so awesome. I have to have one, like, almost every day. They are ridiculously good.

Theswissmiss- I like the thinking of calories as money thing. I am a sugar fiend, so I really have to watch myself and not take in wasteful calories....like office candy...and donuts, etc.

My favorite dessert is icecream, so if I really really want it, I will treat myself. But, most of the time I have some fruit instead, and that curbs my sweet tooth as well. Fruit has great nutrients, fiber, and are very sweet and yummy!

I'm doing the same thing and I'm so excited about it. Unless it makes my toes curl why should I bother wasting calories on it??  Today is my husband's birthday and I'm going to be making him a home made chocolate banana cake with ganache and chocolate covered bananas on top. I'm giving myself permission for it to make my toes curl, if it doesn't then good for me, I'll stick to my crappy artificial sweetener jello cup!

I've also noticed that my tastes for different foods are changing. I used to hate spicy food and raw tomatoes but last night I was craving the pepper rub on the outside of my pork tenderloin that used to cut off before. and now I mix tomato in at the very end of the sautee of my fresh veggies.  I suppose I've learned to appreciate other flavors now that chili cheese fritos and coke are out of the question.

This is funny, i figured there would be more people doing this too. I don't think you should look at meals like good or bad but sometimes I'm glad that I've transformed my eating habits because before I would just eat anything just for the sake of eating more than for the pleasure it gave my taste buds. For example, now if I'm gonna have a burger, I think, you know how much yummier it would be to cook some beans and eat it with cassava bread (I'm like addicted to beans) and that makes me feel good, to know that I can make those decisions.

That's how I keep from eating donuts that are always around at work.  They look good but they never taste as good as they look.  I have a lot of things I'd rather spend my calories on than donuts.  I've decided that if I'm going to eat junk food it had better be darn tasty to make it worth it to me.

Original Post by inkblue:

I have decided to just give it up entirely. After awhile your body just forgets.

 Ain't that the truth!! I never expected that saying "no" to chocolate ice cream--my biggest downfall--for the first two weeks would eventually settle into a craving for fresh fruit instead. So...I guess the body not only forgets; it's capable of re-learning ( if we let it).

I'm 5 weeks into my healthy lifestyle and I read the package contents religeously. I'll look at, for example, a HUNGRY-MAN Meal which on average has 900 calories and say to myself "For that many calories, I could eat three freaking meals of food that will fill me up for more than 30 minutes." I never cared about the calorie content of what I was consuming and I'm paying for it now. Even when I finally reach the point where I can be happy to see my reflection and be a little more generous with my intake, I wouldn't want to be overweight again. I'm sure I won't be quite as picky by then, though. I haven't had any of the foods I used to eat, but I bet I won't enjoy them as much now anyway. I pretty much stopped drinking diet soda and now, even though I still enjoy them, I don't find them to be quite as good as before.

Keep Smiling!

I'm the same way!  I'm a bit of a food snob (but not wholly snobby--on occasion, I do like to indulge in food laden with chemical goodness and sugar, e.g., taco bell, doritos, coke from the fountain). 

When I'm at work for instance, and I see a jar of Hersey's Kisses sitting on my secretary's desk, I think: that's not even real chocolate!  Why waste my precious calories on that drek when, if I really want chocolate, there are so many better options (e.g., chocolate makers such as Michel Cluizel, Pralus, Valrhona come to mind...yum!).  As such, the crappy hersey's kisses are not so appealing anymore.  The only downfall is that my food budget is pretty up there b/c of my snobby taste.  Oh well.