Why are “bad” foods so appealing?
 

Or perhaps the correct word is "addictive." I have 2 foods that can send my eating out of control - cheese & peanut butter. If I could eat them in moderation, I'd be fine. But I can't.

I've known for quite a while that overeating cheese will cause pain. I knew that really overeating peanuts or peanut butter would make me throw up. But a few tablespoons? I thought I could handle it.

So the other day I had some PB – didn't measure, started with 2 tablespoons & think I went up to 6 & perhaps more. I thought I was OK because my bg didn't spike. But within a few hours my knees were in horrible pain - tho I didn't connect it to the PB. The next morning I was 3 pounds heavier. Finally, the penny dropped - it was the peanut butter.

So here I am, knowing that cheese & peanut butter will cause me pain, but they are still very attractive! The pain is gone, the 3 pounds of water weight are gone, but the memory isn't as strong as the attraction to those foods. I don't get it. I'm not a weak person; there are plenty of non-lc foods in the kitchen for my husband & I don't eat those. But I just can't have cheese or peanut butter – especially the peanut butter – in the house. :(

Sugar is addicting because it affects brain function the same as cocaine and heroin.
http://medheadlines.com/2008/12/sug...udy-suggests-2/

Makes us feel good for a little while, then very low ... so we think we need another high. Sugar is nasty stuff.

There's really natural peanut butter, you know? I get mine ground right from peanuts at a health food store. But I have to limit to one tablespoon and maybe not every day... If you can't eat PB in moderation, just don't have it.

That's what I said - I can't keep it in the house. Wish I could. I always got Adams crunchy, no sugar, no added oils. But sometimes at the store the addiction will whisper, "You can handle it this time." Um, no, I can't.

But other carby foods don't call to me the same way - that's what I was wondering about. I've always loved lemon meringue pie - in our family it was in place of birthday cake - & I miss it. But it doesn't call me by name like cheese & peanut butter do. I cook potatoes, rice, carrots, & so on for my husband, but I'm not even tempted to taste them. As far as I know, none of them give me the same kind of pain. So why are the painful foods more alluring than non-painful foods? I wish I understood. :confused:

Yeah, gotta list of foods like that as long as my arm! So frustrating!

If I have a roasted, salted nut I have to eat them all. I hear you. I can measure raw, unsalted nuts and control myself, and I can eat a measured amount of hazelnut butter from a spoon. But roast and salt the things and I'm a goner.

Here's to bare cupboards :)

I divide foods into two categories... Foods that I can eat and foods that I don't eat. If a food is off plan, then I don't eat it. Not one bite. Not one taste. Those foods lost their power over me and they don't call my name anymore. I can be around those foods all day long without issue. It took some time to get there, but that is how it is now and I'm grateful for that.

But of the things I can eat, I do have a moderation problem with some of them. And of course they are of the 'calorie dense' variety that need to be eaten in moderation. Sugar sweetened peanut butter is one of them. A tbsp. or two would be fine on my WOE. If I put it on celery I can usually get away with it. But on a spoon by itself? No. It just pushes some buttons in my brain that harken back to those binge days and the "I think I'll have another" pattern returns. I won't wolf down 1/2 a jar, but I will often end up eating too much. It does not derail me, but it remains an issue and I do try to stay away from sweetened BP even if it is calling my name. I don't always succeed.

I don't have a problem with cheese, but my daughter does. So her problem foods are cheese & BP, too. I've had trouble with nuts & pork rinds. I've had some success putting my "problem" OP foods into "time-out" for a while. Then when I reintroduce those foods, I do so away from the source (such as a snack in my lunch at work). I've succeeded in training myself to moderate the nuts. I'm still working on the pork rinds.

This is why I don't cheat on off-plan foods, period. If I have this kind of trouble with certain OP foods, I'd be foolish to mess around the really bad carbs. Those foods would derail me. They always did before. High carb food - especially those processed foods loaded with sugar and lacking fiber, protein & fat - are just too tasty. They are formulated to the 'bliss point' and push all of those pleasure buttons. They've etched a pattern into my brain that is likely there forever. If I mess with them, even a little, they mess me up and throw me over the edge.

Nuts? Yup. But macadamias are controllable, so long as I put the can away after measuring 1/4 cup into a bowl. And when the can is empty, it doesn't get replaced till the next trip to Costco--and I only go there about once every 6 weeks.

The can lasts 2, then no nuts for four. Even then, I have to remind myself to stay away from Husband's nuts. They are absolutely off limits.

Why? Crunchy/salty, I think. Although, pork rinds don't do that to me. So who knows?

Make sure you are eating enough fat. Eventually it takes away the desire for the bad stuff. The worst that can happen is that you then get fat cravings.

Btw have you checked what's in the peanut butter you are eating? Most peanut butters have added sugar !!

I don't know about Indonesia, Bintang, but you can get peanut butters made with just peanuts and salt in most grocery stores, here in the US. You do have to look though.

Smuckers is one brand, and there are a number of varieties of organic PBs, that are just peanuts and salt, as well.

Where do I start on this statement? :lol:

Ohhhhh, Nancy. I stuck my foot in my mouth there, didn't I?

One theory is that when your body receives foods that are allergic or hurtful, your brain sends out endorphins so you can deal with the assault.
Just like when you break your arm and your body sends endorphins so you can deal with it. Same interaction that exercise addicts get -they exercise so hard that they cause pain and damage, but then they get a super endorphin high so they keep going.

What is interesting is that people have much different endorphin responses, and families with addiction history are the ones who get the biggest high because of their preexisting endorphin levels and how their system sends out floods of endorphins.

People who have low levels of endorphins have many, many receptors. (Makes sense to have a lot of receptors because then you are more likely to get the hit.) But then when you do something that floods with endorphins, you light up like a pinball game!!!

That makes sense! And I was a heavy-duty smoker for 20 years. :(

Big smile. me too!

I really think Seejay has it nailed down: our brains want what they want.

During a very difficult adolescence, I went for carby "comfort foods" because they had a drug-like calming effect on my brain. Didn't last, of course, but when our brains start screaming for a stress break, it is very difficult for anyone to hold out. I developed an eating disorder.

When I moved out on my own, my stress levels dropped like a rock in a pond, and I got a grip on my eating disorder in just a few months. I didn't have the stress, my brain was calmer all by itself, and this let me take steps away from it.