Food taste different

annonm

At one time, me and my husband went months without eating McDonalds. We started eating McDonalds again and OMG it tasted so SALTY. Our bodies had gotten so used to eating that crap for all of our lives that we did not realize how much SALT we were eating. Another time we went without juice or pop. We started drinking pop and juice again and OMG talk about sugar headache. Again our bodies were so used to that crap we did not know how much SUGAR we were drinking. I am trying to quit that stuff for good and permanently. right now i dont drink pop or juice that much but when i do i want to puck sometimes. unfortunately my husband has fallen for pop and is addicted and will go out in a snow storm if he does not have pepsi with his dinner. Yesterday I took 2 sips of pepsi from my husbands drink and i could feel it eating away at my teeth. I only enjoy watered down juice if I have some. On regular days I drink propel flavored water or just water. My weakness out of all these things for me is sweet snacks I really have a problem with my craving for that junk and thats the stuff I will go out into a snow storm and get. How do I fight these craving. I swear on the days I dont have it I feel like I am going to die and get cranky at everyone so my husbands runs with fear to the store and grabs a snicker or snacky cake. If it is close to my menstrual I am worse. I really want to start eating healthy and it is a struggle because I love me some juicy fat burgers with loaded cheese and donuts with icing and delicious cakes etc... I am so unhealthy. So far I am losing weight because i am counting calories. I still eat unhealthy cakes and crap i just eat within my caloric goal. i lost 23 pounds so far in 2 months. But I am ready to change to actually eating real food, like fruits and veggies and meats etc.. I need help! Anyone know what to do?

Meerataila

Maybe try getting it all out of your diet for a few weeks. It might make you so sick after that you won't want it. Fortunately after less than two months of a plant based diet this happened to me the other day. I went out of town and ended up at a Mediterranean place instead of the vegan friendly Indian place I'd planned on. I had delicious vegetarian (sadly not vegan) food, but made the mistake of eating the pita bread. That triggered godawful cravings, so on the way home I stopped at the store and bought ice cream and cheap nasty cupcakes.

I pigged out on that and a huge glass of milk and immediately felt horrible. I had a terrible taste in my mouth, I woke up the next day feeling like I'd been drinking all night (I bet it was dehydration from the salt) with an even worse mouth taste. Felt hideous all day.

Serves me right for going off my ethical vegan eating, and taught me a lesson I won't forget. I didn't get any cravings afterward either, because I didn't want that aftertaste back!

Alluminati

zyxst

In for later reading.

shabaity

Could you replace those snacks with something less calorie dense but just as sweet like fruit etc. or use snack packs to make the amount you eat smaller right at first. And I feel you there I stopped eating the burgers and other beef products at work, the chicken has less calories and is filling, now I don't care for the smell of it on the grill. Or I'm talking to a coworker lean over a row of cooking burgers and breathe in yuck.

Swiftlet66

Yeah this happened to me too. I used to buy and eat lamb gyro/pita sandwiches sold near my workplace and a few months ago when I went out with my co-workers and ate it again, it was way too salty and greasy for me and it left a very strange, heavy feeling in my stomach afterwards. I did not feel very well after. And also a week ago, I bought and ate chicken karaage (used to eat them like crack) at a bento shop and felt sick the day afterwards. I'm guessing I am no longer used to eating that much grease in one sitting so am trying to avoid heavily greasy and salty foods now. Same with sweets too. I used to drink juice a lot as a kid but now, it's just too sugary and sweet for me. This includes all sweet beverages actually; I just don't feel well drinking them anymore. I never liked soda in the first place so that has never been a problem...

But I guess for me, I cut out all the sweets and went cold turkey for a while and started cooking my meals from scratch. If your meal is balanced and you're eating well, the cravings will go away eventually. It took me maybe half a year to get over it?? I don't crave sweets or fast food anymore and I can easily bypass donuts at work. lol.

sparklefrogz

Anyone know what to do?

Paragraphs. Paragraphs are definitely a good start.

As for your question, which I think is "how do I quit craving junk food"? The only thing that worked for me was to stop eating junk food entirely for a few weeks to reset my taste buds. Fruit substitution is also good, but I would add a bit of fat and protein in with them to make it more filling. (Add some nuts or jerky with your berries/apple/orange.) First three days might be a bit grouchy and tired but it gets better quickly after that.

lemurcat12

I really want to start eating healthy and it is a struggle because I love me some juicy fat burgers with loaded cheese and donuts with icing and delicious cakes etc... I am so unhealthy. So far I am losing weight because i am counting calories. I still eat unhealthy cakes and crap i just eat within my caloric goal. i lost 23 pounds so far in 2 months. But I am ready to change to actually eating real food, like fruits and veggies and meats etc.. I need help! Anyone know what to do?

Congrats on your loss so far.

I think I eat pretty healthy, and I still eat sweet stuff (and diet coke sometimes), but here are a few thoughts:

(1) Focus on adding to your diet rather than not eating things. If you have all your mental attention on doing without, it's hard. If you think in terms of a tasty and nutritious overall diet, it's probably a lot easier to make it a habit and just your normal way of eating.

(2) Eat a healthy diet. I don't know what you eat now, but think of what you'd like to eat--for example, a nice dinner of some lean meat, vegetables, and whatever else you like (I usually eat a starch like potatoes or sweet potatoes or right now fresh sweet corn to fill out the plate, but fruit and dairy are also good options, IMO). Think of adding vegetables in to your meals. Fill up on foods that will give you enough protein and a good mix of micronutrients. Is there something that is making this difficult, like not really having cooking knowledge or lacking time? Or is it a matter of knowing how to plan a meal or what should be included? (It sounds like you have a sense of what you'd like to include.)

(3) If you want a burger, seriously, make a burger. If you cook at home, there's no reason a burger wouldn't fit really easily into a nutrient-dense dinner or lunch. If you use lean beef it's not even high in calories at all. You can use whole wheat buns as your starch (or white, it doesn't matter that much). If you like mayo on it, just count the calories. Have some vegetables and fruit with it instead of fries or make baked fries and fit them in PLUS the vegetables.

(4) If you want to go out for a burger on occasion, you can fit that in. Just make it an occasional thing and not a 5 times a week thing. You can have a healthy diet and go out for a burger sometimes.

(5) Same with the donut -- just do it occasionally, not every morning, and make sure you are careful about portion size. Or try to make a healthier version. I don't get too tempted by baked goods because I like my own homemade baked goods far better than anything I could buy at the grocery store and I'm too lazy to make them often. Really good bakeries can be tempting, and if they seem definitely worth it I indulge on occasion. More often I just have 200-250 calories worth of ice cream, which I think is a perfectly reasonable inclusion in day filled with nutrient dense foods and lots of vegetables and adequate protein. But I'm thinking of playing around with making the ice cream myself too.

annonm

I really want to start eating healthy and it is a struggle because I love me some juicy fat burgers with loaded cheese and donuts with icing and delicious cakes etc... I am so unhealthy. So far I am losing weight because i am counting calories. I still eat unhealthy cakes and crap i just eat within my caloric goal. i lost 23 pounds so far in 2 months. But I am ready to change to actually eating real food, like fruits and veggies and meats etc.. I need help! Anyone know what to do?

Congrats on your loss so far.

I think I eat pretty healthy, and I still eat sweet stuff (and diet coke sometimes), but here are a few thoughts:

(1) Focus on adding to your diet rather than not eating things. If you have all your mental attention on doing without, it's hard. If you think in terms of a tasty and nutritious overall diet, it's probably a lot easier to make it a habit and just your normal way of eating.

(2) Eat a healthy diet. I don't know what you eat now, but think of what you'd like to eat--for example, a nice dinner of some lean meat, vegetables, and whatever else you like (I usually eat a starch like potatoes or sweet potatoes or right now fresh sweet corn to fill out the plate, but fruit and dairy are also good options, IMO). Think of adding vegetables in to your meals. Fill up on foods that will give you enough protein and a good mix of micronutrients. Is there something that is making this difficult, like not really having cooking knowledge or lacking time? Or is it a matter of knowing how to plan a meal or what should be included? (It sounds like you have a sense of what you'd like to include.)

(3) If you want a burger, seriously, make a burger. If you cook at home, there's no reason a burger wouldn't fit really easily into a nutrient-dense dinner or lunch. If you use lean beef it's not even high in calories at all. You can use whole wheat buns as your starch (or white, it doesn't matter that much). If you like mayo on it, just count the calories. Have some vegetables and fruit with it instead of fries or make baked fries and fit them in PLUS the vegetables.

(4) If you want to go out for a burger on occasion, you can fit that in. Just make it an occasional thing and not a 5 times a week thing. You can have a healthy diet and go out for a burger sometimes.

(5) Same with the donut -- just do it occasionally, not every morning, and make sure you are careful about portion size. Or try to make a healthier version. I don't get too tempted by baked goods because I like my own homemade baked goods far better than anything I could buy at the grocery store and I'm too lazy to make them often. Really good bakeries can be tempting, and if they seem definitely worth it I indulge on occasion. More often I just have 200-250 calories worth of ice cream, which I think is a perfectly reasonable inclusion in day filled with nutrient dense foods and lots of vegetables and adequate protein. But I'm thinking of playing around with making the ice cream myself too.

annonm

Sorry I am still learning how to use this fitness pal. But yes, I do not know how to cook and that is a big problem for me, so i eat precooked crap. I dont really know how to put things together also lol. I pretty much suck. My husband does all the cooking but sometimes I want to cook for my self and know how to put meals together.

FitOldMomma

All I know, is I had to want to lose weight and be healthy MORE than I wanted ice cream, fast food burgers, donuts and candy.

Seriously though, the intense cravings do stop.

I quit a 42 yr smoking habit. I'm talking 'chain smoker' habit. The cravings are intense, but just like with food cravings- they only last for a bit and they go away. You have to teach your body and brain that you no longer desire the unhealthy stuff.

If you just have to have chocolate, have some chocolate (and count the calories) but within reason. One candy bar isn't going to destroy your diet.

Today I really had a hankering for ice cream. No problem if it wasn't here, but I knew there was leftover ice cream from a birthday dinner we had here. So, I checked my calories for the day and ate decent sized bowl and didn't feel guilty.

Also, there are many very tasty lower calorie food items that deeply satisfy; like low fat frozen yogurt instead of full fat ice cream. Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches are really good, so are frozen fruit bars.

Good luck.