Cravings changing after eating healthier?

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omnisis
omnisis Posts: 85 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Has anyone else noticed their cravings changing after switching to a healthier diet? After I cut out most white starches and sugar I lost pretty much all my sweet tooth cravings but I've also had stranger ones as well. Case in point, I used to eat a lot of "Progressive" soups because they were moderately healthy compared to other varieties found in the grocery. Well, I've been cooking my own soups once a week for the past few months and I opened an old can of progressive vegetable soup the other day and I couldn't get past 2-3 bites. First off, it tasted like salt water and then the veggies just tasted "dead" to me. Oh and today I just bit into a tomato like it was an apple! I didn't even like tomatos that much a few months back!

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  • jbucci1186
    jbucci1186 Posts: 440 Member
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    god i wish i could lose my sweet tooth, but i will say my cravings have changed. like today at work, i was so excited to come home and have my broccoli and cauliflower. loooove it.
  • SarahofTwins
    SarahofTwins Posts: 1,169 Member
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    god i wish i could lose my sweet tooth, but i will say my cravings have changed. like today at work, i was so excited to come home and have my broccoli and cauliflower. loooove it.


    Yeah I have a sweet tooth as well...unfortunately that hasn't changed. However I treat myself to very little sweets, if not that then definitely fruit. :smile:
  • TS65
    TS65 Posts: 1,024 Member
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    Same here. Most sweet cravings have gone away, but I still allow myself a little. I have always disliked canned soup, but now I can't even tolerate them (homemade all the way baby!) Same goes for processed foods. Chips just taste like salty wood shavings. Store bought cookies are like sawdust patties with waxy "chocolate" chips. Most candy tastes gritty and waxy (except the really good stuff! LOL!)

    I still eat some of it on occassion, but mostly avoid it.
  • ESVABelle
    ESVABelle Posts: 1,264 Member
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    Peanut butter. Almond butter. Sunflower butter.

    It used to be just peanut butter. Until I tried the other 2. I'm an addict...
  • natskedat
    natskedat Posts: 570 Member
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    That's crazy! I had the same experience with Progresso a few months ago. I got sick and had to have soup and had no energy to make my own. I got Progresso and it tasted awful!
  • joamarelo
    joamarelo Posts: 161
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    yup, i cant drink juice anymore, now i need tea! :P
  • Jorra
    Jorra Posts: 3,338 Member
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    I love that I don't crave fatty and carb-loaded foods as much anymore. I think the logical side of my brain has just taken over because the thought of all the empty calories in my old favorite junk foods are enough to turn me off!
  • omnisis
    omnisis Posts: 85 Member
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    So at my job there is a community "snack bar" that comes fully stocked from cosco. Each item is really cheap and laid out across a bunch of filing cabinets that I walk by every single day (multiple times a day) on the way around the office. It has been the downfall of many a good intentioned dieter. I have survived by eating my own healthy snacks at work. Usually I do a medium apple + string cheese but sometimes I will do greek yogurt with fruit. I really love peanut butter so that's kind of my goto if I crave something sweet at work. But mostly I don't crave the sweet stuff anymore except at rare times and I force myself to "go out" for those kinds of cravings so that I don't get in the habit of brining that kind of stuff home and also it kind of acts as a reminder that it's an occasional splurge thing, not an everyday battle like it used to be.
  • moonlightturk
    moonlightturk Posts: 398
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    Hi so your post is very interesting, do you think if i change to eating healthier (even though I dislike it) I will lose my sweet tooth? I absoluteley love chocalete, dohnuts,cakes, you name it. I'm a sugar lover what can I say.. I would love to be in the position to say 'yum this homemade soup is what i want' or 'yum this brocolli sure is tasty'.
  • Chrissy2627
    Chrissy2627 Posts: 70
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    I have only been at this healthy thing for about a week, but I have noticed I don't have nearly as much of a sweet tooth, and I don't crave carbs as much. I used to drink a can of orange Sunkist everyday and now that just sounds WAY too sugary! I was also completely able to resist a Swiss Cake Roll the other day!
  • bjohs
    bjohs Posts: 1,225 Member
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    Yep, same way. There are foods that I used to eat every day that I rarely touch now. There is hardly anything that I can't live without anymore. I like an occasional treat now and then, but I don't crave it. I just had a date night with my husband which included dinner at Red Lobster. Even the sodium-rich food that I loved no longer tastes the way it used to for me. I was actually disappointed after leaving the restaurant and came to the conclusion that I enjoy healthier meals more than all the junk now.
  • pauljsolie
    pauljsolie Posts: 1,024 Member
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    Hi so your post is very interesting, do you think if i change to eating healthier (even though I dislike it) I will lose my sweet tooth? I absoluteley love chocalete, dohnuts,cakes, you name it. I'm a sugar lover what can I say.. I would love to be in the position to say 'yum this homemade soup is what i want' or 'yum this brocolli sure is tasty'.
    Great thread. I too have lost my sweet tooth and have begun craving things I never thought I'd try, namely hummus!!!! I use it now instead of Miracle Whip and I really like tomato basil or jalapeno. I tasted some MW at my sisters and it was oily, vinegary and WAY too sweet. I eat 86% cacao chocolate when I need a chocolate fix. I only eat one square and the dark chocolate is actually good for you. I recently tried 70% and that was way too sweet.

    To the above quote, I first stopped drinking soda, then stopped diet soda. There is some evidence that the aspartame causes increased sugar cravings. Start there if you drink either of those and you will lose your sweet tooth. If you still have problems, search the forums for a thread with grapefruit essential oil, this apparently relieves sweet cravings. I haven't tried it myself but got some oil today. good luck and great post.
  • Trishkit
    Trishkit Posts: 290 Member
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    Happened to me and continues to happen! I used to LOVE canned green beans, then I made my own cooked green beans from garden-fresh beans and they were, of course, tasty. Having missed those a little while back, I picked up a can of beans at the store, thinking I would get my fix. NOPE! Super salty, and like you said, they tasted dead! No substance, no flavor ... just dead. How disappointing! I can't do canned veggie soups anymore, for that very reason. I don't suppose I'm missing out much, though -- especially not missing all the sodium!

    I also bake only with finely ground whole wheat flour, and I find anything made with white flour to be super bland and flavorless, and I just feel like, what's the point? If you're gonna eat something, it should taste awesome and be good for you. Plain and simple.

    Oh, and I definitely cannot handle greasy food any longer. If I have something with too much grease, I start to feel sick. So I avoid fried food like the plague ... except sweet potato fries, on occasion. I really need to make those at home and bake them...
  • pauljsolie
    pauljsolie Posts: 1,024 Member
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    ^ ^ ^ ^
    Have you tried whole wheat pastry flour? It works well in cookies and breads. It doesn't have that heavy texture like regular ww flour.
  • omnisis
    omnisis Posts: 85 Member
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    Re: Eating healthy to eliminate cravings.

    One thing I'd say is that I did this all very slowly. I focused on eliminating or substituting one bad food habit at a time (or group of them) and adjusting the way that I shop for food, prepare food and eat that food accordingly. In this manner it was all sort of a natural progression. If I'd bought what I currently keep in my fridge every week the first week I'd have thrown 1/2 of it out easily. Now that I'm used to eating this way it's no biggie. I will say that the cracker/cookie aisle at the supermarket now feels like a distant planet to me.
  • Trishkit
    Trishkit Posts: 290 Member
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    ^ ^ ^ ^
    Have you tried whole wheat pastry flour? It works well in cookies and breads. It doesn't have that heavy texture like regular ww flour.
    That may or may not be what I have. I buy it in bulk from my local co-op, but I assume that if it was pastry flour, it would be labeled as such. Mine says "fine whole wheat" and doesn't have a super heavy texture, really. But that may be because I'm used to it. I used it for some (decidedly unhealthy) cupcakes last weekend for my housewarming party, and they turned out pretty good. Nobody complained and everyone had one except for my mom, on the basis that it contained gluten.

    I will keep an eye out for that, though, next time I'm at the store. It would be interesting to compare and see if there's a difference. Thanks for the suggestion!
  • moonlightturk
    moonlightturk Posts: 398
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    Is that you in the photo o.O Omg I am so inspired if it is.
  • cassmsta
    cassmsta Posts: 75
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    More often i find myself craving fruit than candy, and I HATE, White bread, i have never liked 60% brown, I LOVE whole grain bread, I am a huge fan of the Dempster's Ancient Grain products. I also eat tomatos like apples.

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