Junk food or nothing?

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Ed98043
Ed98043 Posts: 1,333 Member
in Food and Nutrition
As I'm sitting here, stomach growling but apparently not hungry enough to eat any of the healthy foods I've stocked the house with...I found this article about scientists who offered rats both healthy and fattening foods:

http://www.scripps.edu/news/press/2010/20100329.html

"They always went for the worst types of food," Kenny said, "and as a result, they took in twice the calories as the control rats. When we removed the junk food and tried to put them on a nutritious diet – what we called the 'salad bar option' – they simply refused to eat. The change in their diet preference was so great that they basically starved themselves for two weeks after they were cut off from junk food."

Luckily I'm not a rat and can make a conscious effort to eat the nutritious food, but hopefully this means that in two weeks the "salad bar option" will start looking better like it did for the rats. lol

Replies

  • smilesback
    smilesback Posts: 327 Member
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    I like to eat, and learned that eating 10 apples is still going to add up to 1000 calories. So you are on the right track to think about calories, nutrition and ask whether it will satisfy your hunger or whether it is a craving. I am trying not to bring my favorites into the house because when I am craving, I will eat it. Indulge when you earn it! Those extra calories are hard to get rid of later. Good luck!
  • hiyomi
    hiyomi Posts: 906 Member
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    Same, I'm getting pretty hungry right about now for dinner....I have healthy food here at home, but I'm feeling lazy today and am craving french fries.....lol I can afford it in my calorie intake, but I bought healthy food to stop eating out >:O
  • erinsueburns
    erinsueburns Posts: 865 Member
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    The salad bar option is rather likely to start looking attractive. Last night I actually was out of salad and was quite disappointed.
  • JaimieAG
    JaimieAG Posts: 48
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    It does get easier. Much easier. Now the idea of french fries makes my stomach turn, but back in the day people who said stuff like that made me want to hit them over the head. Liars! But no... .lol... it does get much easier. Your taste buds adjust and you start to crave the colors and textures of nutrient dense foods. It takes a few weeks to a month of going lean and green even when you don't feel like it. Then you'll catch yourself saying foreign stuff like, "I could really go for a sweet potato." That's when you know the changes are setting in. I still have weird relapses once in a blue moon where I have the impulse to go grab a burger from a fast food place. But I get over that impulse with a quickness because junk food makes you feel pretty bad after you've gone without it for a while. Your abdomen gets all puffy & tight & painful like you've swallowed a helium balloon kickboxing grease zombie and it has wrapped itself from your tonsils to your... ehem... LOL. Yeah that's too graphic. But that's how it is.

    A few tips to speed up the process:
    *avoid artificial sweeteners. It makes it hard for your taste buds to enjoy natural sugars in fruit. I was a crystal light/sugar free jello/mio-aholic. A trainer told me: Mio begets mio. Water begets fruit. And gosh darnnit he was right.
    *The fewer cheat days the better. I've been after this since high school really. My highest weight was 185lbs & my lowest 135lbs. I've lost weight both ways. Cheat days & no cheat days. The first month - if you can just hit the ground running no cheat days - it really sets the tone for your whole year. The times where I dieted with no cheat days (esp in the beginning) have ended up being much more successful. It's the weirdest thing.

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