old habits? maybe not so hard to break after all...

hamptontom
hamptontom Posts: 536 Member
edited November 24 in Food and Nutrition

prior to making the commitment to this program, pasta was my single biggest vice. if pasta were a controlled substance, i'd be the dude trading sexual favors for fettucine behind the convenience store.

but i hadn't touched a pasta product since prior to memorial day...until today.

i figured i should commemorate my "halfway to goal" mark (45 down, 45 to go) by doing something indulgent, maybe giving myself permission to have something i hadn't eaten since starting this journey...so it didn't take me long to make up my mind what that was gonna be.

so - whole wheat linguine with meat sauce it was.

now, i'd tempered my expectations somewhat, since it was whole wheat pasta, but i don't think that difference alone really accounted for my experience.

it was...well, it was a pretty significant letdown.

and i don't mean in the emotional sense, as if i'd fallen off the wagon or betrayed myself, because i made sure i had calorie headroom on my log for the day, and i'm still under my ceiling as we speak.

when heroin addicts or alcoholics relapse, it seems they go back to old habits almost as if nothing happened...but this was more like seeing an old girlfriend and just not feeling ANYTHING...no lingering emotions, no nostalgia, no nothing.

when i'd finished, i kinda felt a sense of..."well, that didn't come close to living up to my expectations." i left wondering what it was that i was so crazy about in the first place.

how weird is that? i used to LOVE the stuff!

oh, and i'll spare you the details of the effects it's had on my digestive system after the fact.

ain't nobody got time for that.

Replies

  • fiddletime
    fiddletime Posts: 1,868 Member
    Good analogy with alcohol. I stopped eating most of my junk food. After a month I allowed myself a once a week, within my calorie count, Magnum double chocolate caramel ice cream bar. The first one was heaven. The second one a week later was OK, but left a lingering cloy feeling of fat in my mouth from the ice cream. The third week came and I had an orange instead. If I really taste the food, rather than imagine what it could taste like, most of the high calorie snack foods aren't that good. Especially when you factor in the calories.
  • Marinemomm
    Marinemomm Posts: 64 Member
    Love this!!! I miss pasta so much lol
  • hamptontom
    hamptontom Posts: 536 Member
    y'know, after i decided to indulge myself, i was SO looking forward to it that maybe my expectations made it a bigger deal for me than it really was...but i really think i'm over it. :)
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    hamptontom wrote: »
    y'know, after i decided to indulge myself, i was SO looking forward to it that maybe my expectations made it a bigger deal for me than it really was...but i really think i'm over it. :
    Good job. :star::star: It's done and now you can move on. :)

  • rosammr
    rosammr Posts: 43 Member
    edited September 2015
    I'm in my second week only so I am trying to change things slowly. Too many changes at once might equal a recepit for disaster for me, in my opinion. So at the moment I am not drinking litres of Coke as I used to. Yes it was the diet type but still not very healthy. I haven't touched the thing until I went out with friends and I kid you not, because I didn't want to drink it but water was so not cool in a bar, it tasted horrible to me.
    The second thing I have cut out nearly 100% is bread. No more toasts in the morning. Occasionally I might have the odd piece but eventually I will stop it altogether.
    Obviously all the junk food such crisps, has gone. Not missing anything right now. I believe is because for the first time in my life I really am in "the Zone". I really want it and nothing will stop me this time, not food, not pain, not my own laziness.
  • abatonfan
    abatonfan Posts: 1,120 Member
    I know exactly how you feel. I had a very similar experience with Starbuck's salted caramel frappuccino last year. I was addicted to them while overweight (when a venti was at least a solid 500 calories), though I developed a preference for black coffee/americanos while on my weight loss journey. Out of pure curiosity, I decided to grab a small salted caramel frappuccino after one of my classes, and it tasted like sugar water with a hint of stale coffee. I would have thrown that terrible drink away had it not been for the fact that I was an idiot and just took my insulin for it and would go super low if I didn't drink it.

    I just realized salted caramel frappuccino season has dawned upon us. I think I'll be sticking to my coffee.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    Maybe it was the whole wheat pasta. I don't like it either. It's just not the same, IMO.
  • sashayoung72
    sashayoung72 Posts: 441 Member
    I felt (nearly) the same way about pasta, and because it's such a high calorie item, i too cut it from the foods I eat. I recently had a "pasta" dish that used zucchini instead of the lasagne type noodles to roll the yummy stuff in, and it was awesome. Now if only I could pass completely on the cheese.....
  • sashayoung72
    sashayoung72 Posts: 441 Member
    abatonfan wrote: »
    I know exactly how you feel. I had a very similar experience with Starbuck's salted caramel frappuccino last year. I was addicted to them while overweight (when a venti was at least a solid 500 calories), though I developed a preference for black coffee/americanos while on my weight loss journey. Out of pure curiosity, I decided to grab a small salted caramel frappuccino after one of my classes, and it tasted like sugar water with a hint of stale coffee. I would have thrown that terrible drink away had it not been for the fact that I was an idiot and just took my insulin for it and would go super low if I didn't drink it.

    I just realized salted caramel frappuccino season has dawned upon us. I think I'll be sticking to my coffee.
    Oh that makes me so mad, looking forward to something like that and YUCK! I too love the coffees! I would have drank it also because of the "i paid money for this stupid thing so I'm going to drink it" factor. LOL

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    Maybe it was the whole wheat pasta. I don't like it either. It's just not the same, IMO.

    Weirdly enough, I like whole wheat pasta fine. I'll eat the white stuff (the nutritional difference is pretty slight), but at home I usually eat whole wheat since I like it just as well, especially with a strongly-flavored sauce (like with olives or smoked salmon).

    I don't find it at all unhealthy or high calorie, either--maybe because I find you don't need that much to be satisfying and tend to load it up with a homemade sauce with lots of vegetables and some lean meat (shrimp is always nice).
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    edited September 2015
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    Maybe it was the whole wheat pasta. I don't like it either. It's just not the same, IMO.

    Weirdly enough, I like whole wheat pasta fine. I'll eat the white stuff (the nutritional difference is pretty slight), but at home I usually eat whole wheat since I like it just as well, especially with a strongly-flavored sauce (like with olives or smoked salmon).

    I don't find it at all unhealthy or high calorie, either--maybe because I find you don't need that much to be satisfying and tend to load it up with a homemade sauce with lots of vegetables and some lean meat (shrimp is always nice).

    I think it is more of a texture thing and the flavor is prominent in sauces. I've tried to like it but I'm not there yet :)
  • Adc7225
    Adc7225 Posts: 1,318 Member
    I've had that experience with several things. I used to love candy, all kinds - I didn't discriminate! During the majority of my weight loss I gave up most candy due to the obvious and the fact that the I have sensitivities to the food dyes, I turned to better quality candies. Mostly chocolates, Sees Candies and Godiva - fast forward. A sale on M & M's (of course w/peanuts) and I was introduced to Starburst Jeklybeans - all good across the lips, not so good beyond there. Headaches, bloating, depression, etc., I wonder how I ever managed while eating things like that. Once we give up those things and actually pay attention to how we feel, the reintroduction of those things is never good.
  • MondayJune22nd2015
    MondayJune22nd2015 Posts: 876 Member
    edited September 2015
    According to my day streak, this is my 84th day & I must say I've never noticed how salty and/or spicy some of the foods, that I've eaten before were & I can't tolerate it much anymore. I've only noticed it with sweets, about half as much. I can still tolerate sour, as much as before. I am going to have to start using toothpaste, that isn't minty because it's currently so intense, that it even makes my eyes water; when I brush my teeth.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    First, what's wrong with eating pasta? Second, why on Earth would you eat whole wheat pasta?
    Finally, I can assure you as an alcoholic (13 years sober), it would NOT be going back to old habits as if nothing!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Eh I love whole wheat pasta. Heck I like it much better than the regular stuff now.

    But OP... if you really want a treat, get the exact thing you want, or you WILL end up disappointed every single time.

    Also, you really can't compare drugs or alcohol with food. Just... no.
  • MondayJune22nd2015
    MondayJune22nd2015 Posts: 876 Member
    edited September 2015
    Has anyone had chickpea pasta? I just bought some made by Banza but I haven't tried it yet.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    MondayJune22nd2015 wrote: »
    Has anyone had chickpea pasta? I just bought some made by Banza but I haven't tried it yet.

    I had some black bean pasta and it was vile.
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