Food Cravings

A couple of weeks ago, I had a desire for something sweet. I thought I had complete control of what I put in my mouth...that I could bypass the cakes and cookies and sodas if I just had enough willpower. That the sweet desire could be silenced with a piece of fruit.

And that's a load of crap.

I remembered seeing a bag of marshmallows on the kitchen table, which was currently loaded down with grocery bags of stuff. Without realizing it, I was suddenly clawing through everything on the table until I found those marshmallows. I could feel a slight panic rise up at the thought of them not being there.

Photo from Flickr: ukaa

So I gave in and ate the marshmallows...warmed in the microwave and mixed with rice krispies for a bowl of a sticky, gooey, yummy mess.

If a science experiment proved that food manufacturers add specific chemicals to keep us addicted to their foods, I'd believe it.

These last 2 weeks have been spent trying to find ways to curb the cravings for junk food. I'm an emotional eater...eating when I'm stressed or upset. I'm also a bored eater...eating when there's little to do. That's probably from eating in front of the TV as a child and eating to stay awake in class during school. But it's not simply "eating" - it's cravings for JUNK like Chips Ahoy cookies, Breyer's ice cream, and Lay's potato chips.

As an emotional eater, I've got to learn to go to something besides food for comfort. I was reading recently that when you're first trying to get past these cravings, you should pamper yourself. I liked the sound of that and got my shoulders massaged.

As a bored eater, I'm trying to get active any time I feel like "munching." Tonight, I played the Wii Sports. The way these cravings for processed sugars are going, I'm going to have some killer calf muscles from the Wii.

Side note: I'm not trying to completely go off of sugar, etc. like this post sounds. I just don't want to be controlled by it. My health has also taken a downward spin lately, and I believe at least some of it is contributed to nutrition (or lack of).