How do I remove my mental connection between food and certain activities?
May 16, 2011 9:59 AM   Subscribe

How can I decouple my enjoyment of activities from my enjoyment of food?

There are tons of activities I enjoy, but I’ve realized that for a number of them I have an automatic food association (e.g. going to a movie and having popcorn, going camping and eating s’mores, going for a walk on a summer evening and getting ice cream, curling up with a book and some lemonade or hot chocolate, stuff like that). I enjoy these activities for reasons other than the food component, but I kind of feel like something is missing if I don’t eat or drink whatever I feel like I’m supposed to, like somehow the experience is incomplete. Obviously it’s not the end of the world if I eat popcorn at a movie occasionally, but it feels like everything I enjoy has a food association in my mind. How can I learn to enjoy these activities without food and without feeling like something is missing?
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl to Health & Fitness (10 answers total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
You go to the movies and you don't eat popcorn. Then you do it again, and again. Each time the feeling of missing out will subside a bit. Eventually, you won't miss the popcorn anymore. But really, why bother? The smell and taste of popcorn, or the fun of melting Hershey bars over an open campfire and all of that are what makes these experiences unique for you. Unless there is some underlying health issue that makes it very bad for you to enjoy the occasional bucket of over salted, over priced popcorn, I don't see what you gain by trying to micromanage what the experience should be. You brain already has that figured it, and it wants you to pack marshmallows and chocolate when you go camping.
posted by COD at 10:14 AM on May 16, 2011


Practice.

Ex-smokers have to do the same thing. I'm still not sure if I'm capable of a long car trip alone without cigarettes. I avoid bars for the same reason. And coffee. Eventually I'm going to have to learn to do those things again without the cigarettes. But that's pretty much the only way it's going to happen. You've got to learn to associate those things with enjoyment sans food component.
posted by elsietheeel at 10:23 AM on May 16, 2011


The food component of all these activities is seriously awesome and I tend to overly focus the eating component as well. Guess it comes from being in a family where we talk about whatever going to have for lunch while we're breakfasting, and at lunch we reminisce about breakfast and look forward to dinner. And so on and so on.

But maybe it would help to recognize that what is so great about these snacks is that they add a very sensual and physical element to whatever thing you're doing, and tasting is just one dimension that you could be exploring.

Think of it not as a food association you're seeking, but a sensory one. You could associate certain activities not with taste but with a great olfactory experience (I find that going to the movie theater and inhaling deep breaths of butter essence is actually kind of more rewarding than eating actual popcorn, which, after the second handful, is really just keeping your hand busy and your mouth from curdling from all the salt by shoving more salt in there). Or a kinetic experinece: curling up with a book means drowning in the softest fuzziest blanket you have, or a breeze coming in an open window and cooling your bare feet. Camping isn't complete unless you take your boots off and stick your toes in the cold river, etc.

Focus on your other senses and how you can maximize your experiences by stimulating them, and maybe food will recede from being central to being one of many delicious components that make your trips great.
posted by sestaaak at 10:31 AM on May 16, 2011 [3 favorites]


Taper down. Unlike elsietheheel, I don't think you can treat food issues the same as quitting smoking. Quitting smoking was an all-or-nothing deal for me but it's not as though you can quit food 100%. Tapering down and eating mindfully makes the most sense to me.

For popcorn, pick a genre and only get popcorn when it's that kind of movie. Cliffhanger/Bourne Identity kinds of movies call out for popcorn, dramas and chickflick/bromances not so much, serious indies not at all. If I go to a movie alone I won't get popcorn at all, but if I go with my dude and/or kids and we do, I won't eat any until the previews are over and the movie starts. If my piggish loved ones eat it all, oh well, my loss.

Ice cream after a walk on a summer night? Walk every night instead of just once in a while, and only get ice cream on the days when you mowed the lawn or went hiking.

Curling up with a book really does need a hot mug of something, doesn't it? So make it peppermint tea. No sugar or anything else added, and it's warm & cozy. And camping w/smores is fine, but have just one small one, or even better, just a few roasted marshmallows.
posted by headnsouth at 11:25 AM on May 16, 2011


Unless you are doing these activities so often that it's causing health or financial problems, I don't see the issue here.

I mean, if you're going to the movies twice a week and can't enjoy yourself without one of those gigantic tubs of popcorn, I see your point. If that's the case, what about scaling back? Get a small popcorn. Then maybe only get popcorn half the time. Then just every once in a while. Eventually, the two experiences will separate themselves in your mind.

The same would go for something like s'mores on a camping trip. If camping is more of an every weekend thing rather than a couple times a year thing, scale back. Only pack s'mores ingredients every so often. The nice thing about this scenario is that, presumably, once you're out in the wild, you can't just go find s'mores - you're dependent on what you packed.

As for relaxing with a book and a cocoa/lemonade/whatever, I fail to see what the problem is. You could always transition to unsweetened herbal tea if you're worried about the sugar or calories.
posted by Sara C. at 11:36 AM on May 16, 2011 [1 favorite]


Another idea, if maybe the concern is financial (as it could be in the movie popcorn and ice cream cone scenarios). When you go, just don't bring enough money for that. This is one way that I've controlled my drinking in the past without having to quit outright. I operate only in cash and bring exactly enough money for what I'm allowing myself that night.

Unless you usually go with friends who are going to offer to pick up the tab for your ice cream or whatever, this should be as simple as not bringing cash on your walk.
posted by Sara C. at 11:40 AM on May 16, 2011


Response by poster: Thanks for the responses so far -- I should clarify that the issue isn't any particular one of these things, it's all of them, it's that each day somehow becomes a "special occasion" for food that's bad for me. It's not an enormous health concern but I would like to eat less junk and this is one of the things making that difficult for me because my fun/relaxing activities feel less fun and relaxing without an accompanying food-based treat.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 11:46 AM on May 16, 2011


Food should be just that. Food. It's not a treat, it's not an occasion, it's not a reward. It's fuel for your body.

Eat it at a table with no other distractions. No books, no movies, nothing entertaining. Don't have special occasion snacks. Don't eat dinner on the couch in front of the TV. Don't necessarily deny yourself the junk, but only eat it at the table. Makes the junk far less alluring. Eventually you'll stop associating it with fun times.
posted by elsietheeel at 12:29 PM on May 16, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'd make the trade-off in terms of quality. If you skip the bad popcorn at the theater, bring your own bar of really expensive chocolate--then make really good popcorn at home when it's movie night.
Food is a treat, eating can be a festive occasion. I'm all for festive, and figure it's such a sort life, why not make it a fun one? And that includes the best I can afford at the time. I'd rather have a small piece of something wonderful than a truckload of blah. So plan ahead for wonderful.
posted by Ideefixe at 4:52 PM on May 16, 2011 [3 favorites]


Eat apples and drink unsweetened green tea at those times instead. Healthy, inexpensive, portable, tasty. I always have tea and an apple at the movies now.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 12:35 AM on May 17, 2011


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