Avoiding Death by Chocolate Chip Cookies

June 10, 2008 10:18 AM

What am I missing in my diet that I crave Chocolate Chip cookies all the time?

I want to eat chocolate chip cookies almost all the time. The only time I don't want to eat them is the couple of days after a good workout or exercise. I haven't been able to drink milk for years. I'm guessing there's some kind of vitamin that gets produced when I work out that stifles the cravings? Maybe this vitamin (D?) is in chocolate and in milk? I can eat cheese, and do often.

On a normal day, I could eat 30 chocolate chip cookies. On the days after I workout, I could be wearing a shirt made of chocolate chip cookies and not even want to eat them.

What gives? Is there some vitamin or nutrient I'm missing that I can take to stop me from consuming every chocolate chip cookie on earth? This has been going on for years. I need help figuring out how to stop. This is not healthy.

posted by cashman to health & fitness (36 answers total)

What gives? Is there some vitamin or nutrient I'm missing?

Love?

seriously. chocolate = endorphine release etc.
posted by rokusan at 10:37 AM on June 10, 2008 [2 favorites]

The sugar in chocolate sparks the release of a nerve chemical called serotonin and might lower another nerve chemical called NPY; the end result is a sense of well-being. The sweet taste also releases endorphins in the brain, giving us an immediate euphoric rush.

Exercise can cause your body to release endorphins as well, so maybe your body wants that sweet sweet junk.

I prescribe moderate exercise and the moderate eating of chocolate chip cookies.
posted by ND¢ at 10:40 AM on June 10, 2008

Nothing or everything. Cravings are not a reliable way to determine nutritional status. Previous comment.
posted by 517 at 10:41 AM on June 10, 2008

Maybe it's a stretch, but this article of unverifiable scholarship says sweet cravings in general can be tied to hormonal and neurochemical imbalances including in serotonin. We know that exercise boosts serotonin, so perhaps after your exercise, your levels are high enough to turn off the sweet cravings. This article says sugar gives us a brief serotonin burst. This one makes a tie to anemia.

As for why you crave chocolate chip cookies specifically, that's mysterious. Perhaps some soul searching is in order.
posted by Askr at 10:42 AM on June 10, 2008 [1 favorite]

It sounds like you're missing chocolate chip cookies.

But really, food cravings are not entirely rational, and for something like Chocolate Chip cookies it's probably just caused by 'ordinary' hunger. If you started eating them a lot you would probably start being interested in other types of sweets, like brownies, or ice cream or chocolate bars.
posted by delmoi at 10:43 AM on June 10, 2008

Oh, so the to-do might therefore be to look into serotonin levels, diabetes, anemia, etc.
posted by Askr at 10:45 AM on June 10, 2008

Comfort.
posted by ms.v. at 10:49 AM on June 10, 2008

I just happen to have an empty bag of cookies in the trash (18 count, 1.31 lb- happy that I ate them over the course of a week, instead of an afternoon), so I can check the ingredients.
Looks like the vitamin in question is sugar.

My own experience is I guess typical addictive behavior. I have one, it tastes real good, so I'll have another. Repeat.

When I'm being good, which is most of the time now, I don't have stuff like this around, because I have almost no self control when it comes to cookies, cake, and ice cream. If I am exercising, it means I'm in control mode and am less likely to gobble cookies.
posted by MtDewd at 10:50 AM on June 10, 2008

Are you drinking something with a lot of salt (Gatorade, Powerade, ?????ade) after your workouts? I find myself sometimes wanting chocolate when what my tongue wants a little bit of sugar and some salt, but also bitterness, too.

I'm about to make a particularly weird suggestion based on experience. If I want to reduce chocolate cravings, I buy baker's unsweetened chocolate in the box of eight or ten squares. Not the semi-sweetened type, we're talking ghastly, bitter chocolate. Break off a square. Cut that into fourths. Chew one of these small pieces. Yes, it is horrible. Chew it anyway. This will take a while. Drink some water. Chew, then swallow. You will come to enjoy this in a perverse fashion. When you are ready for the next level of suffering, change out the water for some warm Mendota Springs Sparkling Mineral water. Lime-flavored.

I'm not sure if I am getting whatever chocolate ingredient I crave, sans all of the waxy crap, HFCS, and other filler that goes into chocolate, or it's pure operant conditioning, but it stills any desire for chocolate I might have for a while.
posted by adipocere at 10:56 AM on June 10, 2008

Reading this question makes me want chocolate chip cookies.

Have you tried experimenting with (when you are having this craving) eating a non-chocolate chip cookie (like an oatmeal cookie, or whatever), and with eating a piece of a really nice dark chocolate bar? That will give you a sense of whether you are craving the chocolate, or the fat/sugar/carby-goodness of a cookie. So I vote for extensive self-experimentation, and am unselfishly willing to volunteer to help eat the cookies and chocolate you will need for the experiment.
posted by Forktine at 11:04 AM on June 10, 2008

Forktine, it's definitely chocolate chip cookies, though I can eat all variations of chocolates and sweets.

adipocere, I am drinking gatorade sometimes, but a considerable amount of water too, and I don't find gatorade to be salty at all. Plus it's really when I'm not working out and not drinking gatorade that I really really want the cookies.

ook, I wish I could work out every single day long enough to stay the cravings. But I do have to do other things, work, study, solve problems, etc, so I simply can't work out or exercise every single day in a sufficient way that it stays the cravings. Significant exercise will do it. 10 minutes won't. Injuries have been issues also.

I just thought I'd ask to see if anyone had this issue and took a supplement (vitamin or something) that took care of it. I'd think it was something related to comfort or love if this had just started, but this has gone on for years and years, and my life has been normal, up and down and the cravings are there no matter what, pretty much.

I guess it could be worse, I could be addicted to alcohol or something.
posted by cashman at 11:20 AM on June 10, 2008

According to this chart of food cravings, you might be craving magnesium. Do you take a daily vitamin? Is it just chocolate chip cookies, or are you satisfied by a bit of chocolate?
posted by hooray at 11:35 AM on June 10, 2008 [2 favorites]

It would help to know: do you have blue fur?
posted by prefpara at 11:45 AM on June 10, 2008 [54 favorites]

Uh oh...what meme did I mistakenly stumble into?
posted by cashman at 12:04 PM on June 10, 2008

Oh, I'm stupid. OM NOM NOM.
posted by cashman at 12:24 PM on June 10, 2008

I'll look into it, hooray. I don't take vitamins currently, but I'll try eating some cashews and peanuts and sunflower seeds, and see if that knocks the cravings back a bit.
posted by cashman at 12:25 PM on June 10, 2008

Try some cacao nibs, perhaps? Along the lines of adipocere's "kill the chocolate craving" but not so, er, unpleasant, they've got an intense, liquor-y flavour that is something of an acquired taste for most people, but I've learned to find enjoyable. I've found they're strong enough to satiate a chocolate craving, unless it's one of those mental things where I just WANT chocolate/cookies/brownies/etc., psychologically, and nothing but mental training changes it.

Granted, this doesn't answer your "deficiency" question, but perhaps it's a way to treat the symptom?
posted by the luke parker fiasco at 12:34 PM on June 10, 2008

What am I missing in my diet that I crave Chocolate Chip cookies all the time?

Um -- nothing? Doesn't everyone crave chocolate chip cookies all the time?
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 12:39 PM on June 10, 2008 [7 favorites]

What kind of chocolate cookie? That might help to know as well.

Also, chocolate chip cookies are not actually that unhealthy if you make them yourself. You can use [more] whole wheat flour and chocolate (dark) is very good for you. 30 per day is too much but if you have a couple every day that will be perfectly fine.

I would recommend making them for yourself if you aren't already. This will have a few benefits:

1. Eventually, you will be awesome at making chocolate chip cookies
2. You'll be able to control the ingredients, which will allow you to not only make them healthier but perhaps also pinpoint the source of craving
3. Cookies you make yourself will probably have a richer flavor, so you will need to eat fewer of them, and finally
4. if you have to bake them yourself before you can eat them, you'll probably cut your consumption way down

By the way, chocolate chip cookies are wonderful with nuts, so you could try adding the cashews, peanuts, etc to the cookies if that's what you're really needing them.

I guess I come off on this comment as very pro-cookie.
posted by Deathalicious at 12:39 PM on June 10, 2008 [1 favorite]

If you do go the chocolate nibs route, you should check out your local Latin-American grocery store (assuming there is one) before buying nibs from a health food store or online. Nibs are very expensive for some reason, but in Latin America grocery stores you can sometimes find Cacao beans for a very cheap price (something like $2 for a quarter pound bag).
posted by Deathalicious at 12:42 PM on June 10, 2008

What kind of chocolate cookie?

Any kind. The standard cookie with chocolate chips in it. No particular brand, though I obviously prefer fresher and better. The kind with dough pre-made, made from scratch, the famous store bought ones in the blue package, famous amos, generic grocery store brands - it pretty much is across the board. Except the ones at subway and quiznos. Those chocolate chip cookies (not the double chocolate ones, I like those at subway and quiznos) make me sick, oddly enough.

Doesn't everyone crave chocolate chip cookies all the time?

Do you eat 30 or more chocolate chip cookies in a day, every week or two? I do it and I think it's excessive. It's not a passing thought, it's an intense desire much of the time.

By the way, chocolate chip cookies are wonderful with nuts, so you could try adding the cashews, peanuts, etc to the cookies if that's what you're really needing them.

I think I'll avoid that, because I'm trying to stop eating the chocolate chip cookies.
posted by cashman at 12:53 PM on June 10, 2008

30 or more chocolate chip cookies in a day, every week or two

This works out to 2-4 cookies a day. That's not a lot at all. It may seem excessive, because you're binging on a ton of cookies at a time, but spread out over one or two weeks, it's totally within reasonable bounds.
posted by prefpara at 12:59 PM on June 10, 2008

There isn't reliable evidence that cravings work this way for human beings. It's a comforting thought, but kind of fantastic, when you explore it further. To put it another way: what do you think is in chocolate chip cookies but in no other food that would make you crave cookies? The answer, of course, is nothing. Any single ingredient, and most combinations of ingredients, are more densely present in other food sources, which obviates the idea that a physical lack of vitamins is causing the craving.
posted by OmieWise at 1:01 PM on June 10, 2008

This works out to 2-4 cookies a day.

30 is just the worst I do (and because that's typically the maximum amount of cookies that either come in a package, or that can be consumed without it just being disgusting). The other days I have 3 or 4. It's an addiction. I wouldn't have bothered with this if it wasn't a constant thing - eating cookies, thinking about eating cookies.

what do you think is in chocolate chip cookies but in no other food that would make you crave cookies?

Well my diet isn't that varied - it's not like I'm eating all other possible foods. I really do appreciate all the thoughts and suggestions though. I think this is the last diet related question I'm going to ask, and I'm just going to accept that I have a crazy stomach and just give it what it wants, within reason.
posted by cashman at 1:13 PM on June 10, 2008

I also get mad cravings for chocolate chip cookies --- to the point that I'll drive to the store at 3:00 am, buy a bag of the Pepperidge Farms, and wolf them down when I get home. One thing I'm wary of (since my mother was just diagnosed with Type II diabetes) is that an intense craving for carbs is often associated with pre-diabetes. It's probably worth a trip to the doctor to get tested.

Then again, maybe you just really like cookies.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 1:24 PM on June 10, 2008

you can have a normal life and be a normal person, so to speak, and still have an unmet need you fill with cookies. we have constant access to whatever we want, so it's easy to meet needs unrelated to hunger with food. if you changed out cc cookies for coffee/soda/chai/whatever, you'd have 95% of us pegged. are you sure it's not psychological? do you usually eat them when you are tired after work, before an outing, when you are upset or bored or tired, when you want to relax? Is there a pattern? Or if the answer is "always" maybe it's just become your catch-all instead of alcohol (as you said) or cigarrettes/caffiene/etc.... if you are really obsessed/addicted as you say, you have led yourself to believe that you cannot function or be happy without them. Logically, this is not true. Addictions are hard to change and only working to make new habits will work in the long run. Maybe give them up for a month to explore what's really going on?
posted by allthingsbright at 2:05 PM on June 10, 2008

Nth-ing that this is a psychological thing, not a biological thing.

Weight Watchers do reasonably healthy chocolate chip cookies. They're 97kcal for two, they come sub-packaged into plastic packets of two, so you don't have to eat the whole box before they get stale. Here in the UK you can get them in most big supermarkets, but they seem to exist in the US too.

You might find it easier to ration yourself than give up entirely.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 2:42 PM on June 10, 2008

Well my diet isn't that varied - it's not like I'm eating all other possible foods.

Granted, but that's part of my point. If there's a better source for [nutrient X], why aren't you craving that?
posted by OmieWise at 4:55 PM on June 10, 2008

On the basis of your very interesting question about your difficulties with milk, I think you are craving a particular substance in chocolate: oxalate.

I think you did indeed develop milk-alkali syndrome (your link says merely that it can be asymptomatic):

milk-alkali syndrome, also called Burnett's syndrome in honour of the American physician, who first described it, is characterized by hypercalcemia caused by repeated ingestion of calcium and absorbable alkali (such as calcium carbonate, or milk and sodium bicarbonate)....

Effects due to hypercalcemia may be remembered by bones, stones, groans and psychiatric undertones. This means an increased risk of Kidney stones, bone fractures, anorexia, vomiting, constipation and a host of psychiatric effects, including weakness, fatigue and altered mental status.

As a result of this episode of hypercalcemia (too much calcium in your blood), your body could have become hypersensitized to too much calcium, I am imagining.

And the oxalate in chocolate can limit the absorption of calcium:

Chocolate contains oxalate — a naturally occurring compound in cocoa beans — which can inhibit the absorption of calcium. Calcium binds to oxalate in your intestines, limiting its absorption into your bloodstream.

So I would say you are craving chocolate because it helps you keep the level of calcium in your blood down, despite that you continue to eat foods-- such as cheese-- which are rich sources of calcium.

Why, then, does exercise kill the craving? Exercise is one of the reccommended treatments for hypercalcemia, but I think in your case it works by helping acidify your stomach. There is an enzyme in your stomach, carbonic anhydrase, which promotes the secretion of stomach acid by absorbing carbon dioxide from your bloodstream, and increased stomach acid also seems to limit the absorption of calcium from food. Exercise makes for more CO2 in your blood, thereby facilitating this.

Omiewise has a good point, however. There are other sources of oxalate, though I'd say chocolate is a lot more likely to inspire craving than spinach or pickled beets.

I would certainly test this idea by seeing if either one of those foods or others reduce your chocolate cravings.

I would also make an appointment with an endocrinologist to assess any problems I might have in my calcium metabolism, if I were you.
posted by jamjam at 8:35 PM on June 10, 2008 [1 favorite]

Oops, screwed up the link to the table of foods and their oxalate content.
posted by jamjam at 8:40 PM on June 10, 2008

Holy crap, jamjam, are you part of a team of young doctors who busily suss out weird health-issues while under the watchful eye of an embittered maverick doctor? Or are you the maverick doctor?
posted by zoomorphic at 8:35 AM on June 11, 2008

I have what the good Dr. Johnson might have called an enthusiasm for physiology.

Cashman did the heavy lifting here himself, however, by figuring out that he might have had Milk-Alkali Syndrome, which I had never heard of.
posted by jamjam at 3:26 PM on June 11, 2008

I think the key is finding something that's enjoyable enough to satisfy the craving, but boring enough that you won't actually get excited about eating it. For me this is digestive biscuits (not the chocolate coated kind which are really habit forming). They are certainly not health food, but I can comfortably keep a stash at home and at work with no fear of overeating - they just aren't all that interesting, due to their fiber content and lack of intense sweetness.
posted by tomcooke at 5:52 AM on June 12, 2008

You could be a sugar addict. Try going cold turkey for four days, having no CCCs, no sweets, no bread or other refined carbs. If this drives you increasingly crazy, but, but, at the end of it, you find you can actually think rationally about eating, without the crazy-making OMIGOD I NEED A COOKIE in your head, then you are.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 7:59 AM on June 12, 2008

I'm still addicted, but trying to get to the endocrinologist because I think jamjam has figured it out. As soon as I can get to the doctor, hopefully this will all end. My current addiction is the 6-packs of cookies you can get at Target in the bakery. I've been getting periodic exercise which does what it typically does. I got a memail to update this so I'm going to take that as a sign to make an appointment today to get to the doctor. Thanks to the mailer.
posted by cashman at 7:09 AM on August 18, 2008

Coverage issues are causing delays - the endocrinologist I found won't do evaluations - I need to see a doctor and get diagnosed by them, then referred specifically for that issue. Which poses some logistical issues that I'm still figuring my way out of. I'll post when I can actually get into the doctor.
posted by cashman at 6:14 AM on September 2, 2008