Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cravings

Help me stem the urge to nosh.

Deathalicious — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:16:58 -0800

I am a taste addict. Is there anything I can do to kick this habit? Okay, so this is kind of strange. I pretty much always want to eat, not because I'm hungry, but because I like the experience of having something to taste, pretty much constantly. Even when I'm quite full I still have the urge to eat simply because I have a desire for flavors and/or mouthfeel. It's generally really salty or sweet flavors that I have a hunkering for.

Right now I have a relatively good metabolism, but one day when that's slowed down this could really kick me in the tush. Also, loads of salt and/or sugar can't be great for me.

I know that I could, for example, sip tea sweetened with something like licorice or stevia, which at least wouldn't have calories in it, but ultimately I'd rather be free from this unending urge to nibble on something which seems totally divorced from hunger on my part.

Any suggestions?

Tonkotsu Ramen search: calling all London ramen fans!

0bvious — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 03:59:36 -0800

Ramen Filter: I live in London. I desperately crave tonkotsu ramen, the pork-based variety popular in Japan's Kyushu region (sometimes known as Hakata ramen). I have found NOWHERE in the UK that makes or sells it. Have I missed somewhere? Is there anywhere online I can buy Tonkotsu soup stock? Help! I can get shoyu, miso and chicken based ramen real easy in London, but not Tonkotsu.

I have found recipes that teach you how to make it, but I live with vegetarians who wouldn't take too kindly to a house smelling of pork offal.

How can I fill my tonkotsu void?! Why has this perfect food source not made it overseas yet?

Beware the fourth day

LN — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 05:56:19 -0800

Help me get past day three of my diet. I've recently begun dieting (the No-S diet, for those interested). This is not the first diet I've been on, unfortunately. I've noticed over time the same thing happens again and again. I'm as good as gold for the first three days of a diet, but by the fourth day, I'm so overcome with cravings that I'm ready to eat the four walls and floorohmygodimhungry OM NOM NOM

My rational self comes to a bit later, and I'm mortified with myself for having "lost it" so early on in the diet. It's really rather frustrating.

Now, the logical part of my brain knows that the cravings on the fourth day are just my body getting down to the nitty gritty of burning stored energy reserves. Rational Me knows that it's all just a game of wills, and that soldiering through it is the only way. But when that fourth day hits, no willpower in the world seems sufficient to stave off the overwhelming cravings. And it's not like I'm starving myself; I estimate I'm consuming somewhere in the vincinity of 1500 to 1700 calories a day.

There are loads of Mefites out there who've dieted and lost weight, and I'm willing to bet at least some of you have had to deal with this. What tips or suggestions can you provide to help me get past the fourth day?

Ah cannae' stop eatin'!!

penciltopper — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:00:23 -0800

I'll go a long time between meals, then overeat, then continue to snack until I'm sick and dazed. What's happening? Let's say on a given day I:
Have a buttered bagel, some juice, and some tea for breakfast at 8am.
Work or play through the day, vaguely aware that I should stop to eat, but I'm too busy or whatever. Sometimes I'll smoke cigs instead of eating.
Then I get home at 9pm, finally realize that I'm hollow inside but am too tired to cook, and proceed to eat an entire pizza. Or a whole box of cornflakes with a half-gallon of whole milk.
Then when I'm done with that, the act of eating has triggerered some poorly controlled impulse and I continue to eat even though I'm obviously full already.
Sometimes instead of lunch it will be skipping dinner the night before - and then eating the Lumberjack breakfast followed by whatever else I can continue to graze on; soon I'm full as a tick and end up lethargic and unproductive for the rest of the day. And when it finally subsides, I'm not hungry for the next 12-14 hours or so, but when I do eat again, it starts all over.

It's not belly-hunger, when you know you need fuel; it's more of a mouth-hunger/impulse to taste and chew. The overeating is most often of something I really like to eat, and just can't stop until it's all gone (see entire Chicago-style pizza). Then even though I've just consumed several pounds of food, 15, 30, 60 minutes later I'm back in the kitchen eating a box of crackers to satisfy my need to chomp with my mouth. So far the only effective staving-off mechanisms I've discovered involve alternating chain-smoking and eating entire packs of gum. I've considered a rawhide chew toy; that's how strong the impulse to chomp and NOM is.

This has been going on for months and I somehow haven't gained any weight (6'2, maybe 190-200lbs). Yay? But I worry that I'm giving myself an eating disorder or am sugar-spiking my way to diabetes or something. I know I should be eating sensible portions spaced out across the day; but sometimes the schedule just doesn't allow it. And once I do this, I get on a roll similar to when you stay up too late for a couple nights and it takes a week to get back to your regular sleep/wake schedule.

What's going on here? Do I just need to be more disciplined and quit doing this to myself, or is this a sign of some metabolic condition I should be aware of? I have noticed that "too-big meal" is generally high-protein and high-fat, followed by snack cravings that alternate between sugary and salty.

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. But also bacon?

slow graffiti — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:48:37 -0800

Should I listen to my cravings for high-calorie food? If weight loss is not a concern, and I eat healthy food and still want bacon, should I have the bacon, too? I've been trying to incorporate healthier things into my diet along the lines of In Defense of Food- i.e. eat [real] food, mostly plants. I do a pretty good job of it about 70% of the time. However, I still crave "junk food" regularly; it's a very specific mood where I intensely want something that's starchy/sweet/fatty, basically the opposite of a raw vegetable, and usually I cave to the impulse. I've seen this old post asking if cravings mean anything, and I'm wondering the same thing, but I'm not like that poster, or most Americans for that matter- I don't need to lose weight. I'm already naturally skinny and losing weight would be bad (would push me toward the underweight side of the BMI scale). By extension I've never counted calories in my life. I eat whenever I'm hungry, and my desire to eat healthier things is mostly for cardiac benefit and ecological soundness. I rarely eat to the point of feeling really full, and I'm completely omnivorous, moderately active (no intense sports/exercise mania).

So how much should I listen to my cravings for "bad" food? Should I pass it all off to junk food addiction and tell myself to have a carrot instead, or are the cravings a way of telling me I need the more high calorie food (in moderation) along with the healthier stuff?

i wanna bacon double chocolate butter cake in my tummy all winter long!

twistofrhyme — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 22:49:50 -0800

stop me from fattening up for the winter. it's cold and dark outside, but it's warm and creamy inside.
i've spent the last week eating like a bear about to hibernate. big chunks of cheese, chocolate, buttery toast, pudding, an entire package of cookie dough, several boxes of sugary cereal. and for the past 3 days, i've been fantasizing about making and eating an entire tray of fudge. this cannot go on.

i know i shouldn't buy this stuff- i usually don't- but right now, the real problem is how bad i WANT it. i bought some healthy treats, like melon & pomegranates, to snack on instead, and i end up eating those, and then finding some candy. this is laughable. i'm like a bear with one hand in the honey pot. i've put on 3 pounds in the past 10 days. my internal monologue has turned into "i wanna eat a chocolate piggy in my tummy here!" usually i crave junk food in healthy quantities- i'll buy some and it lasts all week- so this is kind of new to me, and it has to stop, stat. help me, please!

what should i do to kill the cravings? what should i eat instead to satisfy them?

How to avoid weight-loss cravings?

deeper red — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 03:28:40 -0800

Dietfilter: How do YOU deal with cravings? I love bread to the point of addiction. Sometimes I get cravings for chocolate too, or other sugary things. I'm about to go on a weight-loss diet (I'm vegetarian, borderline vegan, by the way). I'm cutting out bread because even having it in the house is a bad thing. I'll scoff it all. In my case, cold turkey is the only way to go.

From past experience I know that the longing for bread can be pretty bad. But I also know that it's just a form of habit, or perhaps genuine addiction, and it can be broken. The trouble is that I don't know how, and my previous attempts have been largely unsuccessful. I even tried hypnotherapy at one point, and that was effective for about two weeks.

So please tell me how YOU deal with similar cravings.

Polite note: I know we all have opinions on this but I really am looking for practical advice from people who have been through this. Thanks.

Supplement (or other solution) for PMS cravings?

mintchip — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 19:35:18 -0800

Supplement (or other solution) for PMS cravings? I am a slim woman, but every single month I get such intense PMS that I go on what is basically a 10- to 14-day binge where I eat approximately double of what I normally eat. I gain about 4 to 5 pounds during this time (this always drop off when my period comes).

The weight gain and overeating, which tend to make me feel really sluggish and unnattractive, are irksome. I can't help but wonder if I'd lose 5 or 10 pounds if I didn't have PMS. Also, I have a strong history of diabetes in my family so I worry about the effects of overeating (even though I'm thin).

My cravings are not so much cravings for specific foods (although milk products and the grease/carbohydrate combo are always appealing) as they are for large quantities.

What causes this, and is there a supplement or other treatment that might help me overcome the urge to eat so much at this time?

In a jam about what recipe to use!

spotty_dog — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 07:58:48 -0800

Does anyone have any good recipies for making strawberry jam? I am 35 weeks pregnant, and all i can think about today is jam. I am a good cook, if i have a recipe to follow, so am wanting to know if anyone had a good recipe for making strawberry jam.

It has to be a something which will taste delicous on crispy french stick and proper butter....

Think Thin!

Ambrosia Voyeur — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 19:12:49 -0800

Tips and tricks for keeping psyched up during weight loss? Last year, I lost the most substantial amount of weight, 45 pounds, I'd ever shed, over apx. 9 mos., returning to my high school figure. Tragically, disappointingly, I went crazy with weight gain over the past few months, upon encountering some pretty depressing obstacles in my life. I fell hard off the wagon, gaining all but 10 pounds back. My wardrobe situation is dire.

Anyway, I just signed up for new dance classes, and put Weight Watchers meetings on my calendar (although I think I'll keep using my calories burned/consumed spreadsheet on Google Docs rather than adhering to points) and my car broke down so I'll definitely be riding my bike 6 miles to work like I should. I have a gym membership and I like going (though I usually have to chug a diet redbull to get there). I can meal and snack plan brilliantly. I know I can lose the weight, I just bloody did, just learned how to enjoy fitness, but then blew it. (I'll delve into maintenance issues later, and probably in weekly WW meetings.)

Today I got an email from my work, announcing a Biggest Loser contest. Well! I happen to be the most overweight employee as well as the most competitive. I am in it to win it!

What are some good ways to keep my attitude on track, to distract myself from my displeasure over how I am or soothe my constant food desires and keep my eyes on the prize? I'm a typical social/emotional/bored eater. I just feel like I forget to make good decisions sometimes, how to remember??

What are your healthy alternatives for your guilty pleasures?

WCityMike — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:04:15 -0800

What healthy -- or at healthier -- alternatives do you eat to fulfill cravings for emphatically unhealthy food? Clarification and examples inside. I am on a path towards an end goal of losing a considerable amount of weight, and basically, a lot of the places I've already found success have been where I've successfully substituted one food for another, while still concentrating on fulfilling the craving. I took a food quiz that indicated that my eating problems were very sense-based, so I've tried to concentrate on things that have strong flavors.

An example: instead of Ben & Jerry's Heath Bar Crunch, I've found that the very tart taste of a Edy's Whole Fruit lemonade bar is strong enough to fulfill the "cold, strong flavor" craving that I often have after dinner. Or, instead of a king-sized Snickers bar, I might have a piece of Life Savers Chocolate and Caramel hard candy, or maybe a small piece of Dove dark chocolate. (No, this isn't a Pepsi Blue post, I'm just giving examples of what I've used.) For some people, Triscuit pizzas might fulfill the pizza desire. And so on.

Basically, though, what I'm asking is: what successful substitutions have you found that fulfill your cravings for something emphatically unhealthy? If you have Craving X, and Product A that fulfills that craving is too high calorie, high fat, whatever, what is your Product B that manages to (happily?) fulfill the urge? Product B doesn't necessarily have to be healthy, in and of itself, it just has to be healthier. For example, in the example above, gorging on the hard candy wouldn't be healthy at all ... but two hard candies is going to be a hell of a lot less calories than a king-sized Snickers bar. Get my drift?

Ask MeFi braintrust, don't fail me now! ;-)

How do I stop loving food?

[insert clever name here] — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 11:13:15 -0800

I can't stop eating and my metabolism has come to a screeching halt. I am a tiny person. All my life I've also been a high metabolism skinny person that could eat anything I wanted. A few years ago, my metabolism started to slow down and I started to gain weight. Then I got a high energy job that got my metabolism back to "normal" and I was fitting into my old pants again.

Then I went back to an office job, and that's where the trouble began. I've been steadly gaining weight for the past 8 or so months. I enjoy eating, and I lack any willpower what-so-ever. I often eat just because I think something would taste good.

I sort of got things under control a couple months ago and dropped 5 pounds. But now I gained it back again + another 10 pounds.

I seem to be binging like mad the last six weeks. I am not eating when I'm hungry, just when the urge hits me. Part of it is that I think I need to be chewing something all the time. I tried gum but that didn't help. I tried not stocking the food, but I just drive to the store to get it. I repeat, I have no will power.

Last year at this time I was approximately 30 pounds lighter than I am now. I haven't a clue what to do about it.

Cravings

invisible ink — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 16:17:19 -0800

Ladies- what yummy foods do you crave when it's that time of the month? Also, how do you keep yourself from wolfing down every last source of it in your kitchen? Thanks in advance to everyone for their comments!