Before my easy four miler this morning I had a few handfuls of Shredded Oats. I love this cereal, but it’s too easy for me to grab handfuls throughout the day without realizing how they’re adding up (more on this below).
When I got back I couldn’t decide on breakfast. I have a lot of stuff I need to eat before we move, but what I really wanted was the one thing I don’t have – a strawberry smoothie. Oh well. I opted for a yogurt bowl with a Vitatop and Pepita Sun Seed Butter.
*I also just cut a watermelon and had a bunch of that 🙂
Despite the fact that I’m following Intuitive Eating and have gotten rid of any “forbidden foods”, I still have a history with BED – and some of the scars of that remain in depths of my brain.
While I am relatively normal, I still must find a balance between just listening to my body and remembering that I have a history with disordered eating. Intuitive Eating holds that you should not have any “good” or “bad” foods – and I don’t.
But, I do still have foods that I consider “Trigger Foods”. These are foods that often (but not always) provoke me to overeat and put me in a place I don’t want to be.
I don’t remember what we were talking about, but I mentioned to Ben that my trigger foods are cereal, ice cream and granola bars. He pointed out that we pretty much have 2 out of 3 of those things in our house at all times. True.
I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing – since I don’t label them as “bad” or “forbidden” any longer. But, they still do cause me to go to a place I don’t like.
Still pondering all of this, no conclusions yet…
Stressed? Read: Foods that help with stress.
A week from today I will be posting from California! I still have a list of things to do before I get there, so I better get on it!
We can’t take everything back to CA so we’re trying to sell a few things on craigslist. Let me know if you are in desperate need of an aquarium with fish or dining table and chairs 🙂
Make today a great day!
Hey Monica! Have been reading your blog for a little while now and love it! Loved this about stress eating and what to eat – I need a little less stress in my own life, too. Don’t we all! : )
Maria
kaleandcupcakes.wordpress.com
cereal, trail mix and chocolate chips are huge trigger foods for me; i have all of them in my apt. but i’m learning to allow myself them when i want…because like you, otherwise i go into that bad place you speak of. we don’t want to be there.
Is it possible to keep trigger foods in your house, just in very small quantities? Granola bars are a big one for me too, and I used to have a HUGE stash…and that was just asking for a binge! Now I only buy 2-3 each week, and that helps. It also helps me savor and enjoy them more too!
Chocolate is dangerous to have at my house. Ice cream, brownies…I tried to get 100 calorie chocolate ice cream bars but then I just ended up eating 2 or 3 of them.
I LOVE your blog, by the way. It’s so nice to find other people like myself out there!!
My trigger food is dumplings. When I got out to chinese, I eat my weight in dumplings.
Hi Monica.
I am a long time reader but have never commented (except for a giveaway maybe). Anyway, I read this and I wanted to let you know that I completely understand what you mean about those things being trigger foods for you. Those are the 3 things that trigger me too (oh and chocolate).
This past year, I told my husband I was going to stop buying those things…and you know what? I did! For the most part. Now I only partake if they are brought into my house by friends for a get together or if I make them on my own (because if I have to make the ice cream it is usually frozen banana kind or it takes so long I appreciate it a lot more and eat it slower).
I don’t know if this will help you. It helped me because I realized that allowing myself that little amount of control to keep that food out of my house has empowered me to not let it overpower me when I can have it (like at my mom’s or a friend’s place).
Let me know what you think. (Or anyone else for that matter)
~Rachel
im the same way. while i hate to mark foods as “bad” or “off limits”~ some foods cause me to binge and just go crazy. cereal is definitely in that category!
That’s quite a catch 22. If they’re not forbidden, then you should be able to have them in the house and eat them when you want them, but if they’re trigger foods (which I definitely have as well), you’re tempting yourself by having them in the house. Cereal and ice cream are my triggers too. I don’t keep them in the house because I’ve never quite figured this out for myself. The funny thing is, if my fiance buys ice cream for himself, I see it as off limits. Good luck figuring this out! I’d love to read about it if you do. 🙂
Ice cream is a major trigger food for me. A little is just not enough! We don’t keep it in the house, but it takes about five minutes to drive and get it, so sometimes I still get some.
I don’t want to label it as “bad”, but I also don’t want to eat so much of it. I am actually going through it right now, as I just had some last night that was definitely more than I needed.
It actually helps knowing I’m not alone.
I don’t keep trigger foods in the house. I have an all or nothing mindset so I can’t just eat a bowl of icecream, I will eat the whole carton. I am still working on this with my “cheat days”. I seem to binge and then feel really horrible afterwards. I guess it’s a learning process.
Appreciate your sharing that with us, I know it’s tough to talk about. Cereal is definitely a trigger as is chips or for me, anything sweet, ANYTHING. If I do have cereal I typically just put a little with yogurt and fruit so that I am full after. That why I can still have cereal but not find myself at the bottom of the bag.
I tend to have very specific trigger foods: Ice cream (sometimes), sweets, baked cheetos, coke
My one trigger food is nut butter. I don’t want to NOT have it in the house because then I think I’ve labeled one of my favorite foods as “bad” and I don’t think that’s healthy. Instead I just don’t buy my favorite brand. For some reason I am wayyy less tempted to eat too much of it when it’s not a brand that I can’t get enough of 🙂
I hear you on trigger foods – If there is any chocolate in my house it gets devoured. I have since learned that I don’t keep those foods in my house because I am more tempted to eat them. If I really want the treat, I will physically go to the store and by it. By the time I get to the store the urge is usually gone, if it’s not then I get the treat and be done with it. Good luck on your moving!
Chips are a huge trigger food for me, and I used to buy them all of the time because I considered them my “treat” instead of something like ice cream. Then I continually kept going overboard on them and decided I couldn’t keep them around. Now I buy crackers… So we’ll see how that goes…
Carbs in all their glory are trigger foods. The worst is that I usualy tend to eat something else but then the craving is so powerful that I indulge …. which means 2 snacks 🙁
chips and salsa, pizza, and cereal are all major trigger foods for me. I just can’t stop once I start! I try to not have the things in the house as much and only eat them when I’m out so that it’s less of a problem.
Cereal is a huge trigger food for me! Lately I can’t leave the kitchen without grabbing some… it’s a horrible habit! Let me know if you find a cure!