I'm from New Orleans, and I make red beans and rice pretty regularly. One of the traditional accompaniments is grilled smoked sausage, aka polska keilbasa.

I've tried the turkey low fat versions and they are disgusting.

The real thing seems to make all of my common sense and self control fly out the window. I aced myself out of my favorite evening snack because I doubled down on that sausage when I was cooking dinner... and then wanted more! Thank god the last 1/2 lb was still frozen and not cooked.

What's up with our brains sometimes? It's gotta be some cave-man brain thing with the seared fat.

I think I'm going to have a bit of very high quality tasso ham sent up from a southeast Louisiana charcuterie, and use that to season my beans, and never buy smoked sausage again.

But I know what I want for the 4th of July BBQ! I'm saving up my calories that week! LOL!

I love love love smoked sausage. So glad I didn't try the turkey low fat ones....I am saving up all my extra calories for Memorial Day weekend (falls on my b-day this year)

I learned to make red beans and rice with chorizo. In fact, we had leftovers until just the day before yesterday. Good food is never anything you can eat in large doses. (Except fruits and veggies, I say quickly!)
I am a calorie counter, so when I made the big fat pot of red beans and rice, I saved some calories out of lunch, and measured SUPER carefully. And I enjoyed all 3 bites! Hah!

I don't know what it is. I can use the turkey sausage in some recipes, but for the most part, I'd rather have 2 pieces of the good stuff than 10 of that to-furkey crap. I just control my sodium, calories and saturated fat for the rest of the day.

The food that makes me crazy is Cheezits. I have 0 self control. Even the reduced fat kind has a serving size of 29 crackers for 130 calories. I cannot stop at 29, so Cheezits are not allowed in my house. The last time I bought them, I ate the whole 10oz box! that was like 1200 calories!! It was 2 weeks ago and I am still ashamed about my lack of self control. Happily, that seems to be the only food I do that with!

Potato chips make me go really crazy! Especially kettle cooked chips. I haven't had a single potato chip since January 4, 2010. I don't trust myself yet.

I go nuts over home made lasagna, so I just do not make it anymore. I can ignore cake, cookies any kind of sweet. I can ignore almost any food if I just keep my mind on my goal, but all I need is a whiff of the smell of cooking lasagna and I become Garfield!

My husband loves smoked sausage, but he does not ask for it often because he is cutting back as well and he would rather go without than ruin a favorite food by substituting a so/so healthy version such as the turkey smoked sausage. He gets derailed off eating healthy when I mess with his favorite foods. Instead of changing ingredients he would rather have half portions.

potato chips definitely, it's so easy to justify just having one chip, but then soon as i've had that one bite i want more and all **** breaks loose. I do buy the 140kcal lays chips or sunchips every now and then but i have to make sure it's just the one pack. Multipacks or the family size bags are allowed nowhere near me. I had a friend who left over some pringles by accident the other day and I couldn't stop thinking about them. Had to throw them out eventually and ran to the store to get a single pack of lays. jeez

I go crazy over peanut butter, m&m's, mac n cheese, Top of the Tator, and Munchies snack mix. PB is the only one I will keep in the house, but I still sometimes have accidents when it is around. Yum... I shouldn't even be thinking about it because I bought a brand new jar yesterday.

My trigger foods is anything with sugar. For some reason it triggers something in my brain and I cannot stop with that I have to eat anything i think i am missing(LOL). So I try and avoid desserts

nuts. I could literally eat them all day.

For me it's the baked goods; cookies, cakes, pies, cobblers...you get the idea. I refuse to bake cookies or brownies anymore because I do not trust my self control. Without those temptations it makes watching my diet much easier.

Do you think trigger foods ease over time (after long term weight loss) or will they always be problems we need to avoid?

Pizza. I can eat a whole pie without even trying. Now I go for Hot Pockets and that kills the craving.

my weakness is fast food cheeseburgers and fries. I also we attack anything with marshmallows in it,ugh.

I have a problem with meat. Steak, pork, chicken and even fish. I have to be careful and cook just what we plan to eat so I won't be tempted to go back for seconds.

I wish I could find some hard science on the psychology/brain chemistry of these food craving/addiction episodes! It seems we all have something that triggers it. So you know it has to be something that's built into our brains.

I would also like to know if it lessens over time or if it's there for the rest of your life?