Cookies are evil--I'm calling it.
 

Until now I've had only two foods on my 'forbidden' list, and I do pretty well avoiding them most of the time because they are very specific. Reese's Peanut Butter cups and Crunchy Cheetos. They are only forbidden for me because I can't stop for whatever reason, and will go into a huge binge if I start and portions are not severely limited. While I don't seek out similar foods like a Snickers bar or potato chips, they don't have a similar effect on me and I can stop after a reasonable amount. There are a long list of other foods I avoid because I tend to overdo, but again, it isn't the same no-holds-barred, binge effect. So the short list.

After looking at my food logs, doing some soul searching, I've come to the conclusion that I have a similar problem with cookies. This one is harder because it isn't as specific, but in particular, I'm having issues with shortbread and sugar cookies. So reluctantly, I'm adding them to my forbidden list. I'm not having problems with similar foods like breakfast or granola bars, muffins, sweet breads, just the cookies. I have to figure out now if I can have other kinds of cookies in moderation, or if all cookies just get banned.

Sniff. Bye bye cookies. I'll miss you. But it really is for the best. Sigh.

Anne

Hail fellow Cookie Monster! :lol: Good for you for figuring out your triggers!

I don't do 'moderate' cookies either, so just don't do 'em at all. But - you really won't miss them after a while. And it beats fighting cravings and binges any day of the week.

Now I have to figure out how to bake a dozen kinds for Christmas without tasting. :devil:

My definate trigger is potato crisps, im not sure why but they always have been and always will be. I adore savories, i can take or leave chocolate, but some of my more spectacular binges saw me binge on roasted peanuts, potato chips, honey roasted cashew nuts so maybe i should say nuts and potato chips! I know that some nuts have good fats in them and are good for you, but i just need to steer totally clear of all of them.

Good for you on recognising your trigger and adding it too your list. Its hard when we make some foods a no go area, but it just has to be done to win the battle.

Cookies have always been a trigger for me. One or two will just not cut it. I keep going back for more. They're convenient, hand held, and not messy. The perfect food! Grab two, head to the computer or TV. Not satisfied? Grab two more. Read the mail. Not satisfied? Grab two more ad nauseum. I could eat a whole package. Therefore, I don't buy them. Crackers can do it to me, too, but only specific ones like Wheat Thins or Cheese Its. Others I can eat a couple with cheese and not go back.

However, I am baking tonight. 6 batches of brownies and other bar cookies. I'll sample them perhaps, but the rest will be donated to the high school's music festival on Saturday. We sell cookies at 50 cents for two. You'd be amazed how people will keep coming back as long as the cookies are homemade! Its a good fundraiser. I'm also planning on making some gingerbread cookies for decorating, but I'm going to give those away, so I'm pretty sure I won't eat any of those!

I can resist store-bought cookies, but my home-made ones are evil for me. I try to limit when I bake them and take them other places. I do use splenda to bake them with, but it doesn't help much, I always over-eat on them.

I haven't had a single potato chip of any kind in 17 months. This is something that I am going to live without. They would be my undoing. Esp. Cheetos.

Cookies are evil. I buy them for my little girl because well.. she likes them. Anyways.. I can avoid at all costs with no problem until TOM.. which is now. I had three cookies last night. Im ok with that, but I think there could have been a better use of 200 cals lol.

I'm with you lilybelle, I can stay away from the store bought, I buy them for my DH. There won't be any cookie baking in my house this Christmas. Bad,Grandma.

I'm with pigginpodgey (now there's a name!), sweets, eh, take them or leave them for the most part, but savory snacks, and especially wheat thins (the reduced fat ones are best) and white cheddar cheese-its, are one my banned list. I've been down the "I'll get a box and divide it up" route - I just eat all the packages! :lol: I love all kinds of crackers, but these two are absolutely banned. My DH loves sweets of all kinds. I do bake for him a couple times a month, but not too often at his request. And he's - um - frugel enough that he won't buy many for himself.

Yep, that sums me up right there. I don't do cookies anymore either. I think I've had maybe 5 or so since I changed my life in July 2004. Not worth it, I hate myself after I eat out of my control.

Potato chips I never cared for one way or another, I haven't had them at all since I changed my life, but mainly because they were easy to give up so why not give them up? No sense eating high calorie junk if I don't love it.

This year I have a girl scout. Sigh. I will need to just not eat one, cause if I eat one, I'll eat them all.

Hmm, cookies aren't such a problem, but I have banned all breakfast cereal and pasta. It either leads to a binge or a very grumpy me who fought off the binge but ain't happy about it. Weird how sometimes it's just easier to skip it than have a taste.

Man, I hear you on Reese's PB Cups and Cheetos. They're at the top of my list, too. I tried the SF version of the PB cups for a while, but they were still too much of a trigger for me. Same goes for Baked Cheetos. :(

I still buy cookies but NEVER in big packages anymore. For the boys, I buy the little 100 calorie cookie packs in different varieties. For me, I only buy South Beach Diet peanut butter cookies that come two to a pack. They're low in sugar and high in fiber and I'm good with two. I definitely have struggled with bingeing in the past, but I've been able to control myself with the individually wrapped servings.

I don't really bake anymore because I can't resist homemade goodies. This year, I'm making Maple Glazed Walnuts for the neighbors (we always exchange food gifts). It's the perfect recipe for me because a walnut will never pass these lips - ick. I won't be tempted in the slightest. :carrot:

Oh, my. Glazed walnuts are a sweet I'll eat too much of. I love walnuts. :)

Pat, if they were Maple Glazed Pecans or Almonds, that'd be a WHOLE different story! :drool:

I haven't eaten girl scout cookies ever since they stopped making them with real girl scouts.

I'm a cookie monster too! I can't have an open packet in the house - an open packet is an empty packet!

Recently DH brought home the tail end of a packet of chocolate digestives that had all melted and stuck together, there were about 4 in the bottom of the packet. He said we could bash them up and put them on ice cream... Well they didn't even get that far since I nibbled a little bit at a time, and a little bit, and another little broken off bit... till... the packet was empty. *sigh* I really can't have an open packet in the house. I don't mind buying them for DH since I send a whole sealed packet with him to work. I can cope by thinking they're HIS but oh lordy, put cookies in front of me....

I was even thinking the other day, if someone asked me to look after an open packet of cookies, and that they'd counted them, and that I wasn't to eat them. Would I be able to do it? Probably not! I'd probably lie and say they miscounted! :lol:

I'm going to stay with Mum and Dad this weekend - the home of the biscuit tin! I'm going to lock it in the shed! :rofl:

:lol3: Ya just had to go there dintcha? :D

Hello, my name is Gina and I'm a cookie-holic......

Actually store bought I can take or leave...homemade? One side or a leg off...:s: I stay away unless the amount available is finite....and small.

Tinned shortbread cookies were the trigger for a 3 month descent into bingeing h#!! for me last year. I haven't really baked in 5 years except for my husband's annual birthday cake (ds wants his from the local VERY GOOD French bakery) and I don't plan to start again. The upside is that my 16 year old son has learned to bake
his own cookies from scratch and even cleans up :o If he makes them, I won't eat them.

Since discovered that I'm gluten sensitive, I've found another reason to stay away from baked goods. I always knew that they bloated me beyond reason and that I ate them beyond reason. Knowing why has really helped my not want them. Now if I could just find a reason to avoid nuts!

Mel

That's me with chocolate. I can eat a smallish chocolate bar and be satisfied. But I can't eat half a big bar, I just have to finish it off.

At the moment I'm struggling. I got given a gorgeous box of chocolates by a client, and I really want to eat them (sensibly). Calorie wise I could eat one or two per day between now and christmas and not have to adjust things too much to cope with it. They would be worth it. But I know that once they're open I won't just eat one or two a day. Absolutely no chance.

I want a mature relationship with that box of chocolates, but I just can't trust myself with them. At the moment they're staying in their sealed box, inside a bag where I can't see them (even though the bag has the name of the shop on it doesn't set me off). I'm trying to think of a way to make myself eat them slowly, but I just can't work it out.

Possible options, Helen:

1. Regift immediately. My recent solution for a package of chocolate mint cookies I got for Christmas from a coworker - I included them in a package for my "adopt an elderly" person for the holidays, hopefully she will appreciate them.
2. Open package, take out 2, immediately take package to coworker and tell her/him they are in charge of distribution. If you want candy, you have to go ask for it (hopefully, they will keep it in a desk drawer you just can't go shamelessly pawing around in). This method worked great for me a few holidays ago when I got a wonderful bag of truffles for Christmas, a friendly coworker helped me eat them in a reasonable fashion (they lasted until Easter IIRC)
3. Bring them with you to a party/meeting/event. I have a very hard time being eating badly in front of an audience. I would only be able to eat 1-2 pieces while "under observation". Share them with other attendees and refuse to take any remainder at the end of the meeting.
4. Open the box, grab some baggies and individually wrap 2 candies per bag. Seal bags snugly (make it kind of a pain to get into). Store out of sight, allow one baggie a day (keeping it out of sight is key for me). This works for me at home with cold cereal (which I adore and would eat way too much if it weren't measured).

Make a promise to yourself that if any of your "mature" options fail and you start to eat more than you want, you will immediately pitch the box/give the rest away.

Ok, it is all cookies and not just sugar and shortbread. The agony! They were so good. :(

I had to make a public declaration in front of 3 people that I was NOT eating any more. And I didn't because I don't want to look like a total lying wuss in front of my co-workers. "Only" 4. Sigh.

I wonder if the cookie detox at the major cookie holiday of the year no less is the reason I've been so irritable lately?

Helen, I like the way you put the 'mature relationship'. Glory has some great suggestions. I'm not sure I have any other good ideas, unless you have any really long runs planned sometime soon. The one bright side of overdoing sweets for me is that I run beautifully the next day. Not exactly mature though. In fact, pretty darn childish.

Anne

I haven't made any cookies yet and the natives are getting restless!

This is my week so far...
 

:whoo: :cookie: :whoo: :cookie: :whoo: :cookie: :whoo: :cookie:

:tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum:
:cbg: :cbg: :cbg: :cbg:

:sorry: :sorry: :sorry: :sorry:

:cookie: :drool: :cookie: :drool: :cookie: :drool: :cookie: :drool:

:nono: :nono: :nono: :nono:

:hun: :dunno: :hun: :dunno:

:kickbutt: :kickbutt: :kickbutt: :kickbutt:

SIL's shortbread, made from a recipe that's old ... and really good. I only had two and coffee cake with cranberries in.

I feel you guys. Sigh. I LOVE cookies.. they're like my trademark. I don't buy store bought because to me they aren't as good as homemade. If I bake them.. agh I could eat the whole pan. I haven't had cookies in a long time though and haven't found myself wanting them.. -phew-. I amazingly don't have a problem with chips or such because I don't find them filling at all. I do like the taste of cheetos, but I rarely have them. Sweets are my big problem and the reason why I gained half my weight back. :(

Hi Pixie! I'm just like you with cookies -- the original Cookie Monster. :devil: They used to be my trademark too, when I'd make 17 kinds at Christmas every year (and eat large quantities of each of the 17 kinds :ink: )

I still bake for DH and holidays, but it's much less often. And it's still a trial for me, but so long as I don't have the first cookie, I'm usually OK and won't eat a dozen.

It's funny, but it seems like people are either "sweets" people or "salty, crunchy" people. You and I are sweets people and chips don't bother us. Others can have cookies in the house and it's nothing, but a bag of Cheetos ... !

I guess it's a case of know your enemy and be prepared. :)

BTW, I still crack up at Anne's post three above this one in the thread. :rofl:

Hello, I'm Heather, and I'm a sweets person. :wave:

I will let myself have a cookie or a brownie out of the house from time to time, but I do best when it's the LAST one on the plate. otherwise-- :drool:

Luckily, I can keep dark chocolate in the house and not go crazy on it!!

I'm fortunate in that I don't have to bake for a lot of events -- so I can keep the temptations out of the house a little easier. But for those of you who bake, are the events you bake for ones that really do require cookies or brownies? Or can you come up with other substitutes? Baking cookies I can't/won't eat sounds like torture to me!!

Ah, DH is lactose intolerant AND picky, so I'm the designated baker. No store-bought substitutions possible. But honestly, I'm so used to saying NO to myself that cookies are just one more NO. I'm OK so long as I don't eat the first one -- and I constantly have to remind myself of that fact!

You know, I'm still have that week in #23 over and over and over again.

Unfortunately I have both the sweet and the salty genes. Sigh.

Anne

Anne, I like the sweet and the salty too. I have a real problem with salt & vinegar chips; I do a terrible job of being moderate with them. Once chips are in the house, I have a very hard time staying away from them.

But I really love home-baked goods in a deep, passionate and perhaps slightly less compulsive way. I love to bake, too. I actually believe that chocolately baked goods are at least half the reason I got fat in the first place (the other half being an excessive dependence on rice, pasta and potatoes as the basis of my meals). We'd bake cookies or brownies in the evenings all the time, and eat three washed down with big glasses of milk. I calculated the calories in my favorite choc-chip cookies once--something like 350 calories apiece! 1050 cals in cookies right before bed is not, it turns out, good for the waistline :)

I do ok with most cookies, but can not stop on homemade ...and I have a hard time with overeating all cookies...but like Anne said, not a full out binge like with homemade. All chocolate chip are a bit of a problem, My MIL bought a big bag of chips ahoy for her train trip home and then left them here yesterday. Havent decided if they are a problem yet or not. I think they may be in the "if I dont start I wont continue" list. But I meant to send them to work with dh today.

My weirdest trigger is whipped cream..I dont even like it, but I will get a can of reddiwhip and clear it out in one fell swoop.

I remember making dough for peanut butter cookies. I swear, half the dough never saw an oven! As for the cookies I did bake - -small batches, cause I like them warm...

*sigh*

Ha, raw cookie dough reminds me of a story. A neighbor made a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough and ate almost all of it raw, washed down with a giant Pepsi. The Pepsi's carbonation reacted with the baking soda in the raw dough and apparently set off one of those volcanoes in her stomach that we used to make in 5th grade science class. I seriously though I would have to take her to the ER for a while, but she recovered. :lol:

I would say there is a 3rd gene in addition to sweet or salty and that is FATTY. That is me. I dont like SWEET things or Salty things unless they are also fatty. For example I detest all candy except chocolate. And I dont really care about cake, but chocolate or shortbread cookies :drool: The only cake I have a problem with is cheesecake. Salty - I could give or take potato chips although doritos are an issue, but cheese, pizza, anything salty and fatty :drool:

I can eat thinmints...those I got mad because I ordered several boxes and they didnt come. I can eat 1 or2 of them and not binge because they are lowfat.

Helen - I am the same as you with chocolate. Usually I can eat a dove promise or a hershey nugget (bite size individually wrapped)...but I can not open a bar of chocolate and just break off a square.

Hmm, what is it called when you don't have any particular addiction, but can be addicted to stuff pertaining to each of these categories? ;)

I can't say I have a sweet tooth or a salty tooth, there are foods in both 'groups' that I can't be around, and some that I don't care about. Eating cookie dough sounds appaling to me, but I love chocolate; and I don't like chips, but bretzels (I'm not even sure--is that the same as pretzels?) are seriously my huge downfall--I could eat them all day long, and I mean the big stuff, not necessarily the small ones.

Remember the package of cookies I bought last week? They remain unopened in the pantry!!! I know that they are unopened--I checked last night. I'm thinking that once they get opened, I'll wait until they are 3/4 gone and try 2 of them.

As for salty, sweet or fatty, give me fatty any day. Can you say cheese? Warm, creamy cheese sauce in a casserole. Salty is okay. I like a good cracker with my cheese! Sweet--obviously not my downfall. Even chocolate I can pass by without trouble.

Ok, I like fatty too. And my love of baked goods is pretty much limited to chocolate or fruit desserts. I never eat things where the dominant flavor is sugar or corn syrup. I just don't like it.

wyllenn, I used to make a big batch of cookie dough to keep in the fridge, and we'd just bake 3 cookies apiece each evening. I'll nibble at the raw dough while I'm mixing it, but I like it much better all baked and warm and melty. Half the attraction of cookies is the chocolate; the other half is the butter.

oh god my favorite part about baking cookies used to be the creamed butter & sugar...before you add the eggs

meg -- great story!

baffled -- for whatever reason, my real problem with cookie dough really comes out with peanut butter cookies. I'll eat dough with choc chip ones, but do prefer warm cookies.... I actually love warm pb cookies too...

It's a good thing I just had a good lunch... this is giving me cravings!!

Visions of those YouTube Mentos and Diet Coke videos!!!