I'm away for the weekend at my mom's house. She keeps her house fully stocked with trail mix and muesli cereal. From the way I behaved last night, I know for certain that these two items are my trigger foods. I can't stop once I've started to eat them

When you've pinpointed a trigger food, do you label it off limits and stop eating it all together?

I do.
I was about to tell you that maybe if you ate it before a meal then you might eat less... but it actually might cause you to fill up on trail mix before you eat something healthy! Maybe some after a meal when your full? Dessert?

You might want to ask your mom (in the future) to either hide or not buy trail mix before you visit, and instead, ask her to buy extra fruit. When the bf and I go back home we discuss food with our families before hand. My mom and his dad are always eager to make whatever meals we request (the dreaded high calorie/fat/carb comfort foods ) but we just ask them for healthy meals and to hide the snacks!

My trigger foods are completely off limits. Not even 1 bite. If I start, I won't stop. lol

My trigger foods is...um...just about everything. Once I eat something not really on my "plan" I can't stop eating everything in sight.

Chinese is a huge trigger so is wine, chocolate, chips, salsa, cheese, crackers, cereal, pasta, bread, diet coke, ribs...yeah, you get the point.

I would run, not walk, away from Trigger foods. because I would say that you could only have a few bites to hold you over, but since you love them so much one nite would only remind you how much you loved it in the first place.

Its like a bad relationship you need to get over. Don't eat it, or do anything with it, and over time it will get better to avoid.

I do not label my trigger foods off limits (because i have so many) and it's starting to seem like the wrong decision.

My trigger foods are ravioli, soda, bread with butter, nachos, ziti, cheese, etc.

I don't want to cut all of those out, so I tried to just limit it or avoid it until I couldn't avoid it anymore. Well once I have one, I just want them all and i always end up feeling bad about eating a trigger food.

Chips & almonds are my trigger food... I can't eat the recommended amount, so I have to stay clear of them!

Do any of you feel like that because we actually avoid trigger foods that they can lead to binges? Sometimes I feel like if I eat them then I binge and if I don't eat them I feel like binging! What's up with that?

Is moderation attainable?

For me, I don't feel deprived of trigger foods until I see them.

For instance, I haven't had a candy bar in a very long time. We were at Wal-Mart the other day in the check out line and there I saw a King Size Reese bar staring at me. That was my all time favorite food. I thought about buying it and only eating 2. Then I thought about eating one per day. But what I realized is that if I bought it, I knew I would eat it all at one sitting. So, I checked out without it.

For me, outta sight, outta mind. If I don't have it around me I don't want it.

My trigger food is rice. Fortunately because of how it expands, all I have to do is drink a large glass of water with it and a small bowl will keep me filled up for awhile, but I haven't made it off limits. My 10lb rice cooker won't allow it.

Like now i'm eating coconut chicken with rice and beans, and to keep myself in check with it, I loaded up half my plate with steamed bell peppers and baked plantains. In the chicken I cut up 4 habanero peppers and ladled the sauce all over the rice. It's more of a survival response to eat more of the bell peppers to cool my mouth off! LoL.

Uhm I think you should 'limit' yourself. Banning yourself from certain foods is going to make them a bigger trigger to you long term than they already are -and hopefully what you're trying to do is balance your diet out into something more healthily with everything in moderation, and that involves being able to eat things without going crazy! I think thats the whole point really.

Mine is definitely potato chips - especially the Kettle kind. That is the one thing that will start a binge for me faster than anything.

I find that I can handle all other kinds of foods - for instance, chocolate. I can eat one square a day, or one ounce or one little Mounds and I can stop. I am getting better with Cheez-Its too - I can limit those. But there is something about potato chips that I just cannot stop.

I recently gained back 10 lbs that I worked hard to lose, and I can trace the weight gain to Kettle Chips. And I know that I have to completely ban myself from them, same as an alcoholic can't take even one drink.

if you have a lot of trigger foods maybe OA would be a good idea. I have a huge list.

I do try and stay away from trigger foods. Carbs in general, lol! But sometimes it's good to be able to taste a little bit (moderation!) to get the craving out of my system. Sometimes it helps, sometimes I wanna eat the whole bag of chips or gallon of ice cream. Definitely still a work in progress.

hMMM What ISN'T a trigger food? That's the shorter list.

chips, candy, appetizers, wings, chocolate, ice cream, bread...are some of my danger! approach-with-caution foods.

I try to find alternatives for my cravings.. like if I want something sweet I buy dark chocolate single packaged morsels and limit myself to 1. If I want something crunchy or salty, I microwave some popcorn and measure out myself 1-2 cups... etc
I find if I premeasure and see what calories it will contribute to my overall total, I can weigh whether or not i REALLY need/want to eat it...