I noticed something about myself today and wondered if others are the same.

I ended my meal feeling satisfied, not craving anything. I knew I was heading out for ice cream to bring home to my son who wasn't feeling well and at that moment I could have passed on ice cream, if you know what I mean. No craving. My plan was to get one for each of the boys and my husband and eat about 1/4 of my husband's. All went well. Of course after the 1/4 portion of ice cream, suddenly I really wanted more. I went back and grabbed a small piece of the roast I'd made for dinner and the craving ended.

It's like that sweet cream taste that stays on the tongue begs for more. But stifling it with meat worked.

It's probably no different than brushing your teeth to keep from eating more of something.

Anyway...anyone else?

hmmm. That's really interesting. I'm sure something similar has happened to me, but I can't think of an instance right now. I'm going to watch out for that. Thanks!

I wish that would work for me (minus the meat though!). When I get a craving, it does not go away until I give it what it wants. Occasionally I can suffer through them, but I've seriously had them last for days. And if I try to eat something else, I usually just end up eating a bunch of stuff trying to find something to make it go away and it still doesn't! Congrats to you though for finding something that works for you, and also for being able to indulge in moderation. That is really awesome and I hope someday I can be at that point!

I like ice cream... but if someone told me I could never have it again... i don't think i would care.

BUT, I DO know what you mean. There are certain foods, where I eat my serving size... and all I want is more. Sometimes, I wonder if I just should have them in the first place. I am a big fan of anything I can buy individual servings size - like have you noticed the ice creams that you can get that are a single serving size? They go on sale for $1. Those are perfect for me - b/c the two times a year I do want ice cream, I just buy one of those and then there is no left overs to hog freezer space.

The other day I had a wicked chocolate craving and ended up binging on peanut butter. It made the craving go away, but I probably would have been better off eating a candy bar.

If I have a craving for sweets I just ignore it for as long as I possibly can. 4 out of 5 times the craving goes away if I try to occupy myself with something else and get distracted. Trying to pacify it with other food results in disaster.

I'm lucky that I never had a sweet tooth per se. I do like an occasional cookie or piece of cake, but its rare that I even crave that. But there definitely "trigger" foods for me that I do not want to eat at all.

If I do get something sweet, I like to make sure what I buy is limited in serving size like Scraver mentions.

I can't even have a 1/4 cup of ice cream. I am uncontrollable like falling off a wagon. I can go without and pass it up and have since August 18... I deserve a coin like AA gives out.

I have definitely experienced this. When it happens I fight it either by brushing my teeth (and often sticking in the retainers I generally wear only at night) or chewing a piece of gum or sucking on a tic tac or two. The need to eat more sugar passes swiftly. The best defense for me is to give my mouth something to do with something else that is a tad sweet but very low in calories.

Ice cream is a weakness of mine, but only if it is Baskin-Robbins. This is actually one of the few things I will not keep in my house. I don't trust the teeth brushing or gum to combat my love of BR fully. (Fortunately, I am enamored of no other ice cream. There are about four gallons of other brands in my freezer right now, and they are all probably full of ice. Three of them haven't even been opened.)

You're body wants / craves what you give it. If you give it sweets... it craves sweets. If you give it salty... it craves salty. It works the same way with the good stuff. If you feed yourself fruits and veggies... those craving for the "bad" foods... completely go away. That's been my experience anyway. I've also found that the more I exercise... the more my body craves it, and the more I exercise... the less hungry I am all day long!

Good for you that you recognized it and stopped it before it became a binge.... if that had been me... I'd have been in MAJOR trouble. I can't even give myself a little bit of what I shouldn't have...

Yes. This is a big problem for me. When confronted with a trigger food, I want more and more and more. I often combat that feeling my putting gum in my mouth.

It's excellent that you found a way to stop the ice cream urge cold (no pun intended) with a bite of something better. That could be a pretty handy thing to keep in mind.

I have a bit of the opposite problem: after eating something very sweet, I jones for salty/crispy things like chips or snack crackers. The reverse is true, too; salty crunchy stuff makes me want sweets. I used to alternate the two until I was too full to eat more than one bite of each. I called myself "sated" only after I was equally turned off to both sides of the sweet/salty equation.

Knowing what triggers cravings and what will satiate us is a large part of the battle, I think. That's yet another reason to keep detailed and thorough track of stuff--makes it easier to recognize a pattern.

I'm rarely if ever put into craving mode by the sight of an unhelpful food, and sweet things don't really call to me; but if I have a taste - like last Sunday we had a feast after the Mass, and I made a huge tray of baked macaroni cheese and a huge "ebony and ivory" trifle with brown and white chocolate, brown and white sweet sauces...... I had a planned, budgetted, small portion of mac - delicious and safe. I had a planned, budgetted, small portion of trifle - I could have emptied the bowl with a ladle! Fortunately, I had to talk to people, and when I turned back it was all gone but - even when it's not a mental trigger, sweet is clearly a physical trigger for me. Note to self: don't try trifle again!

The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David Kessler talks about this exact thing -- the brain chemistry of eating fatty, salty, sugary food. I bought the book several months ago, but actually haven't read it yet. You can read reviews on Amazon. It's rated highly with over 300 customer reviews, so I figure he has something to say that's worth hearing. I know personally I seem to have no "off" button where sugar is concerned, so I just can't eat it period.

I agree with you. I have found this to be true too. But I am one for moderation as far as weight loss goes. I'm at that stage where I've made this diet a real part of "life" and my life includes two children and ice cream. I have to teach them about moderation because I worry if I make things like ice cream off limits, they'll rebel as adults. I hope I'm teaching them now that American sizes are too big, that it's ok to have ice cream but you should split it with someone, and that's it appropriate to indulge in treats about once a week.

So I ended up with ice cream last night. Perfectly within my plan.

I have found that the same thing helps me. If I eat something sweet, I will crave more. Eating some protein does seem to stop the cravings. I know that it is best for me to simply avoid the sweet. I avoid it most of the time but when I do give in, it helps to follow it with protein or something full of fiber.

I remember from my childhood that my grandmother always ate her meal, had a small desert, then had what she called her "salty bite" which was something from the meal that she saved for last. I always thought that it was a strange thing to do but she was a small lady. Maybe she was onto something.