I've been at this since October, and I've begun to notice a few things. I have retrained my body to (for the most part, sometimes I get insane cravings) exist on real food. But I haven't been able to get my mind there yet. I haven't had a soda in almost five months now, but I thought I'd go ahead and have my friend's yesterday. We've all got that co-dependent enabler friend don't we The moment it hit my tongue I started spitting. The sweetness was overloading, the bubbles felt like acid. I've noticed a few of my other old favorite foods (and I use the term food loosely) have lost their charm. I tried to bite into a mcdonald's double cheeseburger a couple weeks ago and I had to spit it out because it tasted like salt and glue. Spicy cheetos, which were my main staple, just taste like flaming salt. Same goes for smoking, I'll crave a cigarette but I don't enjoy them; it tastes disgusting and does nothing for me.

It really makes me wonder why or how I was able to binge on these things in the first place when I can't even swallow it now. My brain screams DELICIOUS but my body screams poison. How do you guys deal with it, if you do? Doesn't it just make you deathly ill? Do you get bummed out when what was once just plain delicious is now just plain nasty? Is this what happens when you get away from junk food for awhile? Am I just totally insane?

Whoa, you are NOT insane! This is completely normal, and I've definitely gone through it before, particularly with sugar. Even though I fell off the low-sugar truck along time ago (due to ignorance) I still can't stand very much sugar in tea or coffee. Bleck! But we SHOULD have that reaction to nutrionally void and harmful food. Still, do I kinda miss enjoying a McD's fry? Actually, not very much. I'm glad I don't crave them anymore. One less thing I have to fight eating.

I try to replace those bad things with good treats. I used to love cake (store bought with that lard frosting) in my head it still tasted great, but now it just coats my mouth with a film. So if I want that, I will instead buy some fresh fruit strawberries, grapes, pineapple chunks. A turkey burger or turkey chili tastes even better to me than a beef versions.

There are some treats that I just love and crave, and what I've found is that I should be a smaller piece of a higher quality treat. I.e. if I want fudge, buy the best fudge I can find, but only buy a square or two. Same with chocolate or ice cream, etc. Make it worth the craving, and for me fast food never is and probably won't be ever again.

I've absolutely had that experience!!! I used to think McDonalds was delicious, but now I can't eat it (except for their breakfast sandwiches... yum!! i'm not tempted by them really, but every once in a while i treat myself...). I've had McDonalds in other countries and it does taste a lot better there, where they don't use soy, fillers, and all these preservatives. Do you know that a lot of the stuff allowed in American food is illegal in other countries? Ha! I have really gotten used to eat whole foods or, at least, closer to whole foods. My huge surprise was Little Debbies and Hostess cakes. I used to binge on those so hardcore, I could eat at least a whole box in one go. But I just can't eat them now, they taste disgusting. I don't eat much red meat either (much meat at all, for that matter). It's so greasy and the texture just seems strange now, I just naturally go for vegetarian options.

One junk food that I still like, however, is potato chips. Plain potato chips. I'll probably get a ton of crap for this, but they're really not as bad for you as a lot of other junk foods. There is some healthy fat in them, and most kinds are just potatoes, oil, and salt. I think it's better to eat then heavily processed foods, which have so many ingredients that chemists can't even pronounce.

It depends on the food. I don't really crave junk food because a lot of it was never great and that's more obvious to me now.

However, unlike some, I don't look at a good burger/pizza/icecream/etc and feel revolted. If it's a good, well-made dish, it looks good to me.

There's a big difference between a McDonald's burger and a gourmet burger, though. I have no problems resisting McD's, but if a friend mentions going to Red Robin I have a harder time saying no.

Just because a food is unhealthy doesn't mean my mind or tastebuds are instantly turned off now that I have a different lifestyle. Thankfully I've learned to only have those things in moderation.

Oh yes, agreed. I've learned to really enjoy high quality foods of all types since changing my lifestyle. Thus a smaller portion of a really high quality treat goes a long way.

sprklemajic (sorry if i botched up your name!), I do the same thing! If I want chocolate, I don't even look at the sugar-free stuff that's been sitting around. I buy some nice, expensive chocolate (another reason to not buy too much), get a nice cup of coffee and relax while I eat it. I live at home with my parents this year and my dad is constantly buying the clearance baked goods from Wal-Mart. Once he bought a chocolate cake that was just sitting on the counter, tempting me every time I walked past it. Finally, I decided to have a piece and it was so awful. It didn't even taste like chocolate! So, all this crap dessert he buys is good practice for me. I've just gotten used to saying, "NO," to cake, pie, etc.

I tried to explain this to my husband today. I have been done with my journey for more than a year, and he's only a few months into his, really. He's doing well, but struggling with a lot of the same things I struggled with for the first little while. Like he LOVES cereal, but feels like he "can't" eat it because he has to "save" his calories, etc.

I was that way at first. I really skimped on breakfast and lunch to have my normal foods for supper - high-calorie stuff, like fried chicken and Italian food, that I'd just eat LESS of, and remain hungry. I'm surprised I made it at all.

The other day I was telling my husband how my craving for fried food has all but gone away. Sure I still want a burger sometimes, but fast food fries? I'd prefer making my own at home. And vegetables were something I had to go into kicking and screaming. When I started out, I'd eat corn, green beans and peas. Boiled from a can. That was all. I still don't like raw veggies much, but find myself fixing up a batch of sauteed squash and fresh green beans as SNACKS these days. Insanity I tell you! And I can eat my WEIGHT in roasted broccoli and baby carrots.

I still give in to the cravings sometimes, and don't really "miss" the high calorie foods most of the time. For me, it's all about the quantity. I told him that I find myself CRAVING better foods simply because I can eat MORE of them. He's coming around, slowly but surely.

I did something similar the other day! The husband really wanted one of those boxes of chocolates for Valentine's Day, and I obliged him. He did REALLY well, budgeting in one serving a day for a few days then sending the rest with his brother. (4 pieces for 200 cals)

Before his brother got them, I gave in and had a piece. I'd budgeted for two (100 calories), but as soon as I put one of the tempting little devils in my mouth I was SOOOOO disappointed! What a waste! I saved the other 50 cals for something better...

I know exactly what you mean. Go healthy for a few months and junk food tastes like what it it... JUNK! I think my brain will always crave candy and burgers but I've been training myself to ignore it. I discovered the hard way that it only takes a few times lapsing back to the dark side to really get addicted to whatever made me fat in the first place

Wow, what an interesting question! I never really thought about it.

When I first started losing weight (I consider my journey a long bouncy one lol) I noticed that I found commercials for fast food no longer appealing and stuff, and yeah, I guess burgers tasted weird and un-satisfying.

I've been avoiding bad stuff like the plague though. The thought of a Taco Bell quesadilla is honestly still making my mouth water, but I can make it at home for waaaay less calories, so I don't give in. What I have noticed is that when I do eat something "illegal", only a tiny amount is actually really satisfying.

Well I'm glad it's not just me MotoMichelle: I specified mcd's for a reason haha, it's not real food but it's available no matter where you go. I still eat pizza and hamburgers that I make at home (pretty rarely though since I only eat lean meats now) but the old stuff that I once enjoyed pretty much just lets me down. I don't hate my old favorite food because it's bad for me, but just because the sugar/salt rush makes me feel wonky. I think our ideas of food and the realities of them get a bit skewed, kind of like that awesome song/book/movie you loved as a kid that you think is horribly bad as an adult.

Soda was something I gave up right away, and I just can't do the diet soda thing. I had a regular Coca-Cola a few months ago and thought it tasted awful! I asked my sister to try it and tell me what she thought ---it seemed normal to her. So I've lost my taste for it, which is just fine!!!!!!

Now if only I could lose my taste for chocolate. Don't think that one is happening anytime soon, especially based on my wolfing down of the Valentine's chocolates, LOL.

Well, I never really ate any junk food. For one thing, I was often embarrassed to buy it! I found myself to be a failure at binge eating! Anyway, I still like junk food, so please consider yourself lucky if you are in the group of people that lose the lust for junk. I happen to still like it a lot and I get terrible cravings for it....not junk....but not great food is what I mean. What I have noticed now is that the foods I do eat taste really good to me and in the past, I would have gagged at the thought of eating them. For example, every night, I eat a small yogurt that is 50 or 60 calories with some defrosted frozen dark organic cherries. That alone tastes HEAVENLY to me! I"m sure a piece of decadent cake would be very appealing and I'm not gonna say it wouldn't be calling my name, but I'm perfectly happy eating my yogurt and cherries. Plus, once I'm done, I feel good, whereas if I eat the cake, I feel like a zombie.

I used to drink diet coke every single day and now, I avoid it. Well, the other day, I did have some and I still liked it (after not having it since September). I was really hoping it would disgust me, but it didn't. However, nowadays, when I get a soda craving, I drink Zevia, which is a natural soda sweetened with Stevia and I enjoy it just as much as (if not more than) the Diet Coke.

I'm also much more sensitive to salt. Even canned vegetables and Lean Cuisines and stuff taste crazy salty to me. I can actually a feel a sugar high now, I never knew what people were talking about before. I had a few Valentines Day treats last week (chocolate-dipped rice crispy treats). They were delicious, but afterwords, I felt jittery, my heart was rushing, and then I got a headache. Also, after eating anything greasy, I feel like there is a brick in my stomach.

So I can still eat and enjoy these foods (although they're rare treats), but I'm much more sensitive and aware of what it's doing to my body. Before, I was so overloaded on salt, sugar, and grease that I couldn't tell the difference.

Also, this is more of a mental thing, but I no longer feel satisfied and content after eating junk. Now I feel guilty and annoyed that I wasted my calories on garbage.