[Shmead]

I still love junk. My husband cooks cheeseburgers and pork chops and frozen pizzas and they smell delicious. However, I like being healthy more, so it's quite livable. But much in the way I know I could go back to being a smoker in an hour (the first one might taste gross, but it would feel great!), I know I could settle back into my old eating habits. But I don't think I will.

[BellaDiva]

I love real foods, meats, fruits and veggies. I'm not a fan of packaged stuff. So the only reason I am doing so well on my diet is because I don't live at home during the school year, I don't buy that stuff. I am worried about spring break, a whole week home has me worried that I could undo all my hard work. I have a hard time saying no.

[Katieee]

I can still enjoy the bad foods I once gorged on but I don't feel cravings for them anymore. I used to be scared I wouldn't feel full and would always order the biggest burgers xtra large everything. Usually eating it all. I went to Jack in the box with my boyfriend last Monday and got a small meal and while I didn't feel crazy full when I was done I felt satiated. Now when I go some place and eat too much I hate that too full feeling I get from food I used to love. I also have no problem turning down tempting food either. they always get Doughnuts at work and try to encourage me to get one of the old fashioned ones without glaze but i'd rather eat oatmeal or a bagel with low fat cream cheese. I feel like this time it has finally clicked and I can succeed where before i'd just fall back into old habits.

[saef]

No change. Sorry. I'd be lying or trying to convince myself of something I don't really feel if I said otherwise. Everything is just as appealing.

My big problem is the easy availability of really excellent food. I have friends who are foodies & often want to eat out in Manhattan at extremely good restaurants or shop at high-end specialty markets. The food in such places is a work of art. I don't just mean the plating & presentation. So my problem is I am not faced with turning down McDonald's or Applebee's or whatever, I'm having to turn down very carefully thought-out & artfully prepared food. It's very difficult to order very plainly & off-menu & to be a pain the butt to the server about getting what I want.

This weekend, the problem will be an interesting place they've found in Chinatown. Half the fun is the excursion to Chinatown, into that ambience, in which food is very important. But the other half will be the fascinating menu, which is not going to be your average takeout place.

[Trudiha]

I've started to experience 'salt hangovers', I like pizza but whenever I have one, I have to keep getting up during the night to get a drink and the following day I feel utterly awful, bloated and like I've been drinking too much. Unfortunately, only half of my brain is able to remember this, the other half still craves pizza very strongly.

I had a mid-range chocolate truffle bar a couple of weeks ago and the taste and texture was similar to mildly chocolate flavoured lard; that's 500 calories I won't be wasting again.

I'm not even slightly tempted to go into a burger bar or a fried chicken place because they smell so bad now, cheap grease isn't a good smell any more.

[yossarianlives]

I have fierce salt-hangovers too! I wake up the next day and I am so bloated and feel awful. You'd think it would deter me not to eat salty food ever again, but it doesn't...

It definitely makes me more aware of salt in everything, though.

[time2lose]

Do you get bummed out when what was once just plain delicious is now just plain nasty?

No! I am absolutely thrilled when I taste something I once loved and find it nasty now! Mark one temptation off of my list!

[randomcards]

I've found that it hasn't really changed my taste buds or desire for foods. I have noticed that my physical reaction to unhealthy foods has changed, I now have worse physical reactions than I used to (sick to the stomach, bloated, etc.)

But I have found that it's becoming easier to not think of feeding times as the highlights or most important parts of my day, but rather think of them as simple feuling stops, with dinner being more about family than food.

[Trudiha]

Originally Posted by randomcards

But I have found that it's becoming easier to not think of feeding times as the highlights or most important parts of my day, but rather think of them as simple feuling stops, with dinner being more about family than food.

I think that this might be the ultimate secret to becoming a non-fat person, like Dieters' Zen. When I saw the thread title, it's was this element that sprang to my mind; I was all ready to come in and post that I live for food but it frightens me.

So, how do you get food to play a less important part in your life or would you have to kill me if you told me?

[Lori Bell]

Like Saef and a few others, I have found that I love and desire all the food I previously loved and desired. I have not eaten fast food since I started my healthy diet, so I don't know if I'd binge on Big Macs and fries...I haven't given myself the opportunity to find out...BUT my desire for decedent baked goods, (there is a reason they are called baked GOODS) fine chocolate, butter, cream, aged cheese and rich candy, nuts and nut butters has not changed. I take one bite and I'm in heaven... It's my crack.

[LizR]

I've completely lost my desire for fatty food and salty food. They don't look tastey anymore. Unfortunately, I still want sugary food like coke and sour ball candies. Maybe that is because I am using meal replacement shakes that are artificially sweetened. I guess 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

[catherinef]

I'm pretty sure I would like the stuff that got me so bloody fat just fine, were I to eat it. There are a few exceptions; I gave myself aversion therapy through reading a LOT of stuff telling me exactly how terrible fast food is, and I am completely grossed out by it now, but I am also sure it would taste every bit as awesome to me as it ever did, were I to eat it. I still love chocolate, after all, and I have to limit my exposure to it very, very strictly. It doesn't work for everybody, but simply crossing a lot of things off my list of acceptable foods certainly has helped me. There are some things that I just don't have an off-switch with (breakfast cereal, I am looking at YOU), and it's far better to not even think about eating them in the first place.

[katkitten]

I agree with the posters who said their brain still wants it but their body doesnt. I'm that way with sweet/sugary stuff now. I see a piece of cake and it sounds sooooo goood! then i taste it and "bleah"....also, i am realllly sensitive to the spike/drop in sugar now. I wasnt aware of it before but now it really bothers me.

[katkitten]

I still love salt though! but that is mainly because I don't skimp on the salt when I'm enjoying my veges.

[jcatron243]

Some things I want and crave. Salty stuff. It hits me and I have to have it. Sodium has a huge effect on me now more than ever though, so I try my hardest to avoid it.

Sugar~AHHHH my drug of choice. I hadn't eaten any chocolate, cookies, candies from July 4 until December 23. On Dec 23 my crew decided to do an everything chocolate day. I went prepared with my normal 5 small meals (I work 12 hour shifts) BUT I gave into the most delicious mocha cupcake ever~then a butterhorn~then. . .well you get it. I ate that stuff all day long. I was so terribly sick, but I stuffed it into myself. Why? I don't know I learned a lesson and have no desire for that stuff anymore.

Greasy fat filled food???~I worked in a family run burger place for 13 years. I have been away from that job just about 3 years. I cant even smell the grease without feeling sick.

Soda~cant drink it anymore.