More on The End of Overeating by David Kessler…
So I’ve learned how the food I buy out is manipulated to taste a certain way and engineered to increase the salt, sugar, and fat. This manipulation is intended to make me want more and return back to the establishment. But I’m on to them now…
Today I’m reading about our emotional attachments to food – how the events we associate with certain foods can serve as reinforcements and eating the food can create the emotion we associate with the event.
This really hit home for me. We all know that comfort foods are called “comfort foods” for a reason.
A few of mine?
My Mom’s lasagna. Nothing says cuddling up on Mom’s couch with the whole family like her lasagna. I tend to associate that feeling of home with lasagna and spaghetti. So when I’m really unhappy, my first thought is Carino’s for a big plate of lasagna. I never really thought about why.
Those freaking bottled Starbucks drinks. I started drinking them before we moved – when I actually liked my old job. I would stop at Mr. Kwik every morning and buy a bottle of Starbucks and a cup of ice. Every morning. I would chat with the cashier, take my drink to the car, go into work, open the bottle, pour it over the ice and drink it with my banana while checking my work email. To this day, if I have a bottled drink, I have to have a cup of ice with it. And, often, I have it drank before I even think about it. But there are times when it is almost possible to resist them in convenient stores or when Wal-Mart has refrigerated singles in the front.
And then there’s the actual in-house Starbucks experience. I love stopping at Starbucks. Starbucks in the morning makes me feel like I’m on vacation. For years, the only access we had to Starbucks were the ones we came across when we were on vacation. There’s a certain exit right outside of Knoxville that has a Starbucks. There’s one that is out of the way in Williamsburg, VA that we would make a stop at. From early experiences Starbucks = vacation. And I’ve held on to that. I feel like the day is special when I stop at Starbucks. Especially when it’s a little humid.
Hopefully recognizing these things will help me change my behaviors, right?
So what foods/restaurants are emotional for you?
I think my emotional food is all the food my Mom cooks or my Mom-in-Law. Maybe it’s because it’s not simply cooked it’s made with love and I swear you can taste this. For example my Mom-in-Law makes a special apple pie. My sisters-in-law and also me did the same apple-pie according to the same recipe. There wasn’t anything that my Mom-in-Law did differently but it tastes better when she makes it. I’m sure it’s because she puts love into it as well.
What an insightful post! I’ve really been thinking about emotional eating lately… Thanks!
Oh my gosh, where do I start? :D When I am sad, angry or scared I want serious southern home cookin, like Cracker Barrel. Or I want breakfast for every meal so IHOP and restauraunts like that get to me…. especially the pancakes. And even though I hate to say it but McDonald’s is a major one because it was always a treat to go when I was little. It was a reward for a job well done or if something upsetting happened in the family it was a way to soothe.
Oy.
1) way to rock the teeny tiny clothes!
2) you are awesome
3) my new favorite workout song: Chelsea Dagger by the Fratellis. SUPER fun song to run to!
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