I think I’ve told you that I love to read. And I tend to read differently depending on what kind of book it is. I tear through fiction. I have been known to sit down in the morning and only get up for food and water until a book is finished.
But I tend to take forever with nonfiction. I want to take notes absorb and remember and apply what I’m learning to my life and my choices.
And that’s my process with The End of Overeating by David Kessler. I’ve mentioned it before and I am still working on it.
I love it. And I’ve learned that I am an incredible nerd. The first section talks about experiments and rat behavior. I loved reading about reinforcement schedules and sensitization and rewards and flooding and all things psychologically nerdy.
Sigh.
Okay, Krissie, focus.
So many things that make me think. Like this sentence on page 52
We may no longer like the food (but often we do). But it’s the wanting, not the liking, that drives us to do the work necessary to obtain the food.
I do this sometimes.
I used to love these.
I had one every day for, what, 3 years? I took a ton of pictures with them in it when I was doing my photo food journal. Sometimes I had 2 of these. My dad always used to bring them as the fee for a night’s stay at my house. I can’t even begin to estimate how many of them I’ve drank.
Why did I stop? I only drank them out of habit. I didn’t really love them anymore. I just felt like I was done.
In the last 6 months or so, I have maybe 5 in a month. When we’re away from home and I am in a convenient store in the early part of the day. When I’m stressed and tired and I’m in the line at Walmart that has the cold ones right there. When I feel not best, I still gravitate toward these.
And the last time I got one, I realized I wasn’t sure I still liked it. It was too sweet. And not as smooth as I remembered.
But I still drank the stupid thing.
Because of a habit. Because I wanted one. Because having one – in a glass with 4 ice cubes – makes me feel better. Even if I don’t necessarily like it.
I’ll think about “like” next time. I promise.
What about you? Do you really like your comfort food or drink?
I’ve never taken the time to really examine if my “comfort” food(s) are things that I truly enjoy, or just something I consume out of habit. You post has given me something to think about, and I know the next time I reach for those “comfort” foods I am going to ask myself “Do I really like this?”
Thanks for always posting something interesting and thought provoking.
Without a doubt: a nonfat latte–hot in the winter, iced in the summer.
I haven’t started Kessler’s book yet. I’m indulging in a memoir first (The Late Bloomer’s Revolution by Amy Cohen), followed by Jillian’s new book. I was never the type to be in the middle of two books at once. This weekend, I discovered two more books that will soon be added to my library (and which you might also enjoy):
Food, Inc.: a series of essays by journalists exposing some really scary aspects of how the food industry has a hold on our society, economy, environment and health. It’s supposed to pair with the documentary that comes out June 12 in select cities.
Food of a Younger Land: about how American diets were before the modernization of the food industry and highway system.
I’m off to reward myself with the new Dave Matthews Band CD tonight, but ONLY if I get through a double workout since I chose to sleep in this morning. Oh how I love that band! Are you going to see them in concert this summer?
Americanos.
There is something about a simple double shot of espresso and water that makes me happy.
I love how caramely it tastes, how it warms me up or I can have it over ice on a hot day.
More full and yummy than a regular drip coffee.
And it gives me the opportunity to scour the city, go into independent cafes and try some of the best espresso around.
Pure happiness.
A very thought-provoking post. I would have to say no, I don’t like my previous comfort foods anymore. I tried for a while, but the Mac & Cheese I used to buy at the hot foods section of the supermarket just didn’t appeal anymore. I found myself on many occasions roaming the aisles, looking for something and often not finding anything that appealed. It’s easier to just eat my healthy food now…
I was leaving this post about Geneen Roth and Hershey’s Kisses and I think I deleted it somehow–anyway she just has people in her workshops be present with the experience of opening one, smelling, tasting (really tasting–not chewing even) one (ONE) and many people walk away realizing they don’t like how waxy they are or they prefer dark chocolate…
I really got on here, although it’s not really related, to tell you about this new vegetable I discovered accidentally because you do food/cooking posts sometimes. Instead of buying a butternut squash, as I intended, we came home from the store with a ‘spaghetti squash’ (it was in the butternut bin). There was a sticker on the front that told how to prepare it–basically you cut it in half, take the seeds out and bake it upside down 45 min. then flip it and bake till it’s tender and THEN–this is the magic part–you top it with things like spaghetti sauce and cheese and you use your fork (you can serve it inside it’s ‘shell’) to pull apart the squash as you eat and it comes apart in strands! Like spaghetti! I don’t know if they have these everywhere, but if you can find one and never had one before, it’s definitely worth a chance. It’s a crazy good surprise: one more veggie to love and accept, one more alternative to hard core pasta.
Long time lurker, first time commenter.
Mine’s not edible; my weakness is magazines. I have favorite women’s magazine that I really loved at first, but as with most they eventually became too predictible and repetitve, so my interest in them waned, BUT, since they’re monthlies, every month, withour fail I’m at the magazine stands buying them and now have a few months’ copies yet to be read. I’m working hard at making myself stop buying them, but somehow they end up in my shopping basket, paid for, and in my house, yet to be read.
PS. I’ve even found myself hunting them down before they’re actaully out on the stands. I really have to stop!
Loev your blog by the way.
That sounds like a really interesting book. And I think the whole like versus want thing is very true. I used to devour sunflower seeds…and everytime I went to a convenience store or the one grocery store that has them here I would buy some. And it wasn’t like I really enjoyed eating them….I just NEEDED them. It started to feel like a chore. When I started eating healthier and working out a couple of months ago I completely stopped eating them…and now I find I don’t want them anymore. They were one of those comfort things for me, and it’s nice that I don’t have to avoid convenience stores or specific aisles in grocery stores anymore.
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