July 09, 2009

Anatomy of a Food Craving

Cupcakes or Carrots?

Twinkies or Tomatoes?

Ever wonder what leads you to choose bad food instead of good? We at Cranky Fitness, in our ceaseless quest for a good twinkie defense world enlightenment, offer this diagram as a possible explanation of how the decision is made. (If the text is too small, click on the diagram to enlarge it.)




To present the information in a more pseudoscientific formal manner, here's a chart:



For a more philosophical take on this same subject, check out Patty's blog, Fit by my 50th. Me, I love using diagrams and charts to explain things, because I want the blog to look Importantly Scientific I tend to dither when I put things into words. But I think Patty did a good job. Also, Mizfit wrote a great post about how listening to her body helped her become thin and fit. Since she's in kick-ass shape, I think she just possibly might be on the right track with this approach.

What do you think?

Do you let your food decisions get made by your taste buds? Or do you listen to the rest of your body?

33 comments:

  1. I'm learning to listen to my body. My taste buds are not very reliable, so they're also being trained now to fall in line with the rest of the body.

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  2. I'm a bad girl, but I'm working on it! Stupid taste buds.

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  3. when I grow up I will be able to do diagrams like YOU.
    And I giggled at the kinda pun regarding 'somebodys getting cranky--git more twinkies'

    thanks for the link love.
    Ive gone from intuitive eating which was beer and pizza and bowl after bowl of sugared cereal to intuitive eating which is less beer and less 'za and no sugared cereal.

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  4. I love diagrams too. As an obese person, I paid more attention to my taste buds and my heart than I did what my body needed. I like the chart - it gives a visual representation of the struggle we all face.

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  5. My taste buds lie to me with great reliability... I can't trust them at all.

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  6. y'know... i'm going to sound like an absolute idiot here. I never thought about the taste bud vs digestive system time difference! might need to print out your chart and post it on the fridge...

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  7. oh, and Watching and Weighting: twinkies like my butt and hips! :)

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  8. Unfortunately my taste buds have been ruling for a while hence me eating my weight in chocolate the last couple of months! My body is such a pushover. Funny post!

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  9. LOVE the diagrams!! I am a MizFit type person & post about this all the time.. listening to the body not only for the food I put in my mouth but what my bod needs in terms of exercise & change.. food & exercise wise on the change!

    As for the hormones.. well, when they get hold, sometimes that listening don't go to good! :-)

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  10. Love the visual aids!

    And it really is interesting to contemplate how we let our taste buds boss around the rest of our bodies, when their involvement is so transitory!

    Loved Patty's & MizFit's posts too--between the three of you it's a great reminder to nourish my body, not induldge my spoiled taste buds.

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  11. I think I'm somewhere in the middle - I try to eat mostly healthy stuff (preferably healthy stuff that tastes good) but sometimes the tastebuds win and I go for the Twinkies (well, probably not twinkies, more likely something chocolate, but you get the idea).

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  12. That chart is GRRRRRRRRREAT! You should get it made up into little refrigerator magnets -- good for a "Cranky Fitness" giveaway!

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  13. Hmmmn.... refrigerator magnets... there's a thought.

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  14. I tasted a Twinkie once.
    Twinkies are to homemade chocolate chip cookies as a store bought winter tomato is to a homegrown eaten-in-the-garden tomato.
    My taste buds are only happy with the best.

    Mary Anne in Kentucky

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  15. Thanks Merry!! Gosh, I wish I would have put more thought into that post now! :-)

    "Going to need a lot more hair" LOL!

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  16. You wouldn't want to listen to my body. It ain't pretty when fat yells.

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  17. Ma'am, please step away from the cupboard and drop the Twinkie! NOW! I figure a lot of junk-food eating is just giving in to an impulse. If we wait a minute or two, that impulse might pass. Sometimes.

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  18. Luckily my taste buds like veggies. So whenever they ask for a tomato, they get it! When it comes to bread & sweets, I have been working hard on retraining them. They now think a small piece of really dark chocolate with a bit of raw almond butter is what they want! :)

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  19. As they say on Mythbusters...
    "I reject your reality and substitute my own."

    Talk to me in another 5 months. After the spawn has hatched. Until then? Cravings are fed what they desire. Luckily, most of that is fruit. But there's a healthy dose of sweets thrown in as well. :)

    Damn taste buds. How is it they so easily suppress our brains and digestive systems? I'm totally printing out your charts and plastering them to everything.

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  20. Hmmm I don't think either...my emotions rule me.

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  21. Wait...aren't we going to address the compromise of having carrot cupcakes?

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  22. Taste buds rule! The rest of my body is usually bound, gagged and locked in the closet when in the presence of Twinkies.

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  23. Constant struggle! I'm getting better. My problem is more with portion control over healthy tasty food than eating food that's bad for me.

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  24. I've found that if I can override my tastebuds for a little while, eventually they start to line up with my digestive system. That's a big "if," though!

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  25. Since my tastebuds are notorious for getting me to eat things that end up making me sick, they get ignored, a lot. That said however, once I make tummy friendly, healthy choices, then I listen to them about combining and seasoning.

    I am trying to remember which decade I last had a twinkie. Call me un-American, but I actually think they taste pretty yucky.

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  26. Twinkies are not really my thing, but I do have my own guilty pleasures when it comes to food. Often, I just avoid buying junk food to begin with to help keep temptation down. I did have a slip- up with brownies this week though....mmmmmmmm....taste buds won that one ;)

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  27. I am totally a taste-bud and emotional eater! I eat something sweet, then I have to have something salty. I am trying to listen to my body now. I made this "mantra" I repeat every morning. It includes things like, "I am committed to eating more veggies. I am committed to drinking more water...increasing exercise...getting more sleep. It's okay to not have a cookie." Anyway I have a page of it, and repeating it actually has been helping.

    The use of the word "committed" I think actually came from one of Cranky Fitness' posts or commentators...something about not being motivated and waiting to become motivated...instead substitute the word "committed" and see where that takes you. "Thanks" to whoever posted that!

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  28. Great topic, never thought of it this way.

    Gina, I'm with you on the "committed" versus "motivated." Much of the time (I actually originally typed in "Most of the time" but then got real with myself and changed it to "Much of the time" because I'm "committed" to honesty but "motivated" by sounding good) I have the fortitude to toss down a salad when what I really want is whatever microwaveable crap is in the freezer. This is often determined by the degree of hunger I have. If I let myself get starving I'll squirt chocolate sauce over a double cheeseburger and wash it down with a gallon of maple syrup, but if I eat at regular intervals and stave off the hunger I make better decisions.

    My taste buds can't be trusted, so I remind myself that my body is telling me that once the food is in my stomach it won't make a bit of difference what it tasted like before it ventured down my throat anyway.

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  29. I wish I could say I listen to my body, but on Tuesday I listened to the Oreos on the countertop. My in-laws left town and didn't take them along. I opened them, I ate a few, then I ate THE ENTIRE PACKAGE (well, not the actual package, but you know what I mean)... because HELLO? Got to get rid of the evidence.
    I don't particularly like Oreos. And I don't like Twinkies. So what's up with that??

    Your chart is a good one... much food for thought (pun intended)

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  30. I tend to listen to my body, not my buds...but really everyone has days when they struggle. I tend to eat when I get stressed out. If I am at home, that's usually not a big deal because I rarely keep junk food at home, if I am at work, it's more of a challenge because there is more available. I find the longer I eat the healthy food, the more my buds find the truly sweet foods, the natural sugars, the best. Great post!

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  31. I listened to my body and it told me to start eating healthy 'cuz it didn't feel well when I didn't. My taste buds went along for the ride, and now they agree w/ my body. I eat what I like, and I like what I eat, and what I eat likes me, too. I think that makes sense....

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  32. hey there cranky fitness, i had to chek out ur site with a name like 'cranky' but i have to say i am very impressed. i luv the look, the overall feel n' the 'cleaness' of ur site.
    the 'taste' bud topic. very interesting i have married a thai lady recently and the bird-eye chilli has totally changed my taste bud, but it allow u 2 taste evr bit bit of food u put in your mouth, plus i've lost 12kilo's in about 18momths purely from eatimg only thai food with absolutely no exercising too but he strange thing, i didn;t notice, not even when i had to keep rooling thee waist band on my jeans coz they kept falling down hee hee, will keep an eye on ur site, bfn.
    kind warm regardz
    peter 'jakkadan' edyvane

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