Quote:
Originally posted by sigmagrrl
The one thing I just want others to understand is that food issues for some is NOT as simple as "Just don't eat it."
For some, food is an addiction. It is/was for me. It always will be.
I really want people to understand this. People drink and take drugs for various reasons, and people eat for various reasons.
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There is such a thing as "cravings" for what is in a food rather than JUST the foodstuff itself... At least at the biochemical level.
So like if you crave "chocolate cake"--you may not be craving all the stuff that goes into the cake--specially the calories, but you are craving the epicatechin--the flavonoids that makes chocolate tastes like chocolate... Or the sucrose--the sugar that make things sweet...
IMHO, that is what we get addicted to, not the actual foodstuff, but the chemical that causes a "reaction" if you will that we have learned to associate with some level of pleasure and acceptance... Just like a herion and crack needs that high, so some of us need that one little chemical in a food that gets us our high--and heightens our weight...
For me, creamy things--the rich and creamy stuffs. Ice cream, creme brulee, etc. It is something in "milky" substances that I love--probably the whey or sodium caseinate--because it contains the amino acid tryptophan that makes me feel happy--a natural anti-depressant... But the fat of milk causes me to gain weight...
So, I tricked my body by drinking soy milk or rice milk. I still have the tryptophan cravings, but at least it limits my desire for the fat in milk... But now, the Silk folks are adding sodium caseinate to their food and it is really no longer considered "vegan"...