This café has a conveyor belt that serves all-you-can-eat dessert right to your table.
In it, he discusses how our hunger and fullness signals do not respond to processed foods or foods with a lot of seductive components (ie…fat, sugar, and starch all together like baked foods). This is why we can be full and “satiated” but still “make room” for dessert.
It’s super compelling…and I couldn’t help but think how UNhelpful a revolving dessert belt would be to those of us trying to hear hunger and satiety signals!
Does this mean you never have dessert again?
No…for me, it means….
A. They are treats, not everyday fare.
The Trifacta (sugar, fat, flour) has to be even more rare. So, for example, I would eat a single serve candy bar over a Little Debbie.
My flour/sugar/fat combo days are becoming more and more rare–not only because they are super calorie dense (i.e. lots of calories in a tiny package)–but also because I know what they do to my cravings.
(Um….don’t roll your eyes….if you do any of these 15 things, you believe calories matter at least a little!)
To put it in simple terms (I’m still making my way through the book a little at a time as it is complex!)….
1) We eat something super seductive (my trifacta foods–pie, brownies, cupcakes, cake, donuts, baked goods).
2) Dopamine is released (a habit chemical) that tells the brain “This is good stuff. We need all of these ingredients more often!”
3) We know the next time we have that type of food, we will feel good again…and again…and again.
4) Dopamine makes sure that we know we love and need that food….it rewards us in a way, but more importantly, it establishes that food as a reinforcement/habit.
5) The more frequently we have that food, the more dopamine. (This means that if we spread out our occasion of having that food, we will forget the reward/reinforcement to a certain extent…a good reason for me to have that “trifacta treat” less often!)
B. Not. In. The. Home. Period.
I know this doesn’t work for families with kids (in that case, if I had to buy treats, I would buy what I don’t like). I will drive to the gas station and get a single donut or single serve pack of cookies before I would have an entire package at home.
(Have you heard the saying, “Say no at the grocery, and you only have to say no once?”)
Single serving is huge in terms of treats. Go to your favorite bakery and buy that one amazing cupcake or that one incredible piece of pie. Eat it at the end of your eating window. And be done.
Check out Broadcast #49 about Craving Combinations/Seductive Foods!
And….be more selective….
C. So….maybe we should be more selective with our treats?
Can we consume treats for our treat times that are not so seductive?
Treats that we still love but have fewer “addictive” qualities?
Treats that we can have sometimes without feeling like we need more and more and more…and we need them right now?
We have the power to help ourselves manage our weight by balancing our hormones, eating less frequently, going without food for a while….and not seeking such dopamine (reward) hits so frequently and with such intense foods.
I’m working on it….I want to help you work on it too!
Stay with me…we’ll get it all figured out together!
Let’s “feel great and live well,”
Donna
P.S. If you’re new to fasting, learn more in my free one hour upcoming webinar, “Ten Intermittent Fasting Questions!“
P.S.S. Have you seen my new Fast Shot Video Index at the blog? Find what you want quickly!
