You don’t have to satisfy cravings

[2023a]

I’m getting a bit annoyed by people who go in about their ‘uncontrollable’ cravings. They are controllable.

Unless you’re pregnant (in which case, do what you need to do) or have a mental health condition, you don’t need to eat or drink everything you want to eat or drink. The fact that you want a litre of Diet Coke doesn’t mean you have to have a litre of Diet Coke.

This all seems very basic, but it seems some people don’t understand this. All this ‘how do I control my cravings?’ Just have the cravings? Not giving yourself said ‘treat’ won’t kill you.

Yeah I think OP has accidentally stumbled on something legitimate within mindfulness. I think it is actually used to work with addicts.

You try and observe your feeling (or craving) without judging it or pushing it away. You just ride it out like a wave.

After a while you realise you can endure it, and it loses power over you.

I think it's about feeling your feelings rather than stuffing them down with an addictive behaviour to numb it.

So I don't think the OP is unreasonable, but there was probably a better way to approach the topic.

Oh don't be so ridiculous!

anderson-review.ucla.edu/new-study-disavows-marshmallow-tests-predictive-powers/

Quite a lot of doubt about whether the marshmallow test actually predicts anything. (Obv that doesn’t make your broader point wrong.)

(One sweet now, Vs two sweets later experiment). Really really important to teach our kids delayed gratification if they don't work it out for themselves.

I think this is not considered good science nowadays as eg child might be from poor household, or a disruptive one, also adhd and autism can affect how dopamine is controlled.

I would definitely have taken the first sweet in case something happened some emergency, forgetful adult, older brother nicked it (most likely) etc which seems quite reasonable to me.

I agree with this. Cravings are surmountable but not as easy as OP makes out. Everyone has different challenges to overcome and food addictions can be huge for some people.

If I eat something I don’t actually need, I try to eat it mindfully, concentrating on how much I’m actually enjoying it and whether I’ve satisfied the craving by having it.

Sometimes the craving remains after I’ve finished it, meaning I shouldn’t have bothered in the first place. Sometimes, it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped. Sometimes, I’ll feel sluggish or lethargic later on as a result.

Now when I get a craving, I try to remember how I felt last time I had the food and most of the time, I decide it won’t be worth it. The less junk I eat, the less cravings I have for it.

I’m not perfect, I eat really well most of the time and hardly snack at all, but yesterday I thought ‘fuck it’, and ate a couple of biscuits, a large piece of chocolate, a packet of crisps and two drumstick lollies amongst all my usual healthy meals.

None of those things scratched the itch I was having and my bike ride home was hard work…so I’ll remember that today.

OP you might as well say, other people are fools for having lower dopamine levels than me. Dopamine dictates whether you can control cravings.

Thanks for showing you completely misunderstand mental health, potential food addictions and the chemicals which affect ‘cravings’

The OP is definitely sat eating a sharing pack of Maltesers as they read this thread

I’m guessing the OP has only ever had cravings when she was pregnant which is why she’s allowing people who are pregnant to give in to them.

Wholeheartedly agree with this

The trick is to be mindful of how you will feel after giving in to the craving v if you allow that craving just to be.

Resisting the feeling, by giving in to it, causes it to persist, making it stronger. Allowing it to exist, causes its power to dissipate.

I wish I had understood this much, much earlier in my life. Glad to have got there at last.

There's dopamine levels which differ between us and which allow us greater or lesser control.

However sugar is also "the carer's addiction" - you can numb bad feelings but have no comedown that impacts your ability to work, have a relatively even mood, parent your children etc. Who are you to say, OP, that people are wrong for making decisions that work for them in the moment? Maybe their lives are intolerable otherwise.

Also there are systemic problems causing poverty linked obesity in this country, not just cravings.