Do you get cravings just from seeing pictures of food or names of food?

[likelysuspect]

I do

Just on another thread and a poster is called Pistachiocake

So now I want pistachios, cake AND pistachio cake.

The same thing happens if I see the word burger, or pizza etc

Im not even hungry and going to bed now with a cup of tea. In fact just writing cup of tea then makes me think of biscuits!!!

Not since I cut out cake, biscuits, chocolate. I don't crave all that crap anymore.

I'm not an anti UPF nut because a lot of the science is just rehashing what we already know about macronutrients but one thing I found is the biscuits that seem so delicious, the chocolate. Imagine all of the shelves of the tempting foods in the supermarket but without the packaging.

Unless added colours are involved it's a sea of brown.

But compare that with the fresh fruit aisle which doesn't need fancy packaging to look good.

I do.
So so so glad to know i am not alone.
I watch those M&S adverts and I am straight up heading to the kitchen! Or I watch an Instagram recipe and straight away, i am desperate to eat whatever it is. Last week was a beijing beef recipe and it looked so delicious. I was up and into the kitchen. Initial plans for dinner got abandoned and we had Beijing beef with Thai jasmine rice.

If someone mentions S&V McCoys, or I think about them, I start salivating like Pavlov’s Dogs 😂

I dont buy UPFs, I make my own cakes!!!

I do buy good chocolate.

I cant eat pizza and dont eat burgers

Doesnt make any difference though, I still crave them!

I dont believe that not eating UPFs ends cravings for everyone, it hasnt for me, but then I love my own cooking. Like pistachios, cake and pistachio cake.

Having said that I ate a bag of OH's scampi fries last week, so you cant get more UPF than that.

Yes exactly this, Im constantly cooking new things and creating new things, flavour bombs.

Melting cheese does it as well, theres an advert for something at the moment, some sort of cheese melting all over stuff. Lovely.

Yep. I’m slim (bmi 18.5) but as soon as I see a bowl of cereal on the tv I want one. The adverts remind me of the possibilities in my cupboard. I mainly resist however.

Yes I resist, I dont even have biscuits in the house for example as we dont really eat them (Oh does occasionally) but earlier today I saw a plate of biscuits on a programme, and instantly craved them. Theres a lot of foods I cant eat so not eating them regularly but doesnt stop me wanting them when my attention is drawn to them!

Like Pavlov's dog? No.

I 'might' think about the item, but wouldn't then crave it. Even more so if it was something I didn't even have the in the house so couldn't get easily.

I didn't say anything about not eating UPFs. This is why I think the UPF chat is BS and any health impacts are more liked to macronutrient composition than a specific impact of processing. Your home made cakes will continue you wanting more just as much as a shop bought one.

Perhaps I didn't explain myself well enough earlier. What you eat, drives what you want to eat. There is emerging research that cravings are driven by what microbes are present in your gut, they release chemicals which drive you to want more of what they want.

Your Candy Cravings Might Be Controlled by This Gut Bacterium | Scientific American

By changing your diet, you can fairly quickly change your microbiome. So by increasing fibre, and reducing sugar.

So my point being, your cakes that you eat, the chocolate you eat, even if it's "good" chocolate, will influence bacteria in your gut which will cause you to be more susceptible to chocolate and cake cravings.

Pictures and video don’t affect me, but reading about a character eating something in a book can set off an urge for me. I might go several days before I’d act on it.

Because of a health need I have my macros are precise so thats not why that is happening for me, its just the way the brain works. I have low sugar and just about enough fibre, although that could improve but I cant eat bulk so it will have to do for now.

While I do make my own cakes, I was giving an example, I dont think I have cooked one for a couple of months now, and was thinking the other day that I need to make one soon.

So you've eaten no sugar and refined carbs for 2 months? I'm really unclear, this seems to be bouncing around from "I can't resist cravings" to "well actually I really can".

Yes I do if I see, smell or hear anything about food I’m immediately focusing on wanting to eat.

I didnt say I hadnt had any sugar at all, no, I said I have low sugar and I have minimal refined carbs because a lot of them I cant digest and eat. I didnt say I couldnt resist at all, I said I still have the cravings. Having them and acting on them are completely different things and sometimes the two do combine.

Thankfully theres nothing here today to act on.

Im simply asking if pictures and TV have the same effect on others, its just a chat.

Not at all.

No, I’ve never had this, I might think that looks nice, but it’s fleeting, it doesn’t make me want it immediately or anything. And certainly not just hearing the word.

Yes! Cake, frosting and icing will send me right over the edge!

Thats very interesting, it must be preference based rather than the ingredients per se

So if its plain cake, or fruit cake, it has that effect, but if I see chocolate cake it makes me feel a bit sicky a I dont like it

On the other hand pictures of frosting and icing makes my teeth ache!!

I know what you mean! I think because I'm on such a restrictive diet, I have started to crave sugar. I even dream of donuts and cakes. Before this diet, I didn't even eat sweetcorn! Help me lol

Not generally but if I see people drinking a glass of wine on the TV I really want a glass! I don’t drink every day or even every week so it’s quite weird.

One of my favourite scenes is 'how to marry a millionaire' and Betty Grable dreaming of hot dogs and onions

MMMM I can just smell and taste that now as well

Again very interesting, I dont really drink, the odd drink here and there, like tonight for example. But if I see a small thimble size of some sort of dark liqueur or glass of red wine (I dont drink red wine), in an old fashioned style room in front of a fire, and Im really craving it. Even though I dont drink those things. Incredible.

I do drink the odd white wine, but if I see white wine somewhere, or a gin and tonic which I also drink, I dont crave those. I wonder why?

I’m not sure, but it must be something reward/dopamine related - triggering a positive memory.