Have any of you SWITCHED temptation foods? I have always—ALWAYS—been a sweets girl, from earliest childhood until my mid-thirties, and now it’s meat and cheese. It’s not that I don’t still like sweets, but I don’t PROWL for them anymore, I don’t leave the house specifically to get them anymore, I don’t make frantic combinations out of whatever we have in the cupboards (powdered sugar! and peanut butter! and melted chocolate! and pretzels!). Ice cream can sit unbothered in the freezer for a WEEK, easy. (Did you know ice cream gets little crystals on it if it sits in the freezer too long? I DID NOT know that, but now I do.) NOW I prowl/leave for McDonald’s, and leftover pizza in the fridge won’t make it past 7:00 in the morning.
It’s been this way for months and months, so maybe it’s a new stage of life? The Chicken Nugget Years? The only other time of my life I’ve felt this way has been in the first trimester of pregnancy, and so I keep freaking myself out and taking pregnancy tests, but gradually the conclusion is seeping into my dimly-lit brain that perhaps all this is a result of some OTHER hormonal situation, NOT pregnancy but affecting me as that hormonal change affects me, and DEAR TARGET LET IT NOT BE PRE-MENOPAUSE, NOT YET! Maybe it’s just my Pill, but I’ve been on that for ages without this side effect, so who knows. The point is, I have a tip for you, and it is this: If you are planning to eat fast food in a sly and secretive manner, it is easy to dispose of a fast food bag/cup, but hard to dispose of a pizza box. Free advice.
(BTW, I just found this fun chart, which says that when my body is telling me it craves salt, fat, chocolate, and alcohol, what it’s REALLY trying to say is that I want raw goat milk, turnip greens, raw nuts, and potato peel broth! Huh! Well, I’ll try it, but if it works I’m going to be pretty cheesed off at my body for communicating so poorly!)
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Yesterday we went to Walmart and I bought a purple beanbag chair for $15. I hate to see my money going to support Satan’s Gift Shop ‘n’ Bargain Emporium BLESSED BLESSED WALMART WHO WANTS ONLY THE BEST FOR US AND AGAINST WHOM NOT A WORD MUST BE SPOKEN LEST WE SEEM UNGRATEFUL FOR THE WONDERFUL MINIMUM-WAGE JOBS AND LOW LOW PRICES THEY GIVE OUR UNDESERVING COMMUNITIES OUT OF THE PURE GOODNESS OF THEIR FAMILY-ORIENTED HEARTS, but Target doesn’t have packs of men’s handkerchiefs anymore and Walmart does. And Target doesn’t carry Baby Magic soap anymore and Walmart does. And I looked at Target and in THREE pet stores AND at vet’s office for one of those cat-happying pheromone collars, but apparently only Walmart has them. And also we were running low on giant bottles of Tabasco sauce. And there was a cute brown broomstick maxi-skirt in their plus-size women’s department for only $16! And little boy organic cotton 2-piece short-sleeved dinosaur pajamas marked down to $3! Well, and obviously it was essential that we own a $15 purple beanbag chair, OBVIOUSLY.
Oh when you said “DEAR TARGET” I laughed out loud! That is hilarious!
Honestly I think sometimes our bodies just change after a while. I spent the first 25 years of my life with an avid hatred for any form of mustard. Then one day, it sounded good, and lo and behold I liked it.
And I’d say I’m the opposite of you. I never used to care for sweets too much – I was always more interested in savory snacks. Now the scales are starting to even out – I am wanting more sweets, but strangely not less savory. No wonder I can’t lose weight.
Oh, and at my Target yesterday, they had tubes of Burt’s Bees lip balm on clearance for $0.74. In case you’re interested.
I am wondering if the hormone thing might have to do with the fact that you haven’t been pregnant for a long time. Looking at the dates of your children’s births it looks like this is the longest you’ve gone without being pregnant since between William and the twins. Did you experience anything like this in the year or so before you got pregnant with them? I just wonder if your body is just like finally adjusting to not being pregnant? I don’t know if that’s even possible but it sounds like a preferable theory to the pre-menopause one.
I have always ALWAYS been a salty/savory comfort food person. I mean, sweets are good, I like sweets, bring me a cookie! But they’re not THE THING THAT I NEED.
I’d say I like both sweets & “meats” about equally when I crave them. I cannot have brownies in the house when I’m dieting because I will eat the whole pan. I’m about the same as you regarding ice cream. I don’t keep it in the house since I won’t really eat it more than once. If I’m going to have ice cream, I’m going to heavenly Cold Stone Creamery for it.
McDonald’s…I am wistful at the mere mention of it. I would kill for some fries right now.
Although I have always (ALWAYS) loved the meat/cheese/salty stuff, I find that the less sweets I eat/drink, the less I care about them. Take pop for example. I used to CRAVE a pop in the afternoons, but after a few months without them, I couldn’t care less.
I haven’t noticed a similar thing with my pizza/fast food cravings though. Even if I INTENTIONALLY AVOID them for MONTHS, I still want them.
Ice cream rarely stays in our freezer long enough, but have you ever noticed that it sucks up freezer smell kind of like baking soda is supposed to? I have found Vanilla is the worst for this. Bleh.
Interesting: I read this while eating chocolate pudding with mashed up peanut butter cups and pretzel M & M’s. No lie (and I had it BEFORE I saw your post, so there was no power of suggestion there). Obviously, I still do the sweet craving thing at 35; but I also get intense salt cravings every now and again which is definitely a new development.
I’m a sweetaholic. Dh suggested that I just start snorting sugar out of the 5lb bag. My greatest weakness is regular coke. Holy Target (thanks for that I’m stealing it) I can’t get off the stuff.
Satan’s Gift Shop ‘n’ Bargain Emporium made me snort. My friend’s hubby just got fired from their distribution center and they won’t tell him why. I try my best never to shop there.
Swistle! Don’t you dare speak out against Walmart! Their stockholders wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if they thought you were unhappy about their truest intentions to bring love and light into the world. Plus, it spawned peopleofwalmart.com, so it can’t be all that bad.
I’m totally with you, but in reverse. I used to choose pizza over chocolate any day, but now I have a 4-oreo-per-night habit that I can’t seem to kick.
hahahahah!
I’ve stayed pretty true to my cravings of pudding and/or whipped cream-type stuff over the years. Although I will occasionally want some cheese. I think anything comprised of milk is what I desire.
I live in Canada so we don’t have a Target. It makes me sad. I begrudgingly go to Walmart for all my low priced needs.
OH! the SAME THING happened to me! i was a 100% sweets gal, through and through, but over the past year-ish have switched to salty. WHAT IS HAPPENING. (for the record, i am not now nor have i ever been pregnant, and i’m going to turn 30 this year so in theory there is NOTHING HORMONAL going on here. also have been on the pill since the age of 17, no changes there either.)
For years I loved peanut butter with chocolate chips (that’s right, I’d scoop PB out of the jar on a spoon and jam chips in it – classy). Then after my daughter was born in July it was like I took that love to a new level of total addiction. Was eating jars a PB every week. Then, one day it just stopped. Now suddenly I’ve had no craving for my favorite treat at all, for months. Now I want to eat spicy foods all the time – everything must have MORE TABASCO! Frankly, it’s kind of freaking me out. I’m 40 so this is quite possibly the effect of menopause kicking in. Bah.
Need something salty and crunchy with an extra cold Diet Coke. Can’t get enough.
Wal-mart is evil, just like McDonald’s, but sometimes, it is a must do.
“Dear Target” made me laugh out loud, too. And the thought that when I crave chocolate and fat, what I really want is raw goat’s milk and potato peel broth — hahahaha! It sounds like the punchline of joke!
I’m a Sweets Person. I can pass up a million McDonald’s, but have to argue myself out of stopping at the first DQ I see.
About the ice cream in the freezer thing: we almost never finish a container before it gets the crystals in our refrigerator freezer (and popsicles get sticky/slimy). But it takes much longer for them to form in our deep (chest) freezer. I have been told that it is because of the auto defrost thing your fridge freezer does (the deep freeze does no such cycling).
I’m same as you… switched from being a sweet lover to being a salty/savory girl. I totally craved salty foods each time I was pregnant, and those habits just seemed to carry on, I guess. I don’t think there is any possible way you could be experiencing pre-menopause yet!
I switched temptations foods a few years ago. It used to be chocolate/sweets and now it’s chips and dip/chicken wings. I don’t think I’m in peri-menopause yet though!
I still crave sweets most, but sometimes it’s all about salt salt salt: beef jerky, BBQ potato chips, and of late, the kind of hummus that comes festooned with sliced Greek olives. Om nom nom.
Maybe you should just do the adult thing and get your craving tubes tied. Just saying.
You know what has been the singular thought in my head for a good portion of every day for a week? “TWINKIES” They are right there, mocking me from the pantry
Oh Swistle, I love your posts! Usually I’m a salty, savory craver but OMG since my pregnancy I can not get enough chocolate. It’s getting better but maybe that is because I am not keeping bags of Hershey Kisses in the pantry or tubs of Moose Tracks in the freezer!
omg – that picture!!! SOOOOO SWEEEET! You obviously really needed that chair, even if you had to go to wm to get it!
Oh Swistle. That craving solution just about made me PEE MY PANTS. My cravings change so frequently, I can’t hardly keep up with them. Also, if I get a taste of something, then I crave it MORE. Like, I might think I want french fries. Then I get a taste of a brownie. And NOPE, all I want is CHOCOLATE. In short: I crave whatever bad foods might be available to me at any given moment.
I love that food chart:
So, if I’m really, really hungry for mustard greens and broccoli, does that mean my body needs a Coke and a bag of potato chips?
I never had much of a sweet tooth, my go-to snack has always been microwave popcorn (the good buttery stuff.) But when I was pregnant with my daughter I spent 9 months eating every single sugar-laden baked good I could find, and that craving for sweets hasn’t entirely gone away even two years later. I still mostly prefer salty snacks, but I crave the sweet stuff a lot more than I used to.
You know what I bought yesterday at Walmart? A pair of $10.00 khaki shorts with an elastic waist. Best. purchase. ever.
Maddie got a purple bean bag chair for her birthday, but ours came from my lovah Target. I crave bread, a nice crusty baguette (cuz I’m uppity) and cheese. Before kids, the first day of my period would have me spreading french bread with cream cheese, stacking on slices of cheddar, swiss and sometimes gouda and eating my super cheese sandwich. I could eat warm bread with perfect temperature butter all day. The butter should spreadable, but not all melty. Oh, hi crazy, I will shut my self up now.
Ahh Walmart…what a love/hate relationship. I will say the purple beanbag looks lovely with the beloved chair!
Dude, potato peel broth? I don’t ever need to think about that nasty concoction again.
Are you depressed/anxious about NOT being pregnant?
I hate to get all Geneen Roth on you, but I think you can trace this craving change back to the day you were drinking black coffee while your kids ate nuggets. She claims deprivation leads to binging…so maybe this is just your nugget karma.
I am right there with you on switching the cravings. I have always been a sugar-holic, and when watching my weight, would generally just (BLUSH) skip most of the MEAL in order to enjoy dessert. Yeah. And ever since this baby hit my tummy? All I want is steak and cheeseburgers and sausage-y breakfast sandwiches. And also VEGETABLES. I crave BROCCOLI and TOMATOES.
But the sugar is just kind of there- if I still have room and it sounds yum I’ll have some dessert, but it isn’t like this big mental thing of “don’t eat too much buttery mashed potato because you have to save room for the PIE!” like it used to be. Now I’m all, “Hello, butter, my new friend!”
That chair is Cute! I feel the same way about that store! Avoid at all costs!
I have been looking for a bean bag chair that wasn’t $30 for 2 months now. Ugh. Of course right now I can’t buy them. Anyway, I’ve never been a sweets girl, but lately chocolate has been calling to me.
Oh! The STOOL! The stool of cuteness!
Daysgoby – OMG RIGHT?? Home Goods, $14.99. I love it so much.