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Empowered Patient

Train your brain to crave healthy foods

By Elizabeth Cohen, Senior Medical Correspondent
August 5, 2011 -- Updated 1336 GMT (2136 HKT) Recommend 6,777 people recommend this. Be the first of your friends.

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Today's five m ost popular stories

Wendy Fox sw itched the M&M's in her coffee table bow l for brightly colored marbles.

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The brain is w ired to pick up on signs that calorie-rich foods are nearby Research also show s that cravings are influenced by our environment But it's possible to sw itch your cravings from fatty foods to healthy foods

(CNN) -- Looking back on it, Wendy Fox thinks it was the M&M's that did her in. They sat in a glass bowl on her living room table, taunting her every time she walked by, seemingly calling out for her to scoop up a few and eat them. Eat them she did, as well as anything else chocolaty that crossed her path, such as a brownie at her favorite restaurant or a mocha drink at Starbucks. Fox's chocolate cravings (and three pregnancies) helped her gain 40 pounds in her 30s.

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"It wasn't pretty," says Fox, 41, a real estate agent in Weston, Massachusetts. Unhappy with her growing figure -- she'd gone from a size 4 to a size 10 -- Fox watched as her mother lost 30 pounds. Her mother, who also craves sweets, had attended a program with nutritionist Susan Roberts at Tufts University to curb cravings and suggested Fox do the same. "At my first meeting with Sue, I told her, 'You've met your challenge,' " Fox remembers with a laugh. Roberts, author of "The Instinct Diet," explained to Fox that there's a biological reason most of us crave ice cream and not broccoli, but we can unlearn our instincts. It worked. After 14 months, Fox now craves salads instead of M&M's, has lost 36 pounds and is back down to a size 4. The caveman's instinct "For most of human history, people didn't have enough to eat, so fat

was something you really needed to seek out," says Marcia Pelchat, a food psychologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. To avoid dying in a famine, the brain is wired to pick up on signs that calorie-rich foods are nearby, which helps explain why that piece of cake on the plate in front of you is so irresistible, or why seeing a sign for a doughnut shop draws you in even when you know you need to watch your diet. "It's analogous to a drug addict who's gone through rehab, but when he walks by that abandoned crack house he suddenly thinks about going in again," Pelchat says. Pelchat adds, however, that while we're born with certain cravings, there's also evidence we start to crave whatever we eat in large quantities. She found this when she put study subjects on a vanillaflavored drink low in saturated fat. After consuming it every day for two weeks, about a third of the subjects reported craving the drink, even though she says, "It was chalky and not very yummy." Research in Japan also shows that cravings are influenced by our environment. A study at Tohoku University found that many Japanese women crave sushi. "These findings suggested that the craving for some kind of food is influenced by the tradition of food products and cultures," the authors concluded. 'Chocolate makes me nauseous!' It was tough at first, but Fox, once a chocoholic, now hardly ever craves chocolate. "I couldn't believe it, but last night we were at a friend's house for dinner and when they served dessert, I thought, 'I can't wait to go home and have a bowl of high-fiber cereal.' " Her biggest craving now is for salad. "I make one every night for dinner -- leafy greens and chopped up cucumbers. I don't use dressing -- just a little bit of olive oil and salt and pepper, because I crave a natural taste," she says. "This is such a huge difference for me." Every so often, Fox says she gets a "ping" for chocolate. But then when she eats it, it makes her feel sick. "I can just taste the butter in the first bite. It makes me nauseous, which is so weird, because I'm the M&M girl!" she says. "I think a lot of it is psychological. I worked so hard to get where I am that I don't want to go back there. A brownie's not going to take me down!" Judith Beck, a psychologist and president of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy in Pennsylvania, says she has noticed the same phenomenon when her patients have given up foods they used to crave. "They didn't like the sensation of greasy foods in their mouths, and sometimes foods high in sugar started to taste too sweet," she says. Learning to crave salad Here are three steps toward switching your cravings from fatty foods to healthy foods. 1. Clean out your cupboards Fox removed all signs of chocolate from her home. She replaced the M&M's in the glass bowl with pretty marbles, and if she buys chocolate for a special occasion, she gets rid of it immediately. "I just had a party for my kids and we made ice cream sundaes. As soon as it was over, I gave the leftover hot fudge to my neighbors," she says. 2. Carry around healthy foods

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Fox carries apples in her purse and keeps a box of high-fiber cereal in her car so she can dig in whenever a chocolate craving hits. 3. Bury craved foods in the middle of a meal For the first two weeks, Roberts tells dieters to avoid eating unhealthy craved foods altogether, in the hopes of helping them unlearn the craving. After two weeks, she tells them they can have 100 calories of that food in the middle of the meal. "I call it the sandwich technique," she says. "If you eat chocolate at the beginning of a meal when you're really hungry, your brain will think -- associate chocolate with feeling satiated and happy. If you put it at the end of the meal, your brain will remember it as the last delicious thing you tasted."

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281 comments
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Community Hilreal

2 years ago

If all I have to look forward to is a bowl of lettuce with olive oil on it and a bowl of straw, just shoot me now! Quality of life is just as important as quantity. The French eat all kids of high calorie / high fat food and you hardly ever see a chubby Frenchman. But they don't sit on their butts watching Dancing with the Stars either.
48

29

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A Mc Caffrey

> Hilreal
Share

2 years ago

The French eat kids?! Sorry, I know it's a typo - I couldn't resist.

S ubs is t

> Hilreal

2 years ago

Actually, the French and most of Europeans sit on their butt far more than you'd think. They only work like 30 hour weeks. They know what moderation is though.
29

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rommm

> Hilreal

2 years ago

Subsist, the French are healthier BECAUSE they only work 30 hrs a week more time to be active instead of sitting at a desk for 60 hrs like we do.
20 Share

Johnny S mit h0

> Hilreal

2 years ago

That's because the French eat relatively healthy... that is, compared to the typical American diet. You are what you eat. And good luck when you do get some heart disease and cancer later in your life.
6

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Gues t

> Hilreal

2 years ago

jamsandwich, we kind of laugh at the huge plates in some parts of the USA. The ONLY decent food along toll roads by the east coast was whole, not so fresh apples. People were huge....I mean huge.
1

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Gues t

> Hilreal

2 years ago

gfdfgddfg is right on... Yiu are what you eat. I too started with a high fiber diet and progressed from there. I am no longer dieting and do not eat processed or fast foods as a rule. Go natural and expand on foods from other cultures. Discover what is chemically made and learn...the internet is a great source. I lost weight, have more energy and enjoy my food. The secret is you do not have to avoid fats...just find out the 'real' healthy' fats.
Share

jams andwic h

> Hilreal

2 years ago

Ufly t ony

But how do you think that they can have four or eight course meals - the portions are sensible size and the idea is to enjoy your food not stuff your face. Americans think of quantity over quality. Somehow Americans seem to think entrees should be so big you can't eat an appetizer or dessert. In France an entree is small so even a skinny girl can eat an appetizer or dessert without problem. Oh and the restaurant makes more profit too cos they've sold more plates
Share

2 years ago

LOL.."train your brain to crave healthy food" That's like "praying away the gay".
39

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S andy V C

> Uflytony

2 years ago

No, it isn't. There is a scientific basis for this. You can retrain your taste buds with effort. Just because you want to spend your life telling yourself that you cannot stop drinking cheap beer with potato chips does not mean it is inevitable.
9

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Deniz enK at e 2

> Uflytony

2 years ago

Actually, it isn't. There's logic and science involved.

Share

B ay s ox Fan

2 years ago

"Wendy Fox switched the M&M's in her coffee table bowl for brightly colored marbles." Because everyone knows marbles are a more healthy food than M&Ms.
37

10

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s pork 2009

> BaysoxFan
Share

2 years ago

I think she actually lost her marbles

not at ion 5

> BaysoxFan
Share

2 years ago

You guys should stick to watching Sesame Street.

Jus t A Drift er 3

> BaysoxFan

2 years ago

Good lord, it's a joke, notation. Which was clearly lost on you.
Share

not at ion

> BaysoxFan

2 years ago

Twenty-three idiots "liked" this? The point is obviously lost on all of you. Having a bowl of candy sitting out increases the temptation; replacing it with a non-food item removes the visual stimulus to eat.

a non-food item removes the visual stimulus to eat.

3

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Jus t A Drift er

> BaysoxFan

2 years ago

luvc omment s

(Btw notation... in your other posts I agree with you.... Not picking on you. Y so serious?)
Share

2 years ago

Learning to eat healthy foods is easy. Learning how to afford them is somethin' else.
36

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Gues t

> luvcomments

2 years ago

The only way is to bite the bullet and say to yourself, I am eating poison when choosing to eat cheap processed foods. That worked for me. Another thought that can be helpful is deciding to live with quality of live.... when I am over 75, I want to feel like I do in my 50-60... scary, but it is the truth.
1 A rago

Share

2 years ago

It is hard to eat healthy when one person wants junk in the house and the other doesn't.
32

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not at ion

> Arago

2 years ago

Oh, that's really helpful, peter. How about the one who wants to lose weight ask his/her partner to be helpful and eat junk food only outside the home--while at work or at restaurants, for example?
18

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Johnny S mit h0

> Arago

2 years ago

lol petercha the "tough-guy bad-ass". Of course, he has all the self-control in the world...
5

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pet erc ha 2

> Arago

2 years ago

Sounds like you have no self-control, Arago. Just ignore the other food.
Share

Gues t

> Arago

2 years ago

Gues t 31

I have asked my daughter and husband to keep dry junk food away from my view. If for some reason I find them in direct view, even peaking out of their bags, I have trained mysef to have 1-2 medium bites. I have this theory that if our nutritonal needs are propped up on intervals, we can leave the empty junk food more alone more easily.
Share

2 years ago

You know that high that runners get? I can do that with pizza.

Share

123what everu

> Guest

2 years ago

Pizza is good. Just take the meat off and load it with veggies.

Share

JimFox vog

> Guest
Share

2 years ago

Pizza made with low fat cheese and whole grain flour is healthy! And tastes better.
4

S t eveChic ago 28

2 years ago

I believe it is also known as self control.

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Not s hort 28

2 years ago

I just read this while digging into a pizza.

Share

c oc oc at 7

> Notshort
Share

2 years ago

Burial or cremation?

Gues t

> Notshort

2 years ago

pac ny muH 26

no doubt it was vegetarian, with feta cheese, on brown with just 'more than' minimal oil source being coconut or olive oils with fresh sprigs of herbs....yummy
Share

jojo9696

> Notshort
Share

2 years ago

did you eat the whole thing?

2 years ago

After she gained 40 lbs she became a size 10?? How tall is she? 4 foot 9??

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V ladP is t off 24

2 years ago

I will never crave a salad more than a meat-lovers pizza and beer.
Share

Gues t

> VladPistoff
Share

2 years ago

B Mary land 22

oh oh, you better watch that waistline. You may want to consider going to the gym daily and through in weight training.

2 years ago

Size 10 is fat???

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romapc

> BMaryland
Share

2 years ago

Depends on your high. I am 5' 2" and at size 10 I was fat! My ideal sizes are 2 and 4.
6

pauly 16 5

> BMaryland
Share

2 years ago

If you are 5 feet tall

Lauret h 2

> BMaryland
Share

2 years ago

I was thinking the same thing.

B Mary land 2

> BMaryland
Share

2 years ago

Well thank god I'm not 5' tall then! :)

max t la2010

2 years ago

I just lost about 40 pounds. I feel for anyone who is going through it and in no way is it ever easy. I also don't rip on anyone who keeps trying and can't lose weight because for some people it is just too much. Also, I was well overweight for a very long time, but I never gave up trying and eventually just found that right bit of motivation. Unfortunately, there is no easy way out right now; you have to eat less than what your body craves (meaning you essentially have to starve yourself slightly) and you should exercise because it helps you gain more energy, keeps you healthy, helps you lose weight faster, and helps you keep the weight off when you go back to a normal amount of calories.
21

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not at ion

> maxtla2010

2 years ago

Says ECU, who's so well-educated he/she can't figure out when to use "you're"instead of "your". Not eating at all will accomplish nothing. Your body will react by conserving fat to avoid what it senses is starvation.
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E CUpirat es 09

> maxtla2010

2 years ago

Stop eating, it is that easy. Drink water and take vitamins. Your body can go over two weeks without food. Your just hungry, not dying.
1

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2 years ago

defender9000 20

Chocolate comes from the cocoa bean. So really it's just beans. It's healthy.

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romapc

> defender9000

2 years ago

The cocoa powder is good, you can find it in the baking alley. Mix one teaspoon with milk ( I use soy or almond milk) and add a little vanilla and maybe a little sugar in the raw...delicious and not fattening at all.
7

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s c oopers

> defender9000

2 years ago

Cocoa "beans" are actually the fatty seeds of the fruit of the cacao tree, they are not beans. Beans, or legumes, have many toxic properties, some of which can be removed from proper preparation, but saying that beans are generally "healthy", isn't exactly correct either.
3

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(null)

> defender9000
Share

2 years ago

Chocolate is from the cacao after adding loads of sugar and heating it up to 500 degrees to kill all the nutrients then processing the hell out of it....
1

laby rint ha

> defender9000

2 years ago

Scoopers, virtually everything is toxic in sufficient quantities (including water). Saying beans have toxic properties is just silly, since anything potentially toxic in edible legumes (like we see at the super market) is not available in sufficient enough quantities to be toxic to the average person.
1 romapc

Share

2 years ago

I can relate... I eliminated everything that made me fat from my cupboards. Now I load my shopping carts with fruits, veggies, beans, whole grains and soy milk. When I have a piece of chocolate, the first thing I taste is the fat and I feel nauseous. Wht I do now when I crave chocolate, is to add a tablespoon of 100% cocoa powder to a glass of silk vanilla soy milk and mix well. I like it like that. BTW I went from size 12 all the way back to my old size 2.
19

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romapc

> romapc

2 years ago

I meant a teaspoon of cocoa powder, a tablespoon would make it bitter.

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