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Type 2 How long does temptation last?

T

tantalus

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Borderline type 2, so I still allow myself an odd sweet treat. This is a question asked out of curiosity.

I have a kitchen safe - which is a plastic box with a timing mechanism. The idea is that you can take a biscuit (or whatever you keep in the safe) then set the timer for a period, during which it will be locked. So you can stop the runaway munchies - it might be 8 hours before you can have another biscuit.

This has worked well. But what I have found is that it doesn't matter how long I actually set the timer - as long as it is more than an hour.

Without the safe, if I have one or two biscuits, it is quite likely I'll go through the packet.

With the safe, and using periods of 4-8 hours, the biscuits are out of the way, so it doesn't bother me.

With the safe, set only to 1 hour, I find that by the time the safe has opened, I am not that fussed about having another biscuit. I usually haven't even thought about whether it has opened or not. As long as the treats are not available to me soon after eating the first one or two, I have no cravings.

Of course, this may all be in my mind (although I don't care, if it works). But is there a physiological reason why this may be?
 
I don't really have an answer for your question but where do you buy a biscuit safe? Sounds amazing
 
I find not buying the biscuits in the first place stops me eating them
There is still some temptation to buy them when in the supermarket but that's only once or twice a week.
 
I stopped buying things like that and after a couple of years never even think of them.
Hubby has biscuits in the house but it does not occur to me to want to eat them. Likewise popcorn and honey roast cashews. I just have my pork scratchings if I want a crunch.
 
I also just don’t keep things in the house that I don’t want to eat. The need to snack has decreased but I keep a stash of pork crackling and small packets of nuts just in case. I have also identified tasty low carb snacks in various supermarkets and shops so it’s easy to grab something while I’m out if necessary.

I did try a milk chocolate I was given as part of a meal on a train and couldn’t finish it as I found it way too sweet - that has helped to persuade me that I don’t want those things any more.
 
The longer you have treat-carbs the longer you will crave them. This is what I have found. I still buy the treats for my family so they are in plain sight, I just do not have any of them. It took about 3-4 months for the cravings to finally stop. Don't get me wrong, I would love a treat-carb but I have them only on high days and holidays now.
 
For me it required a complete change of mindset.

I don’t think about what I can’t eat, so that got rid of temptation.

I’m sitting here now in an office surrounded by biscuits and cakes, cos it’s Friday so people have to buy them.

Not for one second have I considered even eating one. To me they are no different to the paper in front on me on my desk, inedible things that I don’t consider as food.
 
I sat in a staff room full of overweight people, and watched them mindlessly passing around pots of 'treats' to have with their tea or coffee. They hardly looked at what their hands were doing as they pulled out little chunks of carbs and put them in their mouths, chew, swallow, and repeat when another pot came around. On one side of the room there were five pots, so people ate five things, on the other there were three and they just ate three - so it seemed their eating was governed purely by chance.
I did wonder it - had the pots not been there - if they would have missed them at all.
 
L0llyp0p said:
I don't really have an answer for your question but where do you buy a biscuit safe? Sounds amazing
Click to expand...

Amazon stock them, although at the moment their range is limited - normally they come in a variety of bright colours, but currently they only stock white. To see the full range, google "Kitchen Safe".
 
Clearly you are mostly made of sterner stuff than me.

But I would say - if you can have an occasional treat without worry (which is the case with me, using my Kitchen Safe), why on earth not?

The fact is that I can have a packet of biscuits in my kitchen for weeks and not want one - even an open packet. From day to day, I have no cravings. The only time I do is just after I have eaten one. Before hand, I can make sensible decisions, like deciding (based on what kind of biscuit) whether I will have one or two. After I have munched, that is when I have a craving for more. Which - as I say - disappears completely if I can put the temptation out of reach for just an hour.

My method works fine, I was merely curious if it was psychological or physiological in nature.
 
Doesn't help with the kids, I guess, but it being fairly expensive works for me. No way am I going to force it open just for a biscuit!
 
If it’s any help, I tell myself that I WON’T have the thing rather than CAN’T have it. It becomes an active choice rather than something you’re denied, and for some reason that sits better in my mind. Usually if I’m told (even by myself) that I can’t have something, I want it all the more...
 
I had avoided many "naughty" treats by thinking I won't have it now but if I still want it later I'll eat it.

Usually I just forget...
 
If you can avoid them for weeks and don't crave them or think about them until you've had one then why have that one in the first place? - just don't have them at all - no craving. Treats don't have to be about something sweet, carbs or indeed food at all.

This is what works for me - I don't have a sweet tooth but ADORE pasta and pizza with a passion and they are my "trigger" foods so just don't touch them at all - haven't had any of these for nearly 9 years. But tell myself I can have them whenever I want - just not today

We went out New Year's Eve for the first time in 20 years to a pasta pizza place - knew we were going for weeks. Gonna have a pizza says me, its new year, a one off, planned it so it's okay. Went read the menu, picked my pizza (got proper giddy oooh pizzza- gonna be eating pizza) waiter came over - can I have a.............. sirloin steak rare and green salad please - that's when I knew I'd beaten my addiction (or was I just too scared? Lol)
 

Because I want one. Because, once in a while, I like to enjoy a biscuit, or similar, with a cup of tea. And, as noted above, I can indulge in this happily, without it being any problem at all, because of my kitchen safe.

Note that "want" is different from "crave". My first biscuit is because I want it, and at that time, all I want is one biscuit, which my diet allows for. The crave is what can happen after I have eaten it. The bit I find curious is:-

After I have eaten one biscuit, if I know more are available (i.e. unlocked) then I crave for another, and I would often give in to that crave.
However, if the biscuits are in the safe, and out of reach, then (a) the craving seems much less, and (b) it disappears within an hour.

My managing of what I eat works just fine. My only reason for posting was curiousity about what mechanisms might be involved.
 
Ok - glad it works for you -wasn't being critical or meaning to offend sorry if you took it that way - yes I agree want is different from craving but as you asked about the mechanics of it I tried to convey that you can avoid the crave if you dodge the want
 

Not offended at all, merely bemused by the responses.

I guess everyone is different, and what works for one might not for others.

For a long time I went down the self-denial route, and all that happened is that I would break every few months and end up bingeing. I host regular meetups of friends at my house (two different groups of friends, actually - boardgame sessions, and music jams), and I tell folk that I'll provided lunch and teas and coffees, but if they want cakes/biscuits/sodas "feel free to bring them, but please take them away as well". But occasionally someone would leave behind a packet of something, and if I was ever tempted, I found I had little control.

I've been using the Kitchen Safe now for over a year, and it helps me save such treats for special times, when I feel like it, without the worry of overdoing it.

I should add that my Safe is the XL version, and so contains a variety of stuff - so yes, biscuits (usually those that come wrapped individually or as pairs), but also single-portion packs of nuts, raisins and other snacks. It's not all sugar. I have a fondness for Graze, although - ironically - I tend to find their flapjacks and cake items a bit too sweet for my taste.
 
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