You’ve been through it many times. Everything was fine until you saw the doughnuts or smelled the popcorn.
Food cues or “triggers” include all those little signals and thoughts that tell you to eat something when you weren’t planning on it.
Many triggers such as the sight, smell or even the taste of food are easy to recognize. But even images of food such as billboards or TV ads can crumble your resolve.
One minute you weren’t even thinking about eating, the next, you can’t stop thinking about it.
Food triggers
You may have conditioned yourself to seek food every time specific things happen. For example, do you automatically head for the refrigerator during TV commercials?
What about after getting a telephone call from your mother? Perhaps you catch sight of a vending machine and start reaching into your pocket for change.
Some triggers, such as those prompted by certain emotions, are very subtle. You might not even realize you are feeling depressed or lonely until you start searching for something to eat.
Triggers can also include situations, people or habits you have associated with food and eating in the past. Think of all the places or events where you might overeat, such as parties, cooking, family reunions, or friendships that revolve around food settings.
Sight of food
Anything that puts tempting food into your line of vision can become a food trigger. When you open the refrigerator door to get a can of soda, you glimpse a tasty leftover.
You weren’t wanting anything to eat until you actually saw the food, then you suddenly realize, “Wow. That looks so good!” Even after you shut the refrigerator door, you’re in trouble because you can’t get the food out of your mind.
Smell of food
At theaters, the snack bars always seem to have a batch of popcorn in process as you arrive for the movie. Theater personnel know that many people can’t resist the aroma of fresh popcorn.
The cinnamon roll bakeries in malls use the same principle. By intermittently putting another pan of rolls in the oven, they almost guarantee you will be lured by the smell of fresh baking.
Taste and texture
When you take second helpings of food at the dinner table, you typically aren’t doing it out of hunger. You wanted to repeat the experience of having the taste or the texture in your mouth.
Taste triggers are what causes us to keep reaching for another cookie or a few more malted milk balls.
People
Often the people around us become a trigger to unplanned eating. Lots of times we’ll match what others are doing such as saying, “If you’re going to order a hamburger and fries, I will too.”
Certain groups of people may have established a routine with always eating pizza or going to a particular restaurant. “It’s simply what we do when we’re together.” These people and events become triggers for you to continue following the same food patterns.
Multiple triggers
At the grocery store, suppose you notice a bag of chocolate candy kisses. You mentally flash back to childhood and recall the fun of pulling the tiny strip of paper that opened the foil, exposing the sweet dark chocolate.
Without realizing it, you add a bag of these candies to your shopping basket. In this case, buying candy kisses may have been triggered not only the sight of food but also by nostalgia, food memories, lonely feelings or the need for nurturing, stress, desire to please and family ties.
How to manage triggers
In your efforts to manage your weight, you need a lot of tricks to stop you from exclaiming, “Why did I eat that?” after it’s too late.
Unexpected food cues are often responsible for the times you slip off your diet plan and eat. To be able to resist these food prompts, you have to recognize and respond to them beforeyou’ve already eaten.
When you do give in to a food trigger, practice looking backward at what was happening right before you started eating.
You might also determine whether you are more likely to be tripped up by external triggers such as the sight of food or internal ones that involve emotional needs.
Once you’ve identified your high-risk areas, determine that you won’t put yourself in situations that involve them.
Don’t tempt yourself in the first place, rather than fight to sustain your willpower. Practice saying NO to your friends, family or co-workers who push you to eat.
Susan described how she learned to manage her peanut butter cravings. “I never buy it any more. I’ve learned to not even bring peanut butter into my house because I keep dipping into it and in three days I finish off the whole jar.”
Here are three simple ways to manage food triggers instead of giving in to them.
1. Avoid them
Whenever you can, avoid triggers by putting distance between you and your high-risk foods. Don’t stock items such as chips, cookies or candy in your home or work setting.
Question the purpose of some of your food items. Do you really need to keep a candy jar on your desk? Is it just a subtle way to get people to like you? If so, look for other ways to build your connections, such as handing out free flowers once a week or sharing books you enjoy.
2. Flee when necessary
Recognize when you are weak and about to give in. Then leave the setting. Take a walk, go home, leave the room, even go to bed if necessary.
3. Brush your teeth
Anytime a food taste gets you started, you risk being triggered to eat more. But you can instantly stop the taste trigger by the simple act of brushing your teeth.
This draws a line in your mouth, decreasing the risk you will put the taste back in.
If you don’t have the option to brush your teeth, eat something with a distinct opposite taste of what you are hooded on.
Try sucking on a lemon wedge or eating a dill pickle to block a sweet or salty taste. Reach for a stick of gum or a strong mint flavored candy.