[ahiru]

ok so I rather have an apple pie instead of a regular dinner meal. or a petit gateau instead of bread in breakfast.
I'm never quite satisfied after a meal if I don't have some sort of desert. I have ice cream, chocolate and all that stuff on daily basis.
my shrink says it's anxiety related (medication is not really helping with it). my homeopathist says it's a symptom of lycopodium needs (doesn't seem to be helping either).
also I never met a diabetic person in such an urge to have sweet stuff (not necessarily junk food) instead of normal food - my mom is diabetic and she hates sweet stuff, my girlfriend is also diabetic and dislikes most of the stuff I eat a lot, and some others. but I happen to love pasta (all those pure carbohydrate stuff).

what could really possible be related to it?

some foods contain ingredients that our minds find pleasurable. pies and desserts contain a lot of fat and fat is an ingredient that our mind finds calming and pleasurable. it is no accident that high fat foods are often called comfort foods. high fat foods are also very filling and satisfy our cravings for more food. finally, high fat foods are full of flavor - they taste really good.

of course, there are also a lot of healthy foods that are very very tasty. berries come to mind. and, eventually, eating a lot of unhealthy food - especially those with unhealthy fats and sugar - will have an effect on our waistline and on the internal workings of our bodies in the form of heart disease and diabetes. eating simple carbs like pasta will also release serotinin in your brain - another feel good, natural drug. sadly, eating too much pasta will increase your triglycerides and give you heart problems.

in short, you eat bad foods because they make you feel good. but that feel good feeling will not last forever. eventually, it will catch up to your body. it is possible, though, to eat a healthy balanced diet and eat a lot of delish healthy foods. there are plenty of healthy cook books and diet books out there to refer to. as far as the unhealthy foods go, eat them only in moderation, e.g., cakes only at celebrations rather than having them everyday. that's a good way to moderate their consumption.

craving comfort foods for emotional satisfaction is just a quick way of meeting your emotional needs without really meeting them. it might be a sign that something good, something pleasurable, is missing in your life. so, ask yourself the question, what is missing from my life that I am replacing with (unhealthy) food?

[ECHOES]

Since starting on a higher dose of medication for low thyroid, I have much less of this.

I stopped snacks for a week - very hard but possible to do. Now, although I have chocolate a few times a week, it's a small amount. I have at least one apple a day and that is crunchy, sweet, and much more filling

Habits are hard to break. Now that I don't want to eat so many sweets, it's hard to slowwwww down when I'm in a craving, and just let it happen without doing anything about it. Yes I want it and it will make me feel better (temporarily - then the guilt and shame can make me feel worse and I can go back to it for more comfort in this vicious cycle).

I try to find other things to do instead, like I did when I stopped smoking:
Take a shower.
Do something with my hands (I do cross stitch, knit, etc).
Eat anything healthy.
Brush my teeth.
Play a computer game.
you get the idea

But I will go back to stating that getting enough sleep and having my thyroid medication dose increased has helped a lot.

[ahiru]

thanks for the replies...
I know I get anxious at times, and I eat more stuff like that when I'm home (not at my girlfriend's), so possibly a way to fulfill my need for her (yes she's a 'sweet'heart!!)...
anyways, I'm doing a blood test soon to check on diabetes/triglycerides just in case.