So long ho-ho

Chocolate, gumballs, cupcakes, cookies, icecream, doughnuts, peanut butter cups and candy bars. Call it out if I missed your favorite.

These are "treats" to us. These are the foods we're supposed to crave when we want something to satisfy our sweet tooth. Do they ever really taste as good as we think they're going to? The last time I had a Snickers I remember thinking I liked the caramel and the peanuts, but the chocolate tasted waxy. With peanut butter cups it's that the peanut butter is really grainy. What about doughnuts? I think I've said here before that the texture is amazing, but what's left after that?

Lately my snacks have been fruit, or I've taken some of the Yoplait Whips and frozen them and then I can have portion-controlled frozen yogurt. The fruit and yogurt fill and satisfy cravings I have. When I have chocolate I never am satisfied. If they could make something that tastes like chocolate that you can just suck on forever I would be sold. I love the taste, I hate the sugar high and low I get after trying to satisfy my sweet-tooth craving.

I have to remind myself time and time again that most things don't taste nearly as good as I think they do. I made my monster cookies to bring into work today, I tasted. Sometimes I can eat a bowl of green beans and when I get done I think, 'oh, my, that was delicious.' I think sometimes I just want snacks like doughnuts and cookies and such is because they're "special" treats. Whatever. My butt doesn't think they're so special when it carries the extra weight.

So why do we crave these treats that really don't treat our tastebuds to any sensations? Are we programmed to want them because they were always special when we were growing up? Do we crave them because they're things we're "not supposed to have?"

What we have to do is retrain our tastebuds. A strawberry has more incredible eye-popping flavor in it than any candy bar I can remember. A nectarine or peach can outdo any doughnut. Then why are we hanging on to food thata can't sustain our bodies in any positive way, and, when you really think about it, we can't enjoy that much either. If my body calls out for some broccoli, should I say no? No way. Fill your body's cravings with the things it really wants. Healthy grains to make your brain and body work better. Some proteins to make your muscles strong, and the fruits and vegetables that put your mind in the right place and help your day to be so much better than a Krispy Kreme will.

it's easy for me to reach for that treat on the table, but it's just as easy to reach for the banana in the fridge. So how do we being to crave the right things? For starters, give them to your body. You'll be surprised by how it will reward you.