Tastebud Cravings

Mouth Hunger. Urgh. It's not a fun kind.

I guess I'll share some tips... but fair warning, this going to contain some tips that your dietitians will probably not approve of. But I'm going to share anyway. I'm not qualified, yada yada yada, talk to doctor if concerned...

Basically, hunger isn't all from the stomach. If you've been struggling with your weight for months then you know that- you might be vaugely aware of a hunger with or without the stomach getting involved or maybe you're really aware of it. Anyway.

Since I started this (day five, day five, day three of the rapid drink!) a LOT of my hunger has been 'mouthy'. Basically ... it seems to center in my mouth. I crave things from my tastebuds. I crave texture, weight, shapes, and there was a point where just seeing a specific color would connect my brain to an iced vovo even though that color was a dress.

This has actually happened everytime I try a meal replacement diet so I was kind of prepared. If I hadn't done it before then I probably would have been a bit shocked at how STRONG that feeling was... how badly I needed to CRUNCH. SALT. TASTE. CHEW. (Sorry, brain, know these words also tempt!)

This was esspically bad just before the lapband corrective surgery- I needed to be on optifast for two weeks before the surgery and it was pretty bloody serious I do that.

Well. I struggled. I wasn't exactly living in a supportive enviroment for that diet- sorry dad, love you, but you know it's true!- in that Dad would cook something that smelt great and he would go 'Well, come on, it's just one day, you can eat...' and wham. My tastebuds and stomach agreed. My brain did not. Brain lost. And all of a sudden it was a week to the surgery.

So I had to come up with something quick. He meant well but he wasn't helping and I was supposed to be helping the surgeon make the surgery easy on me.

Quickly I'll explain that- optifast reduces fat in the liver quickly. During a lapband surgery they have to move the liver out of the way... making the liver smaller and taking out fat in a fatty liver means that they can do it without stressing me out too badly... makes it a quicker surgery.

So anyway, I had to do something, and my 'tastebud cravings' weren't going to go away with Dad being so supportive of food appreciation.

This is going to sound a little gross... but here we go.

Basically what I did was chew food. Spit it out. Wash mouth out with water thougherly. Drink a glass of water. Chew some more if I needed to. Repeat the water. Keep that up till the cravings were dead. Brushing teeth after drinking the water could sometimes turn me off eating too... toothpaste taste and food taste don't usually go together.

I don't recommend it for anyone unless you're about to snap and break your diet. Here I am on day three of the rapid phase and the mouth cravings for chewing are pretty okay so far, nearly 8am, and I suspect it'll get easier. So indulging the urge to chew might help you get through a near-breaking point... which is a better outcome than eating as you'll feel a hell of a lot better... but it might prolong the time it takes for the body to relax on that urge.


Anyway. It helped me. But I am not doing it this time... better to chew on a carrot than do the 'chew and spit' thing.

Good news! I didn't dream of eating food last night! Okay. I had a dream about it yesterday afternoon- I dreamed that I was eating a box of chocolate... and I even said in the dream 'I have to keep eating this and enjoying it as long as possible... when I wake up I have to diet!' ... so I got some chocolate fix in my dreams.

This morning I feel kinda full after the drink and two cups of water. It's a nice feeling.