Back Away From the Granola Bars!!

I should've known better. I've been through this before. Nonetheless, I did it again. I bought a box of Sweet and Salty Nut Granola Bars. Anything with a similar combination of chewy, crunchy, sweet, and salty is a disaster in the making for me. I ate 800 calories worth of these bars today! I should know better than to buy these bars because they are a trigger food for me.

So what's a trigger food? For those with a medical issue, a trigger food brings on symptoms, much like my hyperactive children who become whirling dervishes when they have red food dye. For those who struggle with their relationship with food, a trigger food is like delicious Kryptonite that is simultaneously a source of pleasure and our nutritional undoing. We buy it and binge on it until the food is gone, and often the desire for the trigger food doesn't decrease, no matter how much we have consumed.

I'm not one for cutting out any food that is whole and minimally processed. My Sweet and Salty bars are kinda whole-ish, but they are quite processed. Interestingly, whole and minimally processed foods are less commonly trigger foods. Trigger foods are often those that combine fats and sugars, foods that we were never meant to digest in the forms and quantities we currently do.

My kids trigger on sweets, which is why I am careful to include them in small amounts, so that they learn self-control and don't feel deprived. I hope to help them avoid the troubled relationship I've had with food. Our oldest craves soda, a rare treat for him, usually reserved for parties and dining out. Our second triggers and binges on candy when he gets a chance. He will consume it all rapidly , not stopping until it is gone. Our third craves graham crackers all day long. Our fourth is still exclusively breast fed, which is good for me because I need all the help I can get burning these calories!