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On eating cookie dough until you feel sick.

There used to always be a negative tension when I’d bake cookies. It’d go something like this…

I knew I was going to want to eat the cookie dough, but I’d fight that craving.  Then I’d end up eating it anyways. I’d then deal with the guilt and discomfort of overeating the dough, which I’d always do because there is nothing quite like restriction to amplify a craving.

So how did I stop feeling out of control around cookie dough…

I planned cookie dough for my snacks. I divided it up into containers to take with me to eat for my morning, afternoon, and after dinner snacks for as many days as I craved it so I didn’t have to lust over it anymore.  You help cookie dough lose it’s power by eating it regularly.

What will help you get over feeling out of control around cookie dough is abstinence from restriction.  Not abstinence from cookie dough.

I don’t like eating cookie dough until I feel sick and then being so full that I can’t enjoy the fresh-outta-the-oven cookies.  I do like having cookie dough whenever I want it, because I know that the only thing trying to control my cravings ever helped me do was overeat.  Cravings aren’t meant to be controlled, they’re meant to be honored.

29 comments

  1. “What will help you get over feeling out of control around __________ is abstinence from restriction. Not abstinence from _______.” –>Obsessed with this quote!! Definitely going to share this with my clients…I personally can relate, and I know so many of them can as well! I hear so often that “I can’t keep such and such food in the house” but that always backfires and doesn’t really solve the root issue!

  2. I did this with peanut butter and chocolate chips. I craved it constantly. I finally ate it as much as a want. Guess what? I hardly ever want it anymore and when I do, I don’t want it in nearly as large quantities. Thank you. I attribute some of this to following you!

    • Thanks for sharing, Jessica! I remember when I was little I never liked peanut butter. As my ED developed I viewed it as “healthy” because wellness culture has embraced peanut butter so much as an acceptable food, so I started feeling obsessed with it because there were so few foods I gave myself permission to eat. Now that I eat everything I realize there are so many other things I prefer to peanut butter. I mean, peanut butter cookies and peanut butter-oat balls are delicious, but peanut butter straight outta the jar is kinda like La Croix to me…okay but not THE BEST FOOD IN THE ENTIRE WORLD haha.

  3. Kylie, do you follow Andie Mitchell? I read her book “It Was Me All Along” (which I highly recommend – so good!) and she talks about this same thing. After she lost a significant amount of weight, she was afraid of eating certain foods for fear of gaining back the weight. So she would purposely eat a cupcake or a candy bar, etc. every day just to show herself nothing bad would happen. And she did this until she felt normal around those foods again. I love seeing this approach embraced!

    • Hi Kristin! I too read Andie Mitchell’s book. I find her and her website however to be triggering and very much diet-culture-y. She recently posted on her website “how to keep the weight off” or some article like that. I do like her and enjoy her pictures and some of her story but some her stuff is a little too diety for me!

      • Yeah I used to follow Andie, but her messaging is very focused on weight loss, which I don’t agree with. I’d much rather focus on pursuing healthful behaviors. Some of the times I would find her stuff helpful and other times I would not. I’m super selective on who I follow so I haven’t followed her for years. I wouldn’t recommend her to someone struggling with an eating disorder. But if you choose to follow her I think everyone can have as much sense as a cow…eat the hay, spit out the sticks. I remember some of her stories in her book, It Was Me All Along, really resonating with me…but I’ve found better books to read, like Rebecca Scritchfield’s book Body Kindness.

    • I think it’s good to fear no food! If trying to heal your relationship with food…eating all foods regularly is definitely the right thing to pursue!

  4. “What will help you get over feeling out of control around cookie dough is abstinence from restriction.  Not abstinence from cookie dough.“ – YES to this!!! Love love your blog :)

  5. brilliant post.short to the point but so inspirational in it content.

  6. Yes love this!! Such a true point, will be sharing! 

  7. Such an incredibly insightful and amazing post! I agree completely. Once desserts were not feared or thought of as decadent, I realized I could enjoy them whenever. I’ve come to realize that while I love sweets still, I crave savory a lot too, especially for breakfast. This was not the case a few years ago, but now I’m the one creating savory breakfast ideas, and dessert is just another snack as you written before. :)

  8. “…there is nothing quite like restriction to amplify a craving.”
    Gah!! That is so true! I love your approach to handling the restriction mentality! Normalize the food and the obsession dissipates <3

  9. This is a very practical huge help!  Thank you. 

  10. So much yes to this. Did this with chocolate peanut butter cups!

  11. So, so true. My husband made cookies tonight—I ate one and was like, yeah, I’m good. He makes them a couple of times a week right now, and I know I can eat as many as I want. A few nights ago I ate one-half of one and was done. The me of 15-ish years ago wouldn’t even understand how that was possible unless I had berated and coerced myself into it (ie, I only “deserve” half a cookie). Restriction is a recipe for craziness.

  12. This is great! I’ve been buying Wheat thins (best crackers ever)  lately. They were always the food I would eat so so much of so I only saved them for vacations or something. Even reading this, I’m inspired to pack them for snacks on the go every day! Thank you for always putting into words what I feel! ??

  13. As always, great post Kylie! ??

  14. I love this and it was appropriate as I was in Italy when you posted this. It was a really eye opening week for me there. I haven’t had an active eating disorder in years, and I honestly thought I ate whatever I wanted, but I did realize I still had some restrictive feelings around ‘too much’ white flour and I wouldn’t eat any kind of pastry for breakfast because I never thought it would keeo me full… There all I had was different pastries for breakfast and it did, in fact, keep me full because I was satisfied eating them. Over the week, I became less and less interested in pastries to the point that by the end of the week, I’d have a bite and be done… and my body would be like ‘can we have some fruit? maybe some cheese. fibrous foods?’ and I got REALLY tired of bread all day and honestly ended up craving so much more fibrous things because my body was like ‘we need some roughage’ ahhahaa. ALSO I would never eat ice cream for a snack at home, only dessert, but there I’d eat it at lunch or in the afternoon or whenever, and not only would I get the big one because it was so good, but I’d be satisfied and stay full for hours. I also didn’t always finish it because my taste buds were over it before it was gone. So eye opening. I also forgot about food for hours at a time because I was ACTUALLY satisfied whenever I ate so my body would completely shut down anymore thoughts of food for hours even though I was surrounded by it.

  15. I love this post so much, Kylie. Gosh, you have such a gift and the Lord has really given you wisdom on how to navigate all of this. Thank you so much for writing! i’ve been trying to start doing this with cookie dough and desserts in general and it’s really been helping. 

  16. Wow!   This is so helpful.  I feel like this post was written specifically for me.  It is amazing to h we someone deal with the exact same issue that I have experienced.   Definitely trying this approach!  Thanks!

  17. I am currently reading allllll your posts! I love this! I may need to try this as im new to intuitive eating. Thank you for sharing!

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