What are trigger foods

[2big4mysize]

Joan J asks

I'm curious as to when a food is officially labelled as a "trigger food". For example, are nuts considered a "trigger" for people who cannot stop eating them? Or are trigger foods only those foods that "trigger" a sugar or carb craving?

I'm re-starting OWL and I want to correctly identify my personal "trigger" foods. Is there a way to identify a trigger food after it's been eaten, and how long after you eat a food can it cause a trigger reaction?

Trigger foods are any food, even induction legal ones, that cause a person to have a result they don't desire as they trigger a craving,stoppage of weight loss, or loss of control as in over eating. Which food group or individual food type this is will depend on your individual metabolism and can change as you progress on your Atkins WOE. Some folks have whole food groups they need to avoid and others have just a food or two in that group they need to avoid. Some can't handle a certain brand of a product too.


We identify trigger foods through trial and error testing. This is one reason it is important to keep an accurate food journal. Many foods have past histories with us and our bodies have stored memories associated with the taste and smell of that food which can be triggered by the food and suddenly you find yourself craving other foods you aren't even thinking about or eating.

Some foods have chemicals in them our bodies don't do well with and this will cause a chain of reaction to occur giving us an increase in some body chemicals that will trigger cravings or weight loss stoppage. Such as those who are yeast sensitive can get infected from nuts so nuts become a triggering food for them even though they are legal foods.

As Dr Atkins tells you in chapter 14 of your DANDR if a food or food group causes you to have carvings or stops your weight loss drop it immediately. you can try it again later in your program and you might be fine with it.

The length of time will depend on how much you have and how low your threshold for that food is. Some people get the cravings with in minutes. this is usually a cephalic response based on past memories of this food. Other get feel odd the next day and don't know why. it is only through repeated testings of the foods to see if it's truly them or something else.

Women get cravings near TOM and can mistake a food for a TOM craving so that is why we need to be aware of what is happening in our lives too. You night want to add a note after you eat a food about how you felt before and after and if anyone or any thing was happening at that time that might have stressed you. Once you see it is Person X causing your anxiety and not the foods that triggers your eating you can take steps to alter this.

[fluxx]

whats TOM?

thanks... :joy

[fluxx]

ahem, nevermind...[blushes]
sorry for wasting your time

[2big4mysize]

don't worry about it. reminds me of a post that was up on the board in the early days when they were suggesting we get a women's board and somebody brought over from their other support board a post by a guy saying he wished he could find this Tom character that was so mean to his fellow female members cause he'd really like to punch him out for them.

[Waterbabe_Helena]

I find the coyness about menstruation really irritating. 52% of the population menstruate for 40 years of their lives - why should it be a secret? Women are liberated these days, they shouldn't be ashamed of something purely because it's something only experienced by women.

Believe it or not, all men know it exists!

[Jerzaka]

Are you sure?

[ladyinred]

Don't know as women are ashamed or coy so much as there's less chance of getting carpel tunnel syndrome if we type "TOM" than if we type "monthly menstruation cycle" or some such thing.

[Jacksuncle]

Nevermind