Yesterday at 6:30 p.m., after graduating from my Second Master Practitioner Program Level Series in NLP, I was in the Manhattan Port of Authority getting ready to board my bus for the long trip home. Overcome by pangs of hunger, I jumped into Au Bon Pain and purchased a small portion of Southwestern Vegetable Soup and ate 1/2 a whole grain breadstick with some Smart Beat butter spread on it.
After finishing my snack, I noticed that I was still hungry. As I ascended the escalator, The Sweet Shoppe Candy Store caught my eye and I decided to stop in and try some of their goodies. I perused each of the candy bins, imagining tasting each of the candy and confectionary delights, one at a time. After walking around each of the bins for a few minutes, I filled a small bag with several samples of different candies.
Among them 1 of each dark and milk chocolate covered almonds, 4 chocolate covered raspberry jellies, a few tangerine jelly beans, a couple of candy corns and about 6 different big fat red juicy swedish fish. I also got a bag of candy coated peanuts known as Boston Baked Beans for my husband, Angel. I paid for my purchases and left, heading for the bus depot.
As I rode the escalator, I opened the bag and pulled out the one dark chocolate covered almond. I popped it in my mouth and slowly savored the melting rich dark chocolaty goodness. It was delightful. That gave me an idea.
I decided to do an experiment in seeing how small a bite I could take and still maintain a high satisfaction threshold.
The Great Swedish Fish Suckers’ Experiment
As I stood on the platform, I reached into the bag again and pulled out one of the Swedish Fish.
I took a ¼” bite off of my Swedish Fish. As soon as it hit my tongue, I was struck by its spicy, chemical like flavor, it also tasted a bit like the inside of a box, not too pleasant I noted.
Deciding to give it a fair chance, I looked up at the clock and challenged myself to keep that little mini morsel in my mouth for a full five minutes.
After slowly moving the rubbery little morsel from my left check to my right and toying with it on different parts of my tongue, I anxiously checked the time. Only one minute had passed. I resolved to keep to my challenge of the full five minutes and turned away from the clock, re-focusing on the morsel.
The flavor began to change. It seemed that there were several layers of flavors encapsulated in this little bit of candy.
Moving my attention away from the clock, I closed my eyes for a moment and focused on the metamorphosis occuring in my mouth. To my surprise, I recognized a familiar flavor as it came to my memory.
It was the taste of Luden’s Cherry Cough Drops, a real blast from the past. As that memory came to light, my gradually diminishing morsel of Swedish Fish was beginning to explode with a rich full bodied taste of cherry goodness as memories of my Grammy flooded my brain. All of a sudden I was transported back to a time when I was a young girl staying at my Grammy’s house for the weekend. I had a bit of a cough and a cold. Grammy always had Luden’s cough drops on hand to soothe me when I was sick.
After that brief memory was savored and began to dissipate, the taste of the fish began to annoy me. I wanted to get it out of my mouth. It seemed to have become irritatingly rubbery and the flavor of the cherry was now piercing and overwhelmingly sweet.
I also noticed that I felt that I had eaten a 10 pound bag of the candy. I was amazed to notice that I actually felt overstuffed.
In reality I had only eaten a light meal of soup and a breadstick and a ¼” piece of a Swedish Fish.
The clock stuck the end of my five minute experiment as the last of my fish dissolved down my throat.
You may ask yourself why would anyone want to do such a silly thing?
I did it, because in the past I’ve always loved Swedish Fish candy. I could never get enough of them, popping them into my mouth and chewing on them wildly and voraciously.
I suppose you could say it was like an addiction. I’ve had that relationship with many foods for many years. Thanks to Intuitive Eating and Emotional Freedom Technique I can say that is now very much in my past.
Here’s the reason why I did this and shared it with you.
The big takeaway here was that I noticed that it wasn’t the food that was appealing. It was the memory of it. Sure there were bursts of yummy cherry goodness embedded in the experience but that is not what held me captivated. It was the memories attached to it.
When I took the time to slow down, really slow down and pay attention to my response to the food, I became aware of flavor nuances that I never knew existed, some wonderful, some irritating.
This was a fascinating experiment. I think the most exciting thing that I noticed was that when I allowed that candy to slowly dissolve in my mouth instead of chomping away at it, my body registered an incredible degree of satisfaction and fullness. By the time that I boarded that bus after dissolving that candy in my mouth for 5 minutes, I felt as though I had eaten a full Thanksgiving meal. After I registered that fullness, I also remembered doing this same experiment once with a pretzel nugget. My assumption is that the reason for the sense of fullness is due to the increased saliva production. Anyway no matter what the reason, I was super satisfied after having that one piece of candy or pretzel.
Ready to challenge yourself with food? I invite you to take a new look at some old faves. Choose a candy, snack food or confection that you have binged on in the past. Take a small bite of it and just let it slowly melt in your mouth. I used 5 minutes as my benchmark. You adjust this as you see fit. Let me know how it works for you. Leave me a comment and tell me all about your experience.
Are you looking for a bit of support. I know change is hard. And if you’re not used to treating yourself with more kindness,
it can feel so weird. But nothing but good can from you treating yourself with more respect. That’s why I want to invite you to join my
30 Days to Lovin’ the Skin You’re In Facebook group to connect with the other women there, and feel free to share your experiences
and insights using this exercise and more!