From: altar@beaufort.sfu.ca (Ted Wayn Altar)
Subject: Re: Answer to clove[24~[24~[24~*darn dle keys*
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 20:05:28 GMT

la1002@albnyvms.bitnet (Clover M.) writes:

>Any chocolate chip cookies that are vegan (I have vegan margarine in
>my fridge) would INDEED be a good thing.  Please post any and all
>recipes for goodies that I can make while attempting this dietary
>change - to console me for that Ben and Jerry's that I didn't eat,
>or for the cheeseburger, or for the, well... I could go on forever.
> 

Good approach!

While one should not feel "guilty" about relapses, it
doesn't follow that one should allow oneself to be
"open" to what used to grab one's fancy and momentary 
desires.  Hence, thinking in terms of substitutes that
are even more enjoyable is a good approach, and one
that will soon dissolve those old cravings to be replaced by
new cravings towards good, tasty, and wholesome vegetarian
fare.   I've heard it from more than one vegetarian that
for them, veggy burgers have become even more tasty than
those old slimy, "tasteless" cheeseburgers.  The subtle
flavours of veggy burghers soon becomes something enjoyed for t
their own sake, and one can't imagine how it was that those old
fatty meat dishes had any attraction to begin with.  
.
Permt me to repeat one I said some months ago about
food cravings.

Roy Wise as has provided evidence for the following important
observation (see the Amer. Psych. Assoc.'s Aug., 1992 issue of
the psychologist's MONITOR, p. 58):

     craving "has something to do with wanting, but also the
     optimism that you are going to get it".

For instance, many people who don't believe that they should
smoke on the Sabbath simply seem to have no cravings for such on
that one day each week.  Similarly, if you are a committed
vegetarian, then meat is simply not an option, something that one
has simply excluded as being any longer available.

"Commitment" to the point where there is no longer any
entertaining of again eating or consuming the substance in
question thus seems to be an important factor in giving up any
habit or craving.  Many vegetarians will report that giving up
those old meat dishes was really quite simple, much more so than
they might have expected.  For some, no hankerings or cravings
for meat whatsoever.  The same even occurs with many ex-smokers
who are quite amazed at how easy it really was to give up those
cancer-sticks once they "decided" to really do so.

Reminders of the forbidden drug or food, however, can serve as
powerful craving inducers for many people.  Hence, for a certain
period of time, being around people consuming that which you wish
to forgo can be one of those moments of temptation, hence
craving.  Couples trying to quit smoking find it easier if both
try to quit, rather than simply one go it alone while the other's
continued smoking provides a constant reminder and temptation.
With respect to the craving for the greasy taste of meat, this is
less of a problem as there are many couples where only one member
is a vegetarian.  Those social occasions were a meat dish figures
prominently (e.g., Thanksgiving or Xmas Dinner) can, however, be
initially trying for the new vegetarian for the first year, but
once one has had the experience of getting through one
Thanksgiving or Xmas dinner without Turkey and has found some
convenient and tasty substitutes, then thereafter such holiday
meats no longer captivate one's attention.  Indeed, after a while
one begins to wonder in amazement why one even had such cravings
for such greasy, unhealthy foods.

The trick, then, is to decrease one's learned response to those
environmental cues that have in the past stimulated those
cravings.  Unlike with cigarettes, at least with meat there is a
riotous abundance of tasty substitutes  :-) Furthermore, there is
no full blown physiological addiction to meat (as evidenced by
withdrawal symptoms) as there is to cigarettes or coffee.  It is
simply a cultural and personal habit that can easily be abandoned
anytime as one commits  consolidates a new dietary practice via
the mere LIVED practice of eating good vegetarian fare.

It is usually with those who still want it both ways, who wish to
reduce their meat consumption without abandoning meat completely,
that will have these craving problems as they try to delimit
their meat consumption.  It is like a smoker who wishes to quit
but still allows themselves that one cigarette each time the
craven arises.  Not only do they fail to quit, they may not even
succeed in reducing their consumption to any useful extent.  :-(

Now, unlike with giving up cigarettes, one doesn't need to give
up the pleasures of eating.  Quite the contrary, as vegetarian
fare is actually tastier and more toothsome than boring, greasy
meat dishes.  One simply has to allow one's taste preferences to
adapt, and the surprising thing is that indeed good vegetarian
fare begins to taste better than one's former meat dishes.  Maybe
not at first, but this is a common experience among vegetarians.
Now only do they in fact eat a greater variety of foods, but they
experience even a greater enjoyment of eating.

                                       ted