This pic is completely irrelevant except as a subtext for telling you that the closest I’ve ever come to a celebrity in real life was sitting just a few rows behind Billy Corgan at a basketball game in the 90’s. It’s my one claim to fame and I’m sticking with it. Plus, Batman is always funny.
Charlotte’s Official Ranking of Jelly Beans:
1. SweeTart jelly beans – the gold standard of chewy sour deliciousness and they are only sold now. Also only sold now, their HFCS-laden sister in crime, Gummy Bunnies.
2. Mike N Ike jelly beans – regular Mike-n-Ikes ain’t bad but for some reason the jelly bean version is 100 times better.
3. Sour Starburst jelly beans – yummy but they make my tongue hurt if I eat too many. It’s like a little tongue seizure.
4. Nerds jelly beans – they have this amazing bumpy crispy sour outer shell and a gooey tangy middle. Weird to look at but man they go down easy!
5. “Spice” jelly beans – are disgusting. I wouldn’t touch them with a pair of Lindsay Lohan’s leggings much less eat them. They’re cheap and the black ones taste like fake black licorice. That’s just wrong.
I had to throw #5 in there in case you thought I unabashedly love all jelly beans. While we’re on the subject, I’m not a fan of the much-ballyhooed Jelly Bellies. Some of them are yummy (ripe pear!) but then you accidentally get a popcorn or cappuccino one and you realize that Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans are a concept that only works in the fictionalized halls of Hogwarts and is horrendous in practice. (And “top banana”? Retch.) My point: I’m a connoisseur of HFCS. And when I say “connoisseur” I really mean “addict” in the most literal sense.
It was inevitable. Sleep deprivation from finishing my book manuscript and the Jelly Bean (toddler this time – try to keep up!) combined with a very weight intensive P90X 2 workout and the fact that jelly bean season is now in full throttle found me slumped over my table this afternoon in a sugar coma. I downed an entire bag of SweeTart jelly beans. And I’m not talking the little portion-controlled bag. I ate the whole 300 (or whatever) serving bag. By myself. Today. Man those jelly beans go down easy.
As I sat nursing a sugar headache and regretting every last high-fructose bite, it made me remember some research I read recently about how eating sugary and fatty foods becomes a self reinforcing cycle. (Of course I only remember this after the jelly beans have been eaten.) The authors of the study postulated that there is a tipping point with these foods and once you pass it an internal fat switch is flipped and your body goes into crazy fat-storing mode. Basically, the more you eat it the more you want it, hunger cues be darned. Nobody eats an entire bag of jelly beans because they’re hungry. And it takes a lot of hard work and time to reset that switch once it’s been flipped. So how did scientist discover this switch? With rodents, of course!
Does your liver glow in the dark? These mice are genetically engineered with firefly juice to have livers that glow when CRTC2, also known as the fasting switch, is turned on. It all gets very techy but here’s what you need to know:
Our bodies run on fat and sugar (glucose). When we eat, we have a rise in our blood sugar. When we aren’t eating (like when we are sleeping or starving), our bodies primarily burn fat as fuel. All well and good except that the hothouses that sit on our shoulders (our brains) require a measure of glucose to function. It’s the reason that you feel all foggy and confused when you are carb depleted. So when you aren’t eating and your brain needs glucose, a little switch in your liver (CRTC2) starts pumping out the glucose stored in your liver. Hurray for the little Star Wars dude in your gut!
The problem arises (and the mice with the glowing livers get involved) when CRTC2 gets activated and, like a 12-year-old with a cell phone, won’t shut up – causing excess amounts of glucose to be constantly circulating in your blood (known as high blood sugar). How does this happen? Insulin resistance, primarily from overeating and obesity. From insulin resistance comes the dreaded diabetes and the host of ills that comes with it.
The mice with the glowing livers were not just for the researcher’s entertainment (although, admit it, you really want to see one now). The researchers fattened up a bunch of firefly-mice and then waited until their livers lit up like your check-oil light. When their livers turned on it meant that the switch was no longer functioning and sugar was being pumped out 24-7. This allowed the researchers to identify exactly how and when the switch gets permanently stuck in the on position.
So the question becomes both for the lit mice and their human counterparts of lesser organ brilliance, is how do you know when your switch is about to flip? And moreover, how do you flip it back?
Leaving the actual science portion of this post and venturing off into the part where I spout random theories that I make up (my favorite part, naturally) I think that some people have touchier switches than others. One uber-healthy friend of mine said that she has learned she can eat badly for about 3 weeks before she starts to notice serious deleterious effects and so she knows to cut herself off around 2.5 weeks. Myself, I think my internal switch gets flipped at closer to 1 or 2 days of eating crap. Heck, even one good candy binge – like today – seems to set body into cravings overdrive. The only solution I have found for this is to white-knuckle it for 3 or 4 days until my switch goes back.
For those of you good at pattern recognition, you will realize that my switch flippage (actual scientific word, that one is) corresponds neatly to the days of the week. I eat like crap on the weekends, feel like the crap I ate, resolve to do better, white knuckle it Monday through Thursday and then as soon as I start to feel better it’s the weekend again! I’m so tired of this cycle (and add in my other “cycle” for more fun!).
Any of you get thrown off your healthy eating by the weekend? Have you discovered when your switch flips? How do you break the cycle? Anyone else now want a liver that glows in the dark?? Do you love or hate jelly beans and what’s your favorite flavor?
Not a jelly bean fan here (I’m more of a “homebaked goods” overdoser – hello, chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and those stinking delicious Lofthouse cookies!).
As far as the sugar switch? Mine is about 3 days, maybe upwards of 5 if I’m doing some seriously high protein/barely existent carbs.
Also, the more stressed I get. . . the faster that switch gets flipped and the longer it tends to stay one (several weeks, usually).
I’ve heard it takes anywhere from 5 to 21 days to really rid yourself of those cravings. And please don’t ask me to cite sources for those numbers, they are just ones that I swear I’ve read somewhere. . .
Jelly beans, Brach’s brand specifically, are my number one most favorite candy on the planet. My favorite of the bunch are the black ones. My grandma used to keep black Brach’s jelly beans in her freezer– true story!
I had to laugh because at least one time during the next few weeks I will eat myself sick on jelly beans. I can’t wait! Lol
Jelly Beans. I love them. I love them SO MUCH. I think I should write a song about my love of them. I am partial to Brach’s (and not the generic Brach’s either), but I’ve been known to stray to the starburst myself. These others you speak of – Mike and Ikes?!?! Nerds?!?! – I’ve never had, but now I must try.
And I agree that the spiced jelly beans are an abomination. An affront against all other jelly beans.
Black Licorice….yum. love that they sell Brach’s black jelly beans alone!
Oh, right science was in this post! (You’re killing me here, Charlotte!) I’m teaching physiology so this is my forte. All metabolic (ie life) processes in our cells REQUIRE glucose – aerobic and anaerobic respiration drives all cellular functions. The body can convert fat to glucose, but still, glucose must be present for life.
As for the reset button and all that? I have no idea. I don’t eat much sugar, but when I do, if I am very hungry, I can’t stop. I can see it happening too, but I am powerless. I usually eat something savory (a big dinner) and then I’m fine. I still feel like garbage though. Sugar makes me sluggish.
I prefer my HFCS in the form of Gummi Worms rather than Jelly Beans. My real weakness is chocolate, though. Whenever there is any in the house, I keep eating it until it’s gone. Usually after too many sugar-filled days (I don’t know exactly how many) I start craving tuna or turkey sandwiches or salads and I know I’ve had too much.
That glow in the dark liver would be awesome. I’d love to be able to see my way around with the lights out from the glow of my own abdomen.
I have no clue how your toddler Jelly Bean didn’t make it to number one on the list! I bet her little toesies are delish.
My weekend eating is a serious problem. I have no problem eating well during the week.
The weekend, however, is primarily highly refined sugar and alcohol. I.e. the two things that ruin my efforts during the week. The big thing that flips my switch is my friends saying “let’s get together for drinks” or “lets do dinner” or “lets go dancing”. Any of those things = obscene amounts of bad food and a fair amount of alcohol for my size (I’m pretty small, so it’s actually not at a crazy level, but it is enough to undo my weekly efforts).
Unfortunately, because I work crazy hours, and I live alone, it’s my one true “socializing” time every week. If I didn’t go, I’d be lonely. I could go and partake less, but then people comment, and let’s be honest, I love mojitos and churros. I’m trying to move us towards gym going, and healthy brunches, but it often fails. Or we end up doing both…which I like to thing balances things out, but it really doesn’t. My mid-20’s are clearly not about balance, though that is my goal.
I like vanilla bean jelly beans from jelly belly. Also, Canada does not have nearly as many types of jelly beans, I’m feeling a little deprived, yet I see the silver lining, because more options would mean I’d eat more jelly beans. I’m more of a chocolate person anyways though, so it’s neither here nor there.
I’m not a jelly bean fan at all. My ‘drugs’ of choice are chocolate, cookies, and baked goods. I’m struggling with my weekend eating habits, too. During the week, I have fixed meal times, I always pack healthy breakfasts, lunches, and snacks to bring to the office. But on the weekend it’s total chaos. Our weekend lunches are always very late, sometimes they are skipped completely, which leaves me starving at 3 pm. So I turn to unhealthy snacks, just because I’m freaking hungry. I really need to establish some kind of weekend routine and plan ahead to avoid those hangry afternoons.
Charlotte, have you ever read David Kessler’s “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite”? It’s fascinating, jaw-dropping stuff, with in-depth analysis of the science behind why we eat the way we do, and might answer a few questions for you.
A description from Amazon:
Dr. David Kessler, the dynamic former FDA commissioner who reinvented the food label and tackled the tobacco industry, now reveals how the food industry has hijacked the brains of millions of Americans. The result? America s number-one public health issue. Dr. Kessler cracks the code of overeating by explaining how our bodies and minds are changed when we consume foods that contain sugar, fat, and salt. Food manufacturers create products by manipulating these ingredients to stimulate our appetites, setting in motion a cycle of desire and consumption that ends with a nation of overeaters. The End of Overeating explains for the first time why it is exceptionally difficult to resist certain foods and why it is so easy to overindulge.
I have totally not figured out my switch yet. And it sucks because when I’m in charge of food, it’s really healthy 90% of the time. When my husband shops and cooks on weekends, his version of healthy is VERY different from mine!
And I am so jealous of the jelly bean options you have in the States! In Canada, it’s the cheapies or jelly belly. I need to get a bag of these delightful Sweet Tart jelly beans!
You might be passing glow-in-the-dark, multi-colored unicorn poop by the time all those jelly beans pass through you.
Need glucose for your brain without the sugar? COCONUT OIL! I assume you’ve seen some of the articles lately about reversing alzheimers/dementia with coconut oil? It’s because people with brain deterioration may have problems turning carbohydrates into glucose, whereas coconut oil gets metabolized differently and goes directly to the brain as glucose. (Or something like that.)
I like jelly beans, but my boyfriend loves them. So I will be on the look-out for your top 4 to add to his Easter basket!
I love sugary sweets- really doesn’t matter what form. However, I am a grazer, so most of the time I’m good with a small piece or a couple bites. Then you have the days that I am mentally blah- I want plain M&M’s and I can eat the whole bag (thankfully that doesn’t happen all that often).
First off Starburst jelly beans are my FAVORITE! Now I will have to try the SweeTart ones and the Nerds ones!!!
I find that when I do a ton of cardio or feel super drained and tired, I’m the most tempted to eat bad because my body feels the most depleted.
I also think that you have a certain amount of self control each week and that usually by the end of the week you run out or at least running on low. When you run out, you lose all sanity and eat anything and everything in sight!
I find that the only way I don’t lose complete control is when I plan to treat myself on a certain day. Knowing that I have that treat coming keeps me from losing complete control.
I’m with you though…after a couple of days of bad food I just feel absolutely disgusting!
I am not a huge fan of jelly beans, though I do like Jelly Belly beans with the exception of the Banana flavor – I watch for those are refuse to eat them. For me it’s more likely to be chocolate or potato chips (which are not sugar, but are still crap and the more I have the more I want).
I would agree that I am more likely to eat crap on weekend or holidays. And I have, in the past, managed to go cold turkey a few times and quit all junk and found that the cravings definitely diminish…But they don’t seem to disappear forever.
The worst for me seems to be traveling – somehow that’s like an excuse to just eat whatever I feel like. If it is a trip where we have been eating out at restaurants a lot, by the time I get home all I really want is a salad.
And then there are the times when I can just effortlessly avoid the crap (as in I don’t even really think about it or want it) and be happy with healthy stuff. I so wish I could figure out how to do that all the time.
And to top off the randomness of this comment – my near celebrity sighting story. Years ago when I lived in Charlottetown, PEI, I had taken some visiting friends down to the waterfront for the evening. There’s lots of touristy stuff down there and some restaurants and bars. As we were walking back up to the car we passed this guy on the sidewalk and I thought “He looks like Mel Gibson.” I went to work on Monday and a coworker mentioned that friends of his had met Mel Gibson at a restaurant down on the waterfront. So there’s good chance that I thought Mel Gibson looked like Mel Gibson. I find that amusing.
My switch hasn’t been on in quite some time, but I remember several years ago when I first resolved to change the way I eat, I was sitting at my desk eating a piece of cake. It wasn’t very good cake, just something someone had left in the office breakroom, but like most days, around 2pm I was tired, bored, a little hungry, and completely unable to say no to whatever junk food was left on the table in there. I was eating the cake and simultaneously thinking about how much I’d like a root beer float, warm chocolate chip cookies, and and ice cream sundae.
It occurred to me that if I tried to eat all of those things, I wouldn’t like them, and I’d feel horrible. I was literally craving things I didn’t want! And it hit me- I was *addicted* to sugar!
Now days, I think that when I eat like crap, I feel so awful that I stop long before my particular switch is flipped back to being addicted to sugar. However, my issue is that I tend to cave to societal pressures to eat poorly. For example I’m just back from vacation. It was a 2 part vacation in which I went skiing and then went to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. So as you can imagine, I’ve been eating nothing but junk b/c I (and everyone I was with) had a vacation/holiday mentality. It was wonderful but now my stomach is a wreck (in terms of both digestion and being horrifically bloated). The good thing is that I am dying for veggies right now. I think that my body is pretty good about balancing itself out in the long run. So while I’m sort of on a “diet” it’s really just a return to eating the way that makes me feel the best.
Oh- and my celebrity sighting is that I met Shaq during my bachelorette party- which is far less scandalous than it sounds. My friends and I had tea at the Ritz in New Orleans and he was apparently staying there. I met him getting out of an elevator.
Yeah, weekend eating drives me crazy too. It’s something to do with eating out. Generally we’ll eat out once with friends on the weekend (including drinking) and then my body just wants to eat everything in sight. And by that I mean sugar, sugar, sugar. I don’t know why that is but it’s insane. And then it takes me several days too to stop wanting the sugar. Blah. And these days I’ve been all about the sugar at night too so I’m kind of losing my mind.
yay! Thanks for science 🙂 I actually know all the whatsits this is about…made my morning feeling all smarty pants. And the glowey gene looks so very cool when it’s expressed. I haven’t seen it in animal livers, but have in other things. Neato.
I saw how there is a tipping point for me over the holidays. To become sane after crazy work/school/life I took a few days off over the holidays to “eat whatever” and that just extended…and suddenly I started to enjoy and actually seek out carby bready goodness and sweet stuff for nibbling. I don’t really like sweet stuff as a rule (all about the salt for me), so it was a strange thing. It seemed the more I had the more I wanted. Especially chocolate which I (honest) don’t really like too much. It was so odd, and was getting out of hand, so I finally shut that down this month and went back to healthy eating and sure enough I no longer want the sweets anymore. Very very odd. Time off everything seemed like a good idea…but oh I’m a grumpy lady when I crash after a sugar or carb fest. LIve and learn…
OH -celebrity sighting – I talked to Ursula 1000 and the Thievery Corporation at a festival a few years ago while listening to a great DJ at a beach, all the while doing my best to appear normal and suave and calm while my brain was yelling “I LOVE YOUR MUSIC~ AAAAAAHHH!” 🙂 OK they’re a big deal for me. As for other “real” celebs, no luck…
Ugh. I don’t know exactly where my switch flips but it is a lot less than 2 weeks! I think it is somewhere between 2-4 days…but probably 2 or 3.
I actually find it easier to eat healthy food on the weekends, because I am at home with all my yummy healthy food options (and I never keep “junk” in the house). But at work (*or on my way home from work), I get bored and tired and cave in to junk.
Weekends, when I can sleep and recharge my batteries and I don’t have the stress of work, are when I try to “reset”
P.S. Not a fan of any types of jelly bean. I don’t really like typical “candy” (i.e. gummy worms, jelly beans etc) at all, unless it is chocolate.
I used to love Jelly Belly jelly beans, partially because I liked that the watermelon flavor was green on the outside and red on the inside, but I had some bad experiences eating the popcorn and Dr. Pepper flavored ones and switched. Now, I really like the starburst varieties, but if I’m being honest, would still prefer a Peanut M&M anyday.
I found this post to be really interesting. After recovering from an ED myself, I follow intuitive eating now. However, there are still times when stress, fatigue or whatever gets the best of me and I don’t want to listen to what my body wants and I eat a bunch of crap that I really didn’t want or didn’t want in that vast amount – much like your bag of jelly beans. A lot of times, based on what I’ve learned from years of counseling, I can speak kindly to myself and tell myself that eating a bag of jelly beans will not bring the world to an end and get back to listening to my body. . . .but a lot of times, I still struggle with the notion that “Well, I already messed up, I might as well continue to mess up for the rest of the day, weekend, week, whatever” until I finally get so sick of eating crap that I snap out of it and go back to eating intuitively. I always thought this cycle was all mental and in my head. And maybe that’s part of it. But I find the idea that part of it may be a result of how our bodies are programed to work to be extremely interesting. Another great post!
I usually find that after 2-4 days of eating junk, my body starts craving veggies and things that are no carbs or sugar.
As one jelly bean addict to another – my favorite by far is Brach’s Classic Jelly Beans. So yum!
I am a jelly bean fiend, too 🙂 My favorites are sizzling cinnamon jelly bellies – I will put up with banana and peanut butter beans for those spicy cinnamon ones!! But I’m also a fan of Brach’s and just discovered Jolly Rancher jelly beans, which were actually not bad!
Anyways, this is very interesting, and “cyclical” is the absolutely perfect word to describe my the times between when I’m eating healthy, good stuff, and when I’m eating jelly bellies and gummy bears by the fistful. Mine’s not as cut and dry as weekdays/weekends, but I’ll bet if I were to count, I could find a pattern.
Thanks for sharing, Charlotte! One of the many reasons I love your blog is how honest you are about eating junk food and stuff with HFCS — definitely helps me breathe a little easier knowing that I’m not the only one who KNOWS how terrible some junk foods are for me, but can’t help but eat a whole bag from time to time.
I like jellybeans OK, but I can take or leave them. But get me near a homemade cookie and watch out! (I think Cookie Monster was modeled after me.)
I SO want a glow-in-the-dark liver!!!!!! But glow-in-the-dark eyes would be even better!
One day of crappy eating seems to do it for me, too. It’s tough to get back on track, but I know I’ll feel so much better when I do. Strangely, weekends don’t seem to have as much of am effect on my eating as they used to.
And one time I nearly beaned John Lithgow in the head with my (very full) purse. Accidentally, and I managed to stop it before it made contact.
I am going to go out on a limb here and risk being flamed. I think Trolli Sour Brite Crawler Gummy Eggs are better than the SweeTart sour beans. *gasp* There, I said it! SweeTart will do in a pinch but those Brite Crawler eggs are A-#1 top of the list!
How did they know when the liver lights went on? Were the mice transparent as well?
As far as sugar goes, I do love it (not jelly beans so much, but chocolate and cookies, yes), and give myself some every day, usually in the form of a small piece of chocolate, but, like Heather, above, I’m a grazer, so it doesn’t take too much to satisfy me. Also, I’ve gotten really sensitive to the effects of sugar, so I can tell pretty quickly if I’ve had too much, and since that makes me feel awful, I stop (and get some protein in if possible – it really does seem to help even out the sugar high/drop).
I used to love black jelly beans–my parents bought me a 5-lb bag for my 12th or 13th birthday. That was poorly timed, since I became anorexic shortly thereafter and wound up eating maybe 15 of them, all told. I’m better now. I think. Anyway, I still like the concept of black jelly beans, but I hate how I feel when I eat sugar, so I just… don’t (and anise/fennel tastes similar if I want the flavor). I don’t even eat fruit except maybe once every two weeks. I don’t like the almost nauseated feeling blood sugar spikes give me. Is that weird? My runner friends think it’s weird that I won’t even consume Gu or Shot Bloks, but I think they’re weird for taking in most of their food in the form of sugared gel.
I am a candy corn person! 😉 I stayed away this year though! I am pretty much a clean eater so.. BUT when I switch off, it is usually emotional & even though my bod wants more, I have been at this long enough to just say no & get back to it.
OMG…I cannot say what I love most…the glowing lab mice, the use of retch instead of wretch, or “deleterious” which of course brings to mind LinaLamont in Singing in the Rain.
Oh, the actual substance of your post is great, too. 😀
I OD’d on Brach’s jelly beans many years ago…got so sick I have no interest at all in them any more. I don’t seem to have an upper limit yet on chocolate eggs….
It seems like I do better if I let my self have a little bit of junk everyday, but not too much. I usually let my self have 300 calories a day of whatever I want. The rest the day I try to eat very clean. If I eat too much junk, I go into a junkfood binge and if I don’t let myself have any (like the week I went no-sugar), I will usually crash at some point. The 300 calories a day seems to be working so far and overall my diet is actually cleaner because I don’t fall into crazy cycles.
As I slowly but surely learn to speak Charlotte with ever increasing proficiency, it occurs to me that you do WAY more research into all of this healthy crap than I ever considered being interesting. It also occurs to me that there are instances where I wish I would do more and learn to control myself when it comes to certain things, such as the level of empathy I feel through reading a blog post. You, among a few others, have the ability to make me laugh, smile, freak out, and cry by simply sharing your lives via the evil, but miraculous interwebs.
I would also like to note that when I read your quick series of questions at the end of your posts, I instantly switch to cracked-out-on-Dew-and-sugar-30year-old-reading-mode and read them quickly with an A.D.D. like high pitched giggly voice in my head. Weird, I know, but it’s who I am.
To address said onslaught of quick fire questions, which I LUUUURRRVVVVEEE, 1) I seem to eat healthier on the weekends, simply because there is less running like a chicken with my head cut off-ness going on than there is during the week for me. (during the week I have 2 separate kid school drop offs, then I run to school, then training 2 days/week after I get out, then 2 separate kid pick ups and 2 days of those pick ups are earlier or later than usual and there are a few days here or there that I may or may not have to take hubbs to and/or from work) and then there’s the onslaught of overlording/dictating homework and garbage/recycling transport outside for the kids and laundry, cooking, cleaning, shower times, bed times, arguments, breaking up and/or refereeing fights, etc. You know, you have twice as many minions as I do, though I hope for your sake puberty has yet to settle into any one of them, let alone 2 of opposite genders simultaneously.). 2) No, I haven’t been “listening” to my body long enough to know when the switch flips and I’m still working on eating enough during the day for it to come out of starvation/store as much fat in the butt and man-thighs as possible mode and not survive strictly on caffeine and nicotine. (I don’t need to be told for the 6,386,243rd time how unhealthy and horrible either are for my body, they keep my family alive and me out of prison for the moment, thanks.) 3) I try to balance as much crap as I eat with equal and sometimes double the amount of fruit and veggies as I can. Mostly raw and mostly with tomatoes. I LOVE ME SOME LYCOPENE LACED ENDORPHIN HIGHS! 4) No, I have enough freakishness going on that I have no desire for a liver tha glows in the dark. Plus, we have rats in our ceiling we’re trying to evict and I don’t want to see little scurrying glowing livers up there, either. lol 5) Not really a huge fan of sweets in general. Plus, the only gummy chewy stuff I like are lemon Starburst and those super high Vitamin C natural strawberry gummies you get from the oriental food markets. (They have them at Target, too and I buy 2 bags/wk on average and eat at least 1/2 a bag at a time) But I do love getting the Berty Bott’s Every Flavor Beans to pass around. It’s hilarious to see people’s faces when they get an ear wax or dirt flavored one. Who the hell has to test and compare those flavors, anyway? Ew! My guilty pleasure with those is the grass flavored ones. I freaking LOVE them! Another quirk of mine. But I would give up all of the sweets for a lifetime supply of potatoes of every preparation. I love me some carbs, lemme tell ya! lol
OK, I’ll end my novel here for now. And to any who bother to click the link to my blog, I apologize for the extended slacker hiatus, but FT school and kids and hubbs working and Dad with cancer makes updating it hard, since I barely have time to shave more than once a week. (And living in FL where we haven’t had a winter in over a year makes that EXTREMELY unattractive. lol)
I’ve got a thing for fruit-juice gummy bears. Started when I was pregnant, trying to keep bloodsugar high to avoid nausea – when not pregnant the sheer quantity of jelly “goodness” I can consume at one go is disgusting but now, at 8 weeks, I’m right back in that chewy place.
I love eating gummy bear..I feel relief every time I eat this..Thanks for sharing some good stuff..
Ugh, my mom loves spiced jelly beans, especially the black ones. Gag. Not a fan, although I’m curious about the Nerds version, and I did love me some Sweet Tarts back in the day – the big chewy ones that came in a package of 4. Got me through many all-nighters in college. That and Mt. Dew.
Like you, it doesn’t take much for my switch to flip. Pretty sensitive when it comes to the sweet stuff, but that doesn’t seem to be keeping me away from it these days.
How can you hate the popcorn Jelly Bellies? For years they were the only flavor jelly beans I didn’t hate. I love candy but I have to say that jelly beans are at the bottom of the pile whenever I have a sugar craving.
I’ll eat jelly beans if they are around, but I never make an effort to buy them. My glutton sweet is homemade chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven. I will notice if I am eating well for a few days and then eat a crappy meal I will feel like crap and then want crap.
But as far as sugar goes, if I don’t eat it, I don’t want it. Once I put that piece of chocolate into the body I will eat sugar all day.
I had to go out and find SweeTarts jelly beans to eat on my long run. They were good…(the gummy bunnies were too chewy)…but I am itching to find Jolly Rancher jelly beans because I suspect they might be my epitome of jelly bean perfection. I think I might have a problem with over consuming if I just had the bag in front of me but I packed portions into snack baggies. I would like to try Mike & Ikes too but I suspect that might be a little over the top. 🙂
I can resist jelly beans, but candy peanuts and candy corn kill me DEAD! As you were talking about eating the whole bag of jelly beans, by yourself, I had to laugh because that is SO ME with the peanuts and candy corn. I always think that I’ll eat just a couple peanuts or a few pieces of candy corn, but that is just silly. I eat at *least half of the bag by myself. I think that I am more like you in that one or two days of a candy binge and I am done for. It takes me at least a week to feel better. Last year, I went months without eating sugar, but it was really a battle. All day long telling myself that I don’t need it, stay away from it. It gets exhausting, which explains why I now have been back to eating sugar and my midsection shows it. sigh
I love jelly beans and usually eat a whole bag myself on Sundays (I try to only eat sugary treats on Sunday as my boyfriend is SURE I’m going to have diabetes before I’m 35. I’m almost 30). My favorite are Starburst Jelly Beans but they’re hard to find outside of Easter – and now that I’m outside of the US, forgetaboutit! but in college I ate one of those big bags of jelly beans at least weekly. It’s a wonder I still have teeth
I LOVE jelly beans!!! Right now I am actually eating a new brand that I found that is totally organic called, Surf Sweets!
Jelly Belly brand jelly beans have two additives in them that make you want more and more. They are called malic acid and maltodextrin. I do not know the heath effects of these but they want you to have more unhealthy jellybeans.