How Nostalgia Still Controls What We Crave

I shared a video on Instagram the other day of a group of Black men singing old television theme songs.

And listen...they sang the DuckTales theme song!

Now, I’m just gonna say it. DuckTales the cartoon? Trash. 😂 But that theme song?! Whew. One of the greatest cartoon theme songs of all time. I said what I said!

So anyway, I'm over here enjoying my little trip down memory lane when my lil' cousin sends me a DM: “Cuzzo, I now want some Cinnamon Toast Crunch!”

😂😂😂

And immediately, the psychologist in me showed up...Because...Who said ANYTHING about Cinnamon Toast Crunch? There wasn't a bowl of cereal in the video. Nobody mentioned breakfast. Nobody said milk. Nobody said Saturday morning. Nobody said Cinnamon. Toast. Crunch. Yet somehow, one old television theme song made a grown man want cereal.

THINK about that!

Your Brain Doesn't Store Food by Itself

We tend to think our food preferences are simple.

I like Cinnamon Toast Crunch because it tastes good.

Maybe. But food doesn't exist in our memories by itself. It's connected to people, places, sounds, smells, emotions, routines and experiences.

So when my lil' cousin heard that DuckTales song, his brain wasn't necessarily retrieving one isolated memory. It may have been retrieving an entire experience.

Saturday morning.
Pajamas.
No school.
Cartoons.
Sitting on the floor.
A big bowl.
Cold milk.
Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Maybe Mom or Dad somewhere in the house. (Keep shinin' down on us Uncle John!)
Maybe siblings sitting nearby. (but his sibling tho...whew)! Haha...all love tho!
Maybe absolutely NOTHING to worry about except whether somebody was about to change the channel. 😂

The song didn't remind him about cereal. The song may have reopened the whole room...and the cereal was in the room.

That's what makes nostalgia so powerful.

Sometimes You're Not Craving the Food. You're Craving the Memory.

This is where I want you to THINK differently about cravings.

Have you ever eaten something you hadn't had in YEARS and thought: “OMG. This tastes like my childhood.”

Notice what you said.

You didn't say: This tastes like cinnamon, sugar and flour. You said: This tastes like my childhood.

Food can become an emotional bookmark. Big Mama's mac and cheese. Mom's peach cobbler. The popsicle from the ice cream truck. The candy you bought from the corner sto. (not store, but the sto!)  ...and of course, the cereal you ate while watching Saturday morning cartoons.

...and sometimes when we want that food again, we aren't only seeking the flavor.

We may be seeking the feeling attached to it.

Comfort.
Safety.
Freedom.
Family.
Home.
Being taken care of.
Being young.
A time before bills started billing. 😂

And THAT is why changing our relationship with food can be much more complicated than somebody handing us a list and saying: “Just stop eating that.”

Uhh, excuse me? You might be asking somebody to give up more than a cereal. You might be asking them to disconnect from a memory.

And Companies Understand This VERY Well

This is also why marketing to children matters so much.

Think about the foods many of us associate with childhood. They didn't just come in plain white boxes labeled: SUGAR-FLAVORED CEREAL. Oh nooooo. 😂

There were characters.
Colors.
Cartoons.
Jingles.
Toys in the box.
Commercials during our favorite shows.
Happy children.
Catchphrases.
Mascots.
Fun.

The product wasn't simply being introduced to our stomachs. It was being introduced to our brains. ...and decades later? Somebody sings the DuckTales theme song and a grown man somewhere suddenly wants Cinnamon Toast Crunch. 😂 That's a pretty impressive return on investment. Don't act like it's just my lil' cousin tho.

This Is Why I Keep Asking: Did You Choose It?

One of my favorite questions around food is: Did you choose what you eat...or were you trained to eat it?

And I don't mean that judgmentally. We're ALL conditioned. That's how human beings learn. But becoming aware of our conditioning gives us the opportunity to decide whether we still want it.

So the next time you suddenly crave something, instead of immediately asking: “How do I stop this craving?” Try getting curious first. 

Ask yourself: 
What just happened?

What did I see?

What did I hear?

What did I smell?

Who did I talk to?

What was I thinking about?

What memory did my brain just open?

Because sometimes the answer to “Why do I want this food?” ain't sitting in your stomach. It's sitting somewhere in 1992. 😂 And THAT is the Psychology of Eating.

Your turn...

I want to try an experiment. What food instantly takes you back to childhood?

Don't THINK too hard. What's the FIRST food that popped into your head? And then ask yourself the more interesting question: What—or WHO—is attached to that food? 💚

Change Your THINKING, Change Your Everything.