Warning if you have a sweet tooth at all: my husband had me try some of his cinnamon sugar pretzel last week and it was kind of like a donut. A sugary, buttery donut.

Not that it’s a bad idea to just eat a pretzel when it pops into your head to have a pretzel, until you get tired of pretzels and start having an easier time distinguishing between seeing one and wanting one. But I’ve found that just reminding myself that I can have a food, without actually having it, is cheaper and less likely to result in stomachaches.

I’m trying, it’s just so hard to deprogram all that “this is okay, this isn’t” crap. I mean sure, in theory I know that I”m allowed to eat them so it is no big deal, but, in practice that doesn’t seem to be working out just yet. Plus, I’m a recovering catholic, so basically I have to work through a lot of shame and guilt about doing anything enjoyable ever, which just compounds the eating issues.

Someday the mere sight of an Auntie Annes will not send me into a spiral of guilt and other stupid emotions, I am eagerly working towards that day. Though I am happy to say that I ate a huge plate of nachos for dinner and I’m feeling really good about it. Mmmm Nachos.

But here’s the thing: you’re operating on a false premise, to wit, “I eat them way too often.” Who says? How often is too often? That’s where the spiral starts. And I really believe that (absent an identifiable eating disorder) the only way out is through — meaning the first step is to eat as many freakin’ pretzels as you want. Eat them every day. Eat two at once. Whatever you want — don’t worry yet about whether it’s what your body truly craves. If you want it, eat it.

As hellfury says, you might never get sick of them, but ime, that’s what helps you lose the “OMG PRETZEL MUST HAVE ONE – NO! MUST NOT!” train of thought. If you actually eat them whenever you want, you stop seeing them as special and semi-forbidden. So eventually, you learn the difference between, “Damn, I really want a pretzel” and “THERE’S THE PRETZEL STAND! I HAVE TO HAVE ONE! IT MIGHT NOT BE THERE TOMORROW!”

Or, at least, that’s the theory. And I’ve definitely seen it work for me with several foods I used to virtually fetishize — though of course, YMMV.

BTW, I totally don’t mean to tell you you’re doing it wrong or something, because I think it’s an excellent point that feeling guilty about feeling guilty is a nasty side effect of the first stages of learning to do this. Last thing I want to do is make you feel more guilt! Just saying… I think really learning to let yourself eat whatever the hell you want can be the most daunting part of intuitive eating. But I also think you’ve got to do it to get to the point where you actually know what your body wants.

I worked at one of those for a little less than a year. They told me when I started that I would get sick of the things. For the record? I STILL absolutely love the cinnamon-sugar (and even more the seasonal Maple Crumb).