Addicted to fat? Ever binge eat it?

(Lane) #1

I’m starting to wonder if I have swapped out my addiction to sugar for an addiction to fat.

Ever catch yourself doing something and suddenly have an aha! moment? This morning I was making some eggs for breakfast and I caught myself eating bits clarified butter while the eggs cooked. Eating is a nice way of describing it. I wasn’t savoring a delicious spoonful of fat, I was cracking off pieces of my clarified butter and stuffing them into my mouth. The EXACT same behavior I had with sugar.

I have always liked fat and craved it. My whole milk has never been whole enough, I always add fat to it, and when I buy cream top milk I scoop the cream out and eat it.

I’m not exactly happy about this. I believe in moderation in all things, and one of the things I really liked about Keto was that I stopped having sugar cravings that I would have a hard time denying. But now it appears I have replaced that with fat cravings. I don’t think I need more fat.

I’m going to have to give this some thought. Right now we’re in the process of moving, and of driving cross country for the holidays next week, so it’s not a great time to try to be really observant about my diet, but I think that needs to happen as soon as we get settled again.

Would love to hear thoughts on this, if other people experience fat cravings/addictive binging type eating behaviors and what they think about it.

Edit to add: I don’t guzzle olive oil or anything. I would almost say this is specific to dairy, cream, butter and milk.

(Bob M) #2

I find fat to not be filling. I can eat fat and more fat and more fat. Protein, on the other hand, I find to be filling.

(Lane) #3

And to be very clear, this isn’t about not feeling satisfied, at least as far as I’m concerned. This is about mindless, unconscious consumption of a food where I eat it in a manner that strikes me as binging. I have no self control with my salted Belgian butter, for example. I put it on my food and then just eat pieces straight up.

(Carl Keller) #4

I’m often guilty of licking the frying pan I recently cooked a juicy steak in. I don’t see too much harm in it as long as the frying pan isn’t scalding hot. :smiley:

Seriously though, binge eating anything is never a good thing. A person in the second stage of ketosis (after fat adapted) will never lose weight if there’s an endless supply of fat in their stomach to use as fuel. If someone were to have this problem I would suggest only cooking portions that they consider just enough for a meal. If there’s not a plate full of roasted chicken thighs, then temptation will not get the best of them.

In your case where nibbling on butters and eating fats skimmed from cream milk, I think it’s just going to have to be a mental battle you are going to have to wage with habit. Try to catch yourself doing it and remind yourself that it’s not necessary. I know it’s not as easy as I suggest. Binge eating can be a disorder where your compulsions are often stronger than your better judgement.

(mole person) #5

Ack! You evil man! I’m already a plate licker who eyes my husband’s empty unlicked plate with longing. But somehow, pan licking has never occurred to me until just now…

(mole person) #6

I had a similar issue. Not so much binging, but I loved heavy whipping cream in my coffee so much I was drinking coffee ALL DAY LONG to get to it. some days up to 7 cups, each with 2 tbsp of HWC. I tried repeatedly to bring it down but always quickly crept up again. The solution for me was I gave up dairy full stop. It worked and rapid weight loss recommenced.

(Carl Keller) #7

Guilty as charged. I used to use bread to do this but since bread is a no-no, one must improvise. :sunglasses:

(Laura) #8

I would never put an unlicked spoon with sour cream on it in the sink. :star_struck:

(Lane) #9

Dairy is my ONE treat. When I started Keto I would allow myself one small glass of milk before bed…for me it was like a snack and another person’s glass of wine…it’s my comfort food. And I don’t do this with cheese, or sour cream or yogurt, it’s milk, cream and butter.

I will have to recalibrate my usage of it in the new year.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #10

I’ve been caught guzzling an entire glass of HWC.

(mole person) #11

Yah, milk is freaking delicious. I’m the same…it’s all cream and milk, but I don’t have milk on keto so it’s all cream. The only other dairy that is really a problem are the sweeter cheeses like Jarlsberg, Swiss, or Emmantal. I may be able to bring back some dairy eventually, if I can keep cream and those cheeses out, but it may be a slippery slope.

(less is more, more or less) #12

Great question. I find my leftovers, or when people prepare meats with the fat cooked out, like the good little Keyes-o-bots we have been programmed to be, making the meat or veggies too dry without added butter or coconut oil.

I don’t readily recall craving fat alone. I do fancy a bullet-proof tea or coffee, however.

This is in stark contrast to my experience with sweets and starches. So, it’s broadly related, in that I fancy more fat in a too-dry meal. I’m not, however, craving for 6 eggs for no reason. Whereas I can imagine the glory of eating one donut (out of nowhere) which, in turn, leads to two, three, and the descent begins.

(Rose ) #13

Dairy has addictive properties to me. I don’t know whether it’s the lactose or something else, but I can binge on cream and cheese (not so much butter) until the cows come home. But it doesn’t agree with me! So I don’t eat cream anymore, and only buy fancy cheeses as a treat now.
I use goose fat to cook my breakfast in, and I certainly don’t want to eat spoonfuls of that in the way I would eat spoons of clotted cream!

(Doug) #14

Salted butter - can keep pecking away at it for a long time. 2 sticks is the most I ever ate at one sitting.

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #15

I can say I have experienced odd behaviour on keto, but I wouldn’t go as far to say I am addicted to fat.
When I say odd behaviour, I have no problem with cooking 3 eggs in 125grams of butter, pouring the butter over the cooked eggs, and licking the plate. :stuck_out_tongue:

(Lane) #16

I can’t even do that. Wow!

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #17

I don’t know if it’s because I’m looking at fat differently but I’ve got a small obsession with pork fat currently. I buy bacon ends and pieces because sometimes I hit the jackpot and it’s almost all fat. I cook it on cookie sheets and eat it as it comes out of the oven, sucking the juices out of it, savoring the overcooked pieces that are a bit crunchy. I also like to strip the fat part off the pork cracklings I buy in the bag for snacks.

Last night I ate a bite of cold bacon grease I keep in the fridge. It was strange at first, but melted in my mouth and I thought, I should stop this before it becomes a thing. I also like nibbling butter when I’m cooking with it.

For me I think it’s a bit of a fetish because it was ALWAYS off limits before and now I can eat as much as I want without feeling guilty or weird. I think I’m still experimenting with it. May be you are too?

(Consensus is Politics) #18

Sounds like pica. You may very well be deficient in something that just isn’t obvious. and instead of munching on clay, paper, matches, etc… you locked onto an actual food.

Could be something as simple as an iron deficiency. Or pregnancy, that’s know to cause pica as well.

Let us know if you figure it out. This is something to keep an eye on for sure.

Keto Vitae!

(linda) #19

Hey Fetching!
Thank you so much for sharing this - I feel similarly about eating fat. For me it seems like I crave it. I’ve been keto for a year and 4 months and I have found that I have never been hungry and I never feel full. I chalk this up to the hunger hormones (leptin and ghrelin) being effected by the diet. Regardless - it seems like I’m chasing a fullness never to be achieved - I never craved sugars - but before on a non- keto food plan I regulated my intake by body cues. (feeling satiated) I’ve gotten tremendous symptom relief from the anti- inflammatory benefits and I am looking to offset Alzheimers prevalent in my family - but I would like to “get a grip!!” Butter - cheese - bacon. The forum recommends shifting to maintenance mode - but it is soooo tough!!

(What The Fast?!) #20

There’s a book called Brain Over Binge that several people have told me is amazing for solving this type of behavior!