"Cheating"

[CaptainKirk]

My question is, did my sacrifice really make a difference, or would you have just “gone for it”?

Okay, I wear a CGM for such things. I let that decide for me.
And NO. I would never go “all out”. Because the damage I can do is extreme.

But here is what I have done, and tend to do:

1. I notice I start feeling that Jonesing Feeling (maybe it’s been 6 months)…
2. I pick a date in the future, and I give myself a couple of hours (2) to have whatever I want.
3. I do limit to DECENT alternatives (Cheesecake Factory Low Carb Cheesecake), LowCarb Ice Cream [because I am basically carnivore. These are really far off the reservation for me], maybe some bread with butter. KFC Chicken (original recipe). Or a Chik-fil-A sandwhich (not the fries). The last two are crazy levels for me!
4. I pre-eat a solid carnivore meal at the beginning of the 2hrs. This is so that I don’t try to get “full” on crap food. This is about 1 PACK of sausages (5 big links), maybe 8 if I was starving…

And then I enjoy it. And I pay attention to EXACTLY what it does to me.
(Which is why my list seems lame to so many people).

For example, Lillys lowcarb chocolate doesn’t do much to my glucose after eating a heavy meal. But it will trigger migraines. Kinda not worth it.

Anyways, I find that pre-loading creates a buffer so that the damage done from something is not bad. I’ve actually had a reasonably normal dessert (ice cream and apple pie) after such. But that was like 4 years ago. And I shared it with my wife, so I could not eat the whole thing. That was for my birthday.

it was nice enough. Have NOT done it since. Too rich. Too sweet.

I found the time limit was important. Otherwise the hunger SWINGS caused by the bad food could create a full on RELAPSE to carb addiction. And I admit I am truly dealing with addiction.

But there is some “truth” to noticing that if my CGM did not go crazy high, then I tended to feel better. And since I’ve been at this for 6 years, my glucose recovers much quicker. But I TRULY try to never spike it.

You do damage with that much glucose floating around. It’s a toxin.
Yes, once or twice a year. Probably not going to kill you. But for me, probably will trigger a BINGE… so I will protect myself.

The upside to my approach. I “never” feel like “I can NEVER have XYZ”.
Even if I wanted some “Deep Dish Pizza”. I know to go out and get 1 piece.
Bring it back, and have it AFTER my heavy meal.

Because I don’t feel deprived because of this arrangement (a mental trick).
I don’t crave it. I am not drawn to it. And yes, in 6 years, I had 1 piece of that.
It was PASTY tasting. I lost the “mouth feel” for bready stuff.

[Shinita]

I pre-eat a solid carnivore meal at the beginning of the 2hrs. This is so that I don’t try to get “full” on crap food.

Very logical move, I do that myself (if I am in my right mind and compulsion didn’t get me too early… but as my carni days get more numerous, I am better and better at keeping my wits) - but it may not help at all. It’s quite crazy but if I get full satiation with a carnivore meal and eat some carbs (probably matters which kind), I get hungry again and able to eat a lot of food (probably not always and maybe not anymore… it’s not like I often tested this but it definitely happened). Even though that food is inevitably very fatty, plenty of carbs fit into it. BUT I still have a better chance than jumping carbs when really hungry. I don’t do that. I don’t even desire that, thankfully.

pre-loading creates a buffer so that the damage done from something is not bad

I probably have something like that too, I don’t know - but what mostly carries this role is eating fatty protein after eating sugar. If I finish my meal with sugar (like some fruit), I won’t feel so good, it’s sometimes very strongly physical, other times I just feel off, wrong and crave some fatty sausage or something. Just a bite. It works for me so I don’t attempt not to do this.

[kib1]

I pre-eat a solid carnivore meal at the beginning of the 2hrs.

I very much agree with this. The restaurant we planned served lovely big burgers in lettuce wraps, my treat was going to be a pint of beer. I didn’t preload, cuz the meal was supposed to be the preload.

[ctviggen]

There are some things that you can do that supposedly help. Eating a salad with a lot of vinegar or just drinking vinegar+water before carbs. Eating meat and/or vegetables before carbs. Both supposedly lower postprandial (after eating) blood sugar and insulin.

You can take a walk after eating. This also helps with glucose and insulin.

Also, if you are using a CGM or pin prick blood sugar monitors, the first one-two meals of high carb will cause high spikes. Your system isn’t “primed” for eating carbs. Once you have a few meals, you should get lower blood sugar spikes. (When I had my CGM, I never tested this because I ate carbs so infrequently.)

Of course, all this goes out the window if eating carbs causes cravings that don’t go away.

[Mon1]

Also, if you are using a CGM or pin prick blood sugar monitors, the first one-two meals of high carb will cause high spikes. Your system isn’t “primed” for eating carbs. Once you have a few meals, you should get lower blood sugar spikes.

Hello thank you for this. I didn’t intentionally cheat but somehow had a silly moment and thought that bread crumbs on my fish cake would not contain too many carbs. Also I didn’t realise that fishakes possibly contained some mush potatoes. Talking of spikes, normally my glucose is between 4-5 mmols after this food it was over 8 mmols. I was quite shocked tbh. But it literally was a first higher carb meal in months so thank you for explaining this.

[kib1]

Fish cakes can also be more “cake” than fish. it’s not just breading on the outside, it’s usually a patty made from breadcrumbs or crushed cracker and other things, with fish or crab mixed in. Depending on the quality / cost, it could be as much as 50% not-fish, or possibly even more.