Struggling with Food Obsession

[Ajax]

Here’s a keto naan recipe to go along with your curries

Keto Naan Bread with Melted Garlic Butter – Diet Doctor

[Lovethyself]

This was SO important to me in my first week. I very nearly got down on myself for only being able to cut my carbs down to 40-100g on some days and was tempted to listen to the negative voice that says "Shit, if you can’t even keep it together for the first week, how are you supposed to manage this long term but logically I knew it was carbs still being in my system and screaming out for attention. In the days before starting keto, the idea of fasting seemed like a goal that was for other people with better discipline than me but now I frequently go 16 hours without issue.

You got this. Baby steps to Beast steps.

[farmgirl]

Thanks Eva, so much. I’ve been keto since January, 2017. I’m a wise eater, most of the time. I love eating foods that keep me healthy. I will stay on this way of eating forever. I only mention my slip-ups down junk food alley because they have happened, even though I am committed to LCHF foods. Being committed to this wonderful, wise way of eating does not mean I’m perfect. MOST of the time, I can drive by junk food billboards, watch TV commercials, see cupcakes at a birthday, and walk by bright, eye-catching candies in every store without feeling even the slightest urge to eat any of it. Sometimes I even find myself saying “yuk” out loud as I imagine eating them. Fortunately the slip-ups are rare, but sometimes they are a major slide away from the progress I have made.
I have great hope that some day I will have no desire for this stuff anymore, but I am not optimistic. The junk food drugs are cheap, highly advertised, and pushed on us everywhere, every day.
As for fasting, like you I go 16 hours without issue. Many days I only eat once, so I see that I have fasted 24 hours on those days. I actually feel fed most of the time; not even slightly hungry. Food doesn’t interest me at all. That said, my recent slide down junk food alley happened after I repeatedly attempted to fast for several days. The last EF lasted about 4 days. I felt deprived the entire time, then I started binging and just didn’t stop for several weeks. I have learned the hard way that my mind is not in a good place to do “scheduled” fasting. As long as I know I can eat when I’m hungry, any day, every day; I can go hours and hours fasted with no difficulty or any feelings of deprivation, and no need to binge afterward. If I schedule a time when I am not allowed to eat, that’s when the trouble starts. Oh well, I chalk this up to the words “know thyself”.

[ssablich]

I just want to chime in here and say that no one here thinks you are weak, and no one is judging We all come to this from various backgrounds or walks of life… but with a common goal to feel better. For many of us (myself included), this meant learning how to break that carb/sugar addiction.

I have a friend who has been an addict of some sort for decades. He has used “substitution” to manage his addictions (with medical support)- moving from heroin to cocaine to alcohol to marijuana to cigarettes to sugar… and no joke, he says that sugar is the MOST difficult thing he has ever tried to give up.

Be kind to yourself @Capnbob has amazing advice, as always. This forum is filled with supportive and encouraging people, and amazing resources. Hang in there!

[Emacfarland]

He does!! @Capnbob is awesome!

[tararene2005]

You are very strong for wanting to change your life. This will get easier once you get used to it.
For me personally, I wasn’t able to take baby steps. If I had any sugar or high carby food in my system, it brought on worse cravings. I am not the type to eat one cookie, as long as there’s a whole batch sitting on the counter, I will keep going back for more. I’d have as much as I could eat before someone noticed or I felt sick. I totally understand your food obsession.
I still have a food obsession but I forced it to shift to other types of food that are better for me. Cheese, bacon, walnuts roasted in garlic and bacon nectar, and eggs.

[Hoteski]

Trick is to experiment in the kitchen and make food so good it makes the crappy carb stuff seem like your missing out if you opt for them instead of when your having your own home cooked amazing food . Cook the foods you enjoy but just change the recipy to adapt to keto… Colliflour rice, a bit of curry goat with veg. Sounds yummy to me

[grace2166]

Wow, this makes so much sense to me! I have to find a way to eat where I don’t feel deprived. Although I manage to eat MOSTLY Keto, when I feel deprived, I will “allow” myself a “reward”. Its how my mind works without me even realizing it sometimes. I cannot do scheduled fasting.
Thanks for helping me understand I am not alone here. I also have to proceed knowing I can eat when I feel hungry and let my body ease into going longer each day without food. In my case, I have to because I have some serious high blood sugar.

[JGL]

This is all beautiful advice and I just want to underscore and echo all of that with literally the tiniest addition that there SO many ways to do excellent low carb curries. They are one of my weekly go to meal preps now. The cauliflower rice or (shiraki rice noodle) swap is a great one. Don’t feel like curries are something you necessarily need to phase out or associate with intrinsically carby! I can send you some of my favorite recipes if you want. But Bob said the really important stuff that needed to be said. I’m just here to say Yaaaassss Curries.

[farmgirl]

When it comes to giving myself permission to eat when I am hungry, I ask myself “am I hungry” several times every day. Eventually I really AM hungry, so I eat. The important thing is to honor my agreement with myself to eat if I am indeed hungry. If I don’t honor this agreement, I head for that mental trap of feeling deprived. After so many years of feeling the negative emotions with dieting and deprivation, I have a real mental block in this area. This is probably why scheduled fasts mess with my head. I don’t have high blood sugar issues. Eating ketogenic foods keep my blood sugar steady all the time. Hopefully your blood sugar issues will clear up soon.

[cloudy]

peanut butter sandwiches with tea

this should be okay to eat. I mean, there are some versions of peanut butter that has only about 5~7grams of net carb per 100grams.

[Regina]

Happy Birthday!

[Capnbob]

this should be okay to eat.

NO - It’s not the PB (though it is for many - eating PB makes me hungry)… surely it is the SANDWICH (bread)…

[cloudy]

That’s why I censored the sandwich. Because I mean only peanut butter and green tea.

[Evy]

Hi!
First of all I want to say - great job! If you are struggling with it, that means you already on the way of changing your view and your mentality about the food.
As others mentioned, some people are more addictive to carbs, then others, especially if it was part of your everyday food for many years and even generations!
When i was starting Keto, I was struggling about the bread, as in my country we eat bread with every smallest dish, with eggs, soup and even fruits sometimes! And I thought it will be a disaster for me, as I loved it SO MUCH. And without eating bread I felt hungry even after meal.
What helped me in that case - step by step reducing the amount. Yes, it took some time to overcome both psychological and physiological addiction. I was trying not to buy it at all to avoid temptation (played on my laziness to go to shop for buying specifically it). I couldn;t find with what to replace it at the beginning. And then I’ve started to eat vegetables (right ones) each time I was ready to quit. I think around 2 month I worked just on it, not going deeper and you know what? I did it!
So from my advises:

• Give it time - work just on your addiction before going into full Keto

• Replace - find the right product, which you can eat each time you tempted.

• Be strong;) Yes, I know, to say this to person who struggles, it’s kind of kidding. But trust me, you are stronger than you think! You just have to trick you body and your brain. It is possible.
  Eat tasty - Find your favourite products among Keto list and just eat it! Enjoy it! Keto diet allows to eat so many deliciouses, why not to play on it?

I wish you luck and I am sure - you can do it!!!

[atomicspacebunny]

L-glutamine

Why I drink raw steak juice (grass fed of course):

”…If the buffer removed by critical acid should be ammonia from glutamine we have a situation where the ingestion of raw meat or meat juices would be the only known prompt remedy. The meat itself is acid in reaction, the juices containing the basic salts and most of the glutamine.

This probably explains the fact discovered 60 years ago that dogs fed meats without its juices died much quicker than if fed nothing. They will get acidosis from simple starvation but an aggravated acidosis if fed this kind of meat. In fact they soon stop eating such meat but the harm has been done, they have lost more of their alkaline reserves, and will die sooner than the dogs that received none of the acidic meat.

The general use of meat extracts for convolescent patients arose from these dog experiments but the extracts as commonly furnished have been cooked and super-cooked in autoclaves, so their only value is in more rugged constituents such as potassium salts and creatinine. The real essential principle that could be there is gone, the glutamine?

The University of Wisconsin proved 40 years ago that Hogs required 50 percent more feed if it had been cooked. Since then, no Hog feeder in his senses has been cooking his feed. But we realize that the science of animal feeding is about 40 years in advanced of our practice of human nutrition. …” - Dr. Royal Lee, Conversations in Nutrition - Volume One

[Magsymaybe]

I don’t really know why but I’m scared of making curries because they seem a bit carby. I’d be really grateful if you could share some recipes. Thanks

[kennedy42]

Very inspiring! It sounds very much like me - I will remember this advice as those carbs and sugar in my system are screaming out. I am definitely addicted and I want it to stop! Thank you, @Lovethyself

[Lovethyself]

Thank you for replying to this. I wasn’t long into my keto journey when I wrote that and after several stumbles off the wagon I often find myself in the same frame of mind with that early carb withdrawl struggle. I needed to be reminded of my own words.

[Ketorosew]

I found that cold turkey was the only way as even a tiny bit of sugar or starch and it gives me uncontrollable cravings.
I would suggest finding some keto snacks that you absolutely love and allow yourself as much as you like in the transition period. Cheese, nuts, hard boiled eggs, ham, pate etc. Then every time a craving for carbs hits allow yourself to gorge on those. Just to help you over the initial humps of physical addiction. I find that the physical addiction goes after a few days and then it’s much easier to control cravings.
Good luck!