needing accountability

SweetTATA5

Hi,
I am new to MFP. I joined primarily for support and accountability. I discovered that I feel best eating no grains, no sugar and minimal dairy, a couple years ago, but I struggle to stay on track. I am the only one in my household that eats this way and my partner is opposed to trying it. I often have questions and need ideas, etc. I am hoping that I can find the support I need here.
Thanks,
T

jrosto

Welcome to the group.

FaylinaMeir

Welcome

miriamtob

Welcome! Do you cook a lot?

SweetTATA5

miriamtob wrote: »

Welcome! Do you cook a lot?

Yes, I do! My daughter has had a corn allergy since she was two, so I'm used to cooking from scratch since corn is in everything.

bluefish86

Hi Sweet!

I can totally relate to what you said about your partner being opposed to your WOE.... just sent you a request.

jrosto

My Sweetie is also not at all interested in giving up her sugars and grains. I just add a roll or maybe a little pasta to her dinners at times to keep her happy. She also has her ice cream and snacks. I just keep them separate from the main pantry.

KBGirts

I, too, struggle to stay on track even though I discovered a couple of years ago that this is better. Why is this???? Let's add each other.

SweetTATA5

Thanks guys! I struggle with weak moments and having all that other stuff in my house. It's mainly crunchy salty cheesy stuff, like chips and fries and nachos. I do OK with staying away from the sweet stuff. I also need to work on my mindfulness when I'm cooking for my family. I will catch myself "tasting" the food I'm cooking. And than once I do cheat and I'm already bloated and yucky feeling, I'm like well, might as well enjoy the crap and eat whatever I want to since I already messed up. Than I have a hard time getting back on track and have to deal with the carb flu all over again. Why am I so weak willed?

homesweeths

Maybe not so weak-willed. Have you read Robb Wolf's Paleo Solution, or Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint? If I'm remembering right (it's been 3 years since I read them), they explain why some foods are satisfying, and other foods actually make you more hungry, the more you eat of them!

(Oh, wait, it might have been in the book It Starts with Food, which was well worth the purchase price.)

It takes an effort to get past the bloated and yucky feeling. Some people do the Whole30 to help them stay motivated. I found motivation in how well I feel when I eat right. I've been tempted sometimes, but have found with certain foods (tomatoes, mainly, for me) it's just not worth three days of pain. And the longer I've been doing this, the better health base I've built, so that I can occasionally eat something with wheat (a really good sourdough, or piece of birthday cake), or potato salad or hash browns -- I'm talking every few months, not weekly! And just this month, when the teens bought a chocolate cheesecake to share between them for their birthday (they're bottomless pits), I wasn't even tempted to ask for a taste.

Not everyone can get by with cheating. You'll hear at least one person here say that her rule for herself was, "Never cheat with wheat!" It's what she had to do to feel good. I can do very occasional full-fat dairy, but again, it's not daily, or even weekly. I might eat a handful of soaked and then dehydrated almonds once a month or so, either as a snack, or chopped and sprinkled over salad for a crunch. I might eat eggs once or twice a week, again, not every day. This is because I've been following auto-immune protocol for three years. I've been able to reintroduce some foods, but I know if I ate them every day I'd start reacting badly (pain, cravings, bloating) once more.

Tonight, for a paleo-ized treat, I mixed 2 TBS coconut oil, 1 TBS shredded coconut, and 1 TBS raw carob powder. It was delicious and satisfying!

Sorry, I'm rambling. Tired, and it's time to shut down the screen so that I have some winding down time before bed.

Anyhow, it's worth it.

You can do this! I taught myself not to taste while cooking years ago, while on Weight Watchers. I didn't lose all the weight I wanted, nor did I keep it off, but I *did* learn some good habits there (not tasting while cooking, avoiding "red light" foods that trigger binges). I used to be bulimic. I can count the number of binges I've had over the past three years on the fingers of one hand, and in each case I was back "on" the next day, no strung-out binges, going on for several days, anymore.

Find things that work for you. Cook ahead, to have foods prepped and ready for when you have that need to eat. Do your best not to fall into a rut of cooking the same thing all the time--it's easy to fall off if you're bored. Eat more fat. My macros are set to 60% fat, 20% carbs and 20% protein. That's what works for me.

Keep your carbs between 50 and 100g a day (lower is better -- mine are set at 75g, but I range between 30g and 100g depending on the day). The more carbs I eat, the more I crave, and the more danger of binging. My metabolism is weird, compared to what I've read on the web. I'm in fat-burning mode if I keep my carbs between 50-80g (whereas, I think I was told that they had to be under 50g, maybe even something like 30g a day, for ketosis to happen. One of the regulars here is doing a zero-carb lifestyle right now, because of health issues. You have to listen to your body, find what works for you).

Think of food additives as poison. I literally cannot bring myself to eat French fries or meat from McDonalds any more (all I can order from them is unsweetened iced tea), and we used to go through that drive-thru a couple times a week! After 3 years of eating whole foods, I can taste artificial colors and flavors in food, and they don't taste good.

If I average about 80 carbs a day, I'm never hungry, and I can go (and have gone) 24 hours without food (not on purpose, but because of circumstances) without a blood sugar crash. I used to have to eat every two hours or so, or I'd get woozy.

I don't know if any of this is helpful... it's been a long day. So I'll just close this with wishing you the best.

homesweeths

p.s. Look up Mark Sisson's 80/20 rule. I found it a great help in getting out of that mindset that if I had a cookie, I'd blown it for the day (or the weekend, or the week). If I have a cookie nowadays, it stops at just that one cookie.

cindytw

SweetTATA5 wrote: »

Thanks guys! I struggle with weak moments and having all that other stuff in my house. It's mainly crunchy salty cheesy stuff, like chips and fries and nachos. I do OK with staying away from the sweet stuff. I also need to work on my mindfulness when I'm cooking for my family. I will catch myself "tasting" the food I'm cooking. And than once I do cheat and I'm already bloated and yucky feeling, I'm like well, might as well enjoy the crap and eat whatever I want to since I already messed up. Than I have a hard time getting back on track and have to deal with the carb flu all over again. Why am I so weak willed?

I have the same tendencies! Except I can't taste, as I truly can't have gluten. But I fall off the wagon all the time with the other junk! I am a chip-fry gal! I don't get carb flu anymore, I have been through it so much, but I do feel crappy after eating junk!