Carb Addict!!!!

dpy1956

I am a huge carb addict!!! I relate it to being hooked on drugs. It's awful. Some days all I can think about and crave are cookies,cupcakes, cake................ Anyone have suggestions on how to rid myself of this awful addiction? I've done so good for the last 2 weeks and today I could eat every cookie, cake, etc in my sight. AAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH.

WBB55

Anyone have suggestions on how to rid myself of this awful addiction?

It gets easier.

My suggestion? For just 4 weeks... 4 weeks, you can do it... don't eat ANYTHING that contains High Fructose Corn Syrup. When you have an urge for something sweet, eat real, homemade cake or cookies that YOU made yourself (log the calories, of course). But make sure your bread, pasta, pre-packaged foods, fast food hamburger buns, etc., make sure NONE of them contain HFCS (or corn syrup, if you can help it. Read the label to find out).

After 4 weeks, you'll find the convenience store prepackaged sweet treats taste like chemical garbage (which is what they are, of course, you'll just now be able to taste the chemicals).

MightyDomo

Try relating the need to eat cakes and sweets with something negative, it might help with your wanting of it to relate to it negatively.

Also add other foods to your diet that are low carb, off-hand I cannot think of too many that would be appetite pleasing and would immediately take your attention away from the sweets. Google no-carb and low-carb foods and see what you can come up with that will work for you

ahviendha

The peptides from gluten can react with opiate receptors in the brain, thus mimicking the effects of opiate drugs like heroin and morphine.

so yes, you probably are addicted. treat it as such. good luck!

Ge0rgiana

Detox. Srsly. Give yourself a couple of weeks off of the sugar. Instead, eat whole grains and fruit. It'll get easier.

lizsmith1976

You are not a carb addict, you are a junk food/ sugar/ crap food addict. Sorry, but my diet is 60% carbs because I am training for endurance events. My carbs are whole grain pasta, brown rice, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, lots of vegetables (especially green leafy), and high-fiber beans. I am a carb addict too, but I am giving my body healthy, nutrient dense, lower calorie carbs.

If you like sweets, eat a sweet potato. If you can't moderate the amount you eat of treats, then don't be around them.

Make healthy food and eat only that. You will get used to it, you just have to commit to it. Your body will thank you. Also, cookies, cupcakes, cakes with refined sugar and white flour are easily digested and spike blood sugar and then make you hungrier faster. Always did that to me anyway... Switching to other carbs will give you more energy and could help you control the cravings for the junk.

TrailRunner61

Eat more protein! You won't be as hungry. When I first started, I had to boil eggs and eat just the whites until the hunger pangs disappeared. There are only 17 cals in one large egg white, they fill you up and stay with you until the next meal or even later.
Don't restrict your carbs too much or like anything else, you'll crave them.
Figure out WHY you're wanting to eat them. Besides wanting them because they taste good, are you craving comfort?
Drink something, brush your teeth, go for a walk, work on a puzzle, call someone.. do anything that distracts you.

Chief_Rocka

What would you do for a Klondike Bar?

deep220

It sounds more like a sugar addiction to me. A carb addition is more bread and pasta... that is a pain I know.

Oh4FSake

Have the real thing that you made yourself. And don't try the substitutes because (at least for me) I'd try to sub carrots and hummus for chips and dips but it wasn't REALLY what I wanted so I'd end up eating both. Hahaha
If you want something-and REALLY want it (assess feeling and situation first: you could be tired, bored, thirsty etc) then just make it yourself. It's actually really beyond easy to make homemade chips and dip. Or chocolate frosting. Lol I thought I was going to chew my entire arm off trying to kick the store-bought convenience and comfort foods but as stated by an above poster once you get used to homemade taste store treats just taste kinda funky. There is definitely a strange chemical after taste.

YOU CAN DO IT!

Acg67

The peptides from gluten can react with opiate receptors in the brain, thus mimicking the effects of opiate drugs like heroin and morphine.

so yes, you probably are addicted. treat it as such. good luck!

What evidence of this in humans?

OneImaginaryGirl

Any suggestions for a vegan carb addict? I can't eat the usual proteins suggested, and am obsessed with carbs currently.

stupidloser

sounds like you are more of a "sweets" addict than a carb addict.

marsellient

My suggestion is to eat a piece of fruit. For me, if I have a cookie I want another cookie. If I have the fruit, I don't want more fruit and I don't want the cookie, either. Win, win!

tashiaberman

To those of us with metabolic syndrome (weight retention around the middle, water retention, gaining or only maintaining when we are dieting and exercising, and all that goes with that) carbs are poison. They will kill you. Think of it as slow suicide. First comes the weight, then the high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, etc. Your body is trying to kill you and you are helping it along.

I have the same problem and have been battling it for the past 7 years! After having my last child at the age of 40, I developed a heart problem that caused me not to be able to do the usual things after childbirth to lose the baby weight. Still most of it went away over time, but as I neared menopause, during peri-menopause I began packing on weight like nobody's business. When I dieted and exercised though, it dropped off, so no problem, right? Wrong. During that time my metabolism slowed. I also quit smoking which slowed it even further.

Dropping my calories down to 1200 per day, exercising vigorously 4-6 days per week for an hour at a stretch and even going "low carb" did nothing but help me not gain any further. Losing wasn't happening. When I got discouraged, after months of sticking to the diet religiously, and fell off the wagon for a week or two, the pounds just packed on. Within that period I went from 140 to over 200 lbs. all the while dieting and exercising my little heart out. I went to doctors, tried different diets, tried different exercises, balanced hormones, everything I could think of short of sheer starvation.

Finally, in November I decided to try something different and began researching diets based on food combining. Suzanne Somers had written several books that I have enjoyed and found helpful and several of them were her new diet. It is similar to Adkins, ketogenic in basis and VERY low carb, but based around food combining.

I have found that after a couple weeks off of carbs, I don't often have those cravings any more. When I do, there are recipes withing the rules of the diet that more than satisfy my sweet tooth. I don't have to weigh food, count calories, fat grams or points. I can eat until I am satisfied and have all the snacks I want...and they don't have to be carrots and celery! In fact, carrots are not even a food that is allowed.

I found that a LOT of the foods I was eating as "diet foods" were in fact "forbidden" in this diet. If I want a double cheeseburger with fries, I have one, but I either must make my own Oopsie Rolls for buns or use lettuce instead or just forget the bun and eat what's inside. Since potatoes are off the menu, I make celery root fries or home fries and it's great. I make cheesecake, ice cream, jello, cocoa, pancakes, lasagna, and pizza within the allowed foods on the diet and they are scrumptious. I am allowed cheese, cream, butter, bacon, steak, chicken with the skin on and a lot more that you could never have on other diets. I can have a big juicy steak and twice baked (celery root) potatoes with cheese, salsa, sour cream and bacon bits. Does that sound like a diet you could live with?

I have lost 16 lbs since November. If you try it and stick to it you will NOT be disappointed. You must cook for yourself though, but after you learn the ropes you can easily find items in restaurants that fit into your diet without feeling deprived of anything.

SharonNehring

The first couple of weeks eating reduced carbs is really tough but it does get better. Replace those sugery snacks with complex carbs and proteins to keep you feeling full longer. I must count carbs for health reasons and am always finding different things to try.
When I want a less sinful snack, I have one of these:

Greek yogurt - Fage has 8 carbs, 20 gm protein , Dannon Fit & Lite has 8 carbs, 12 gm protein. Dannon tastes much better but I doctor up the Fage with cinnamon, pumpin pie spice, fruit etc. Try freezing the Dannon, it's a great replacement for ice cream.

Skinny Cow - caramel truffle ice cream bars have < 20 carbs and only 100 cals. They taste wonderful!

Skinny Cow - chocolate crisp bars or peanut butter choco crisp bars - 15 gm carbs, low cal (can't remember exactly) and taste great!

Homemade salsa with multigrain tortilla chips - load up on the salsa and keep the chip total down

Cheese sticks - I'm loving the colby/jack combo, individual packaged sticks, 80 cals, no carbs

Roast turkey slices - low cal and high protein, I often wrap one around a pickle or a few veggies for a very low carb snack

Suger free hard candies - Having just 1-2 gives me that sweetness but with low carbs and cals

Apple slices with a tsp of peanut butter

AmykinsCatfood

Mmm cake.

But srsly. I get it- I really need to cut my carbs down too which it why I've been focusing on getting at least 125 gr of protein a day. If I'm concerning all my efforts on protein, I just naturally eat more lean meats, dairy and other protein providing foods. Bread doesn't provide much protein so I'd rather spend the calories on something that does. It seems to be working for me so far.

fushigi1988

Just eat everything you crave, without guilt. After a while you will get bored of it, because it is no longer forbidden or special.

fushigi1988

Detox. Srsly. Give yourself a couple of weeks off of the sugar. Instead, eat whole grains and fruit. It'll get easier.

Fruit contains sugar too, how is that 'detox'?

1ZenGirl

Just eat everything you crave, without guilt. After a while you will get bored of it, because it is no longer forbidden or special.

Yes. Eat a deficit. If it is truly binge eating all that means is that you are using your food of choice to binge with. That doesn't make those foods bad or poisonous. Figure out what is eating you (pun intended) and you will stop binge eating.

lafilledelarue

Yes, I have a suggestion. I'll send it to you in a private email. Sending you well wishes.