"2 words that stop cravings"

Oh my gosh, I'm so glad this was posted because I sortof subconsciously made that switch and telling people "I don't eat ___" and it makes so much more of a difference than "can't." Even in the way that others react to it as well - when you say "don't" I think it sounds so much more of a final decision rather than something you wish you didn't have to do, and thus people don't egg you on and try to make you eat whatever it is.

Great advice! Obesity mainly occurs as the body's response to chronically high blood sugar/high insulin levels. Type II diabetes occurs when the body finally exhausts its resources in dealing with the high blood sugar. My brother has Type II diabetes and I have seen how ill and miserable he has become from it and the basket full of medications he takes to control it (and then his doc adds more medication to control the side effects from the anti-diabetes drugs). When I started experiencing some of the symptoms of Type II, (such as sleepiness after meals) I knew I had to do something, if I wasn't to end up like my brother. Sugar and grain are two foods that greatly boost blood sugar levels (in addition to causing other aberrant biochemical effects). I've done a lot of reading in this area and have made the decision to give up all sugar and grains along with slightly increasing fat and protein. Since then, whenever I am tempted to eat a dessert in a social situation, I simply say, "I don't eat sugar and grains" (and explain my medical problem briefly, if the host/hostess seems interested). It was four months ago that I made the decision and I haven't had even so much as a cookie since then. You know what?---I don't even miss sweets at all--and I used to crave them. But that doesn't mean that the emotional craving for "comfort" foods (usually high starch) or "social" foods (usually high sugar) foods goes away. Once you switch to lower carbohydrate eating, it typically takes a month or two to get your insulin levels down to normal. And YAY! --once you get your insulin levels back to a normal (or even "below normal" from the restriction of carbs) your physical cravings disappear. Once you get used to the no sugar/no grain paradigm, you find the thought of cake, cookies, etc, kind of nauseating. Some fruits are so sweet that even they put me off a bit now--two pieces of fruit per day now satisfy any desire that I might have for something sweet.

And when I am tempted to "just this once" accept a piece of cake or take a bit of mac and cheese (and I used to be a mac and cheese addict), I simply remind myself, "I DON'T EAT SUGAR AND GRAINS because I don't want to get diabetes." It is a personal choice to have better health, isn't it?

The good news is that my blood sugar is back to being within normal limits, I have lost fourteen pounds and I have been able to gradually reduce my blood pressure medications! I used to take 80 mgs. of Micardis (which was wrecking my joints and muscles as a side effect) and 10 mg. of Norvasc (other bad side effects). I have been able to gradually reduce my medication to eliminate the Micardis entirely and to reduce the Norvasc dose to a quarter of what I was taking. As I reduce my weight further and increase my exercise, I am confident that I will be able to eliminate the last of the Norvasc as well. I take my B.P. with a home monitor every morning and it is usually around 110/75.

NOTE: (If any of you reading this want to get off B.P. meds, it is important to monitor your B.P. at home and follow a low carb plan religiously. Please don't go off of B.P. medication haphazardly---to do so can kill you with a stroke. The father of a friend decided that the side effects of the drugs were bad and he just stopped taking them. He ended up in hospital with a stroke after eating a large Thanksgiving meal.)