Advice on eating a cleaner diet

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joybedford
joybedford Posts: 1,680 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi my name is Joy I had lost 24lb with MFP but have gained some over christmas. My problem is I crave carbs mid afternoon, I want to eat cleaner, I stick to my calories and eat fairly healthily but feel this is letting me down. I don,t starve myself eating about 1800-2000 calories a day and I work out 6 days a week, I eat every 3 hours usually unless i am at work and then eat as often as i can. On days off from work I eat a breakfast of museli or fibre cereal, then have a snack when I get back from taking the kids to school. Lunch is often a salad. From this point on I just want sweet carby things I usually have a protein bar but don,t think they are the healthiest. after i have collected the kids from school and eaten my evening meal these cravings go away and then i am satisfied. Everyday I say i am not going to have the protein bar but everyday i do and sometimes (total honesty) I have the odd taste of any sweeties the kids have lying around. I really want to clean up my act but don,t know how to get over this issue. I know i am sobotaging my efforts. Any advice.

Replies

  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
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    Wash your letteuce more?

    Sorry, couldn't resist :).

    This may help

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/822501-halp-my-sandwich-isn-t-clean
  • ranchel1
    ranchel1 Posts: 5 Member
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    If you're craving sweet carbs, how about a banana?
    If you're doing enough sport, you should lose the weight again pretty fast - don't worry about eating the odd sweet!
  • thedreamhazer
    thedreamhazer Posts: 1,156 Member
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    Hi my name is Joy I had lost 24lb with MFP but have gained some over christmas. My problem is I crave carbs mid afternoon, I want to eat cleaner, I stick to my calories and eat fairly healthily but feel this is letting me down. I don,t starve myself eating about 1800-2000 calories a day and I work out 6 days a week, I eat every 3 hours usually unless i am at work and then eat as often as i can. On days off from work I eat a breakfast of museli or fibre cereal, then have a snack when I get back from taking the kids to school. Lunch is often a salad. From this point on I just want sweet carby things I usually have a protein bar but don,t think they are the healthiest. after i have collected the kids from school and eaten my evening meal these cravings go away and then i am satisfied. Everyday I say i am not going to have the protein bar but everyday i do and sometimes (total honesty) I have the odd taste of any sweeties the kids have lying around. I really want to clean up my act but don,t know how to get over this issue. I know i am sobotaging my efforts. Any advice.

    Sweets aren't the end of the world if you're doing everything else right. You may just be hungry -- your current breakfast and lunch sounds like it may be a little light on protein. Adding in some eggs or chicken (or, if you're vegetarian, some protein powder and/or quinoa [done up oatmeal style]) could help.

    But I will say, I find that I crave sweets when I haven't gotten enough sleep. Could this be the case? If so, try addressing the sleep problem and see if that helps. I had to set a very strict bedtime procedure in place for myself. No screens in bed, white noise maker, sleepy time tea 1-2 hours ahead of time, and a low dose of melatonin.

    Good luck!
  • moseler
    moseler Posts: 224 Member
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    First... I am a lot like you in the sense that if the kids have sweets in the house, I will hunt them down and eat them. I don't buy them anymore. My kids don't need them and I certainly don't either. My kids have opportunities outside my home to have junk food... I don't have to provide it in the house. I keep healthy alternatives at home... fruit mostly. I always have bananas, apples (honey crisps are my favorite) or grapes lying around. I also love greek yogurt. I either buy the kind with the fruit in the bottom or add blueberries or strawberries and granola myself... it is a great source of protein and the fruit and granola add the sweet carby goodness I need to get past my cravings.

    I have found that after cutting carby treats out... after time, I don't crave them anymore at all. I don't even think about them anymore. Good luck to you... this is an uphill battle, but worth the journey all the same.
  • ripemango
    ripemango Posts: 534 Member
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    i'm wondering if the lunch of a salad isn't really sustaining you and that is why you end up constantly reaching for a powerbar?

    if you don't like the idea of powebar, have you considered making your own healthy oatmeal bars?
  • ripemango
    ripemango Posts: 534 Member
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    I am starting to realize this myself. I don't have ice cream in the house for the same reason. I think i need to cut out all of the candy and cookies from the house bc I am struggling (failing) w portion control of them. Whereas, if there is JUST fruit in the house that is what i reach for...not a cookie.
    First... I am a lot like you in the sense that if the kids have sweets in the house, I will hunt them down and eat them.
  • justtodayjen333
    justtodayjen333 Posts: 142 Member
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    You probably are doing LOTS right--especially with your loss already. I can speak to what works for me. I try hard to stay away from the processed food and carbs and sugar--I'm not perfect, but I'm doing a pretty good job for me. No crackers or granola bars because I can't eat just one. Clean snacks I like are almonds ( I eat 13 while drinking 3 glasses water), string cheese, apple and peanut butter, veggies and dip. On days when I have the munchies, I eat popcorn. If I'm really hungry, I make a smoothie. I will drink coffee (decaf in the PM) with cream--because that's a good treat for me and keeps me doing something. Most days I plan a sweet treat into the evening--kind of as a reward for following through on the eating. Oh--I also love soups and having a cup of soup could also be a great snack. I even heard of a woman cooking up a dish of chicken legs at the beginning of the week and pulling one out for a snack--never done that. That's all I've got! Good luck!
  • Elleinnz
    Elleinnz Posts: 1,661 Member
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    What works for me is making sure I get enough protein at lunch - I normally have a salad - with 2 eggs, or a can of tuna - or leftover. Chicken from the night before ......sugar cravings for me is a sign I am not eating enough protein - both for breakfast and lunch..
  • BMcC9
    BMcC9 Posts: 4,440 Member
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    When I was attending Boot Camp, one of the "substitues for sweets" they suggested was frozen grapes. Just wash them and stick them in the freezer. They are like little icy slushballs because the water content is so high, but the pulp keeps them from freezing hard. And the skins keep them from freezing to each other.

    Being so cold, you CAN"T bolt them down, which helps make a small handful go a long way.
  • little_miss_panda
    little_miss_panda Posts: 79
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    There's degrees of eating clean. It will mean different things to different people. I think the bare bones of it is ensuring your diet is as unprocessed as possible, cutting back on (or cutting out) refined sugar (in all forms, candy, cookies, soda) and gluten, alcohol, artificial sweeteners, and food additives in general.

    A few finer points to consider, if you seriously want to go down the clean eating lifestyle:

    Personally, I seldom eat grains. That is partially due to having being a celiac, and having Crohns disease, but it is also because they are nutritionally quite poor - they are a "filler" food, not optimum nutrition. You may be craving carbs and sweets because you're starting your day with a big bowl of processed carbs in the form of cereals. Just sayin.....nutritionally those things are poor compared to, say, scrambled eggs and a fruit salad, or some Greek yoghurt with fruit and nuts (if dairy is part of eating clean for you). However, if you're not up for giving up grains altogether, then stick to quinoa (which is actually a pseudo-grain, it's a seed that behaves like a grain and has a decent mix of carbs and protein), gluten free oats, rice, particularly wild, red or brown varieties, and millet or buckwheat, and stay away from wheat, rye and barley and corn/maize - don't consume your grains in the form of convenience products (ie breads, cakes, biscuits, cereals and granola bars) even if gluten free. Gluten free does not automatically equal healthy.

    Sugar is sugar, and has the same metabolic effect, no matter where it comes from. Fruit provides benefits in the form of fibre, and vitamins, but consider limiting it if you want to lose weight. Berries are the best choice, being lowest in sugar and carbohydrates but high in vitamins and antioxidants.

    Consider where your food comes from. Factory farmed meat, eggs from battery hens, dairy from cows kept in stalls and not pastured, for example, are not good choices ethically as well as nutritionally. Is it a good thing to buy air freighted out of season fruit and veg from Africa, or could you eat more seasonally and locally? Clean eating is also about being conscious of the impact of your lifestyle and your footprint. Organic meat is more expensive, but I find that is offset to some degree by buying veg and fruit that is cheaper because it's home grown and in season, and not spending money on expensive pre-packaged foods and convenience stuff.

    If you want to eat cleaner, you could look into Paleo/Primal eating plans - Mark's Daily Apple site for example is a good introduction to that style of eating, and he recommends 80/20 adherence so you have room for the odd treat, meal out etc.

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