Sugary/unhealthy foods during celebrations....

I have a terrible time at festivities. I look forward to them and try to eat just the healthy things, drink only one glass of wine. However, if I eat the cake etc., I will end up binging when I get home. I have been known to eat 5 Zone protein bars after a full meal as I can "sneak" these and I think my hubby doesn't know. Then, I sleep like crap, feel terrible and take two days to feel like a human. I do get right back on track but it takes 4-5 days to get back to weight and energy before binge. I do this about once/month and wish could have a bit of something without all or nothing.

The issue I'd hone in on is you saying, "I'm worried I would be unable to quit eating." Do you feel like you have issues controlling your food? That might be something to talk to a professional about. Otherwise, I'd say, 1. The cake was at a party... not at your place. If it's not in the house, it's much more difficult to backslide into having it, so don't buy it or take any "leftovers" home. 2. It looks like you've lost a good amount of weight. Congratulations on your loss! It might surprise you to have a bite and be perfectly content with just a bite or small slice. Often, our tastes and appetites acclimate very quickly to what we've been eating, so you might be surprised at HOW sugary it tastes (maybe now a turn off), or realize that it doesn't taste AS good as you thought. Keep in mind, I am by no means discounting that cake tastes awesome, but often after you've made long strides in changing your diet, things that were once much more frequent can quickly fall by the wayside.

As someone else has already said, you do need food, but you don't need processed sugar.
And it affects people in different ways. Some people do have trouble controlling it. The OP seems to have clearly stated that there's an issue with controlling food intake, and has thus chosen to not eat sweets, at least for the time being.
That's a pretty decent solution that doesn't necessarily need a professional on top of it.
the problem for the OP is that so many other people (as evidenced in this thread) have a problem with a person choosing to not eat cake, whether for fear of control, or the choice to stick with healthier food, or anything else. The problem for the OP is that people won't butt out.

The issue I'd hone in on is you saying, "I'm worried I would be unable to quit eating." Do you feel like you have issues controlling your food? That might be something to talk to a professional about. Otherwise, I'd say, 1. The cake was at a party... not at your place. If it's not in the house, it's much more difficult to backslide into having it, so don't buy it or take any "leftovers" home. 2. It looks like you've lost a good amount of weight. Congratulations on your loss! It might surprise you to have a bite and be perfectly content with just a bite or small slice. Often, our tastes and appetites acclimate very quickly to what we've been eating, so you might be surprised at HOW sugary it tastes (maybe now a turn off), or realize that it doesn't taste AS good as you thought. Keep in mind, I am by no means discounting that cake tastes awesome, but often after you've made long strides in changing your diet, things that were once much more frequent can quickly fall by the wayside.

As someone else has already said, you do need food, but you don't need processed sugar.
And it affects people in different ways. Some people do have trouble controlling it. The OP seems to have clearly stated that there's an issue with controlling food intake, and has thus chosen to not eat sweets, at least for the time being.
That's a pretty decent solution that doesn't necessarily need a professional on top of it.
the problem for the OP is that so many other people (as evidenced in this thread) have a problem with a person choosing to not eat cake, whether for fear of control, or the choice to stick with healthier food, or anything else. The problem for the OP is that people won't butt out.

I've actually talked to OP in PM, so I'm not so concerned with your interpretation. And nowhere did I say you need PROCESSED sugar to live, I said you need FOOD to live, so any sort of "food + addiction" issue is moot for anyone outside of someone with an ED. She also wasn't very clear with controlling intake, hence my followup questions of what exactly she meant by "I'm worried that..."

Oh well, OP. Thanks for your pm, and good luck in your endeavors which have been successful so far.

And even though now there will be the inevitable, "Excuse you, going off sugar can result in withdrawal symptoms" or "I have a food addiction/ED/etc. etc.," no, offering a piece of cake to someone on a diet is NOT the same as offering a drink to a recovering alcoholic. Alcohol is a drug with very real, very dangerous issues of withdrawal, relapse, etc. You DO need food to live, regardless of its quality, and it has tens of thousands of years of being a communal ritual for homo sapiens.

There's nothing wrong with offering a piece of cake to someone on a diet.
There *is* something wrong with pressuring a person (whether on a diet or not) to eat a piece of cake, and indicating that they're not partaking in the celebration, or being social, or whatnot if they choose not to eat it.

Absolutely! OP just didn't mention any sort of pressure, and only mentioned "feeling like a douche" when someone on the forums said that.

Um. Why wouldn't you eat the cake? The cake isn't going to suddenly put on 5 pounds. Celebrate life's moments, otherwise its all just one long boring walk to the grave.

If one needs cake to avoid boredom that is a problem bigger than the possibility of offending a hostess. Eating out of boredom is, at least partially, what got many of us having to be on fat loss programs to begin with. But *shrug* to each his or her own. What others put into their bodies, is their business---what I refrain from putting into my body, is mine.

... That's not at all what he was saying. He was saying limiting things you enjoy makes life a boring walk to a grave. Not that eating is to stem boredom...

^^ Awesome as always. What she said. Depriving yourself of treats tends to make life more icky.

"...If you don't like eating sugar and enjoy your body without it, that's fine! However, it's a fallacy to say it's the same as alcohol."


I did not say it is "the same as alcohol"--I said that it is metabolized in ways similar to alcohol--the fructose component of sucrose, that is.



"...by the way, alcohol and sugars ARE found naturally in your body, regardless of what you eat'


I have no problem with glucose or lactose---I eat one ounce of chocolate lightly sweetened with glucose almost every day before I lift weights. And I eat dairy products every day so, of course, I get lactose. I just do not eat sucrose or concentrated fructose. There's a reason for it but I don't want to bore you with bio-chem.


"...If a recovering alcoholic declines it, that's their prerogative, and also an anecdotal piece of evidence (particularly as the first thing that came to my mind was the prevalence of mixed drinks using fruit juices; perhaps they, or you, are misinterpreting their reluctance, but then that's just an observation..."



No, the person I'm thinking of was only ever a beer drinker. He used to drink a case of beer every evening. I thought it was peculiar when he said that eating sugar did some of the same things to him as alcohol---but I wasn't aware then of how addictive sucrose can be.

Um. Why wouldn't you eat the cake? The cake isn't going to suddenly put on 5 pounds. Celebrate life's moments, otherwise its all just one long boring walk to the grave.

If one needs cake to avoid boredom that is a problem bigger than the possibility of offending a hostess. Eating out of boredom is, at least partially, what got many of us having to be on fat loss programs to begin with. But *shrug* to each his or her own. What others put into their bodies, is their business---what I refrain from putting into my body, is mine.

... That's not at all what he was saying. He was saying limiting things you enjoy makes life a boring walk to a grave. Not that eating is to stem boredom...

But...I really don't enjoy eating sweets anymore, so why should I? I enjoy spinach now (with a bit of salt and lemon juice--yum!) as much as I ever enjoyed cake (probably more as I love the feeling I get when I do things to enhance my health). And now that I am free of all food addictions, life is infinitely MORE enjoyable.

I don't think this going back and forth is not helping the OP..who hasn't responded. So why not just drop it instead of making this about whether or not we should eat sugar.

I think we all get your point by now.

Well, I guess we can let the OP speak for herself. If she chooses not to that is her prerogative just as it is mine to respond to others who have chosen to criticize my view.

I'm out of this thread because having you continually hijack threads is just not cool. Have fun arguing with yourself.

I just eat it and eat less later or the following day. Sometimes I have a few off days and then I go by my weekly calories.

Um. Why wouldn't you eat the cake? The cake isn't going to suddenly put on 5 pounds. Celebrate life's moments, otherwise its all just one long boring walk to the grave.

Words to live by.
And let's not even get started on what merits "healthy" or "unhealthy food" here... :can of worms:

It is really not *necessary* to eat to celebrate. I think it's very telling of the unhealthy mindset that everyone here equates eating with celebrating. It is entirely possible to celebrate without eating anything at all.
As for what is healthy and unhealthy, there may well be grey area, but you have to be pretty deluded to come up with any system that lets you put birthday cake under 'healthy'. Doesn't mean you can't have it. Sure, there would be different ideas as to what level of unhealthy. but surely everyone has the sense to recognise that it simply isn't 'healthy'.

Unhealthy mindset? One piece of cake? Seriously?

Poor reading comprehension.
As I stated multiple times above, I see nothing wrong with eating one piece of cake if you want it.
The unhealthy mindset is not the idea that you can have one piece of cake. That's moderation.
The unhealthy mindset is that if you turn down the cake, you're turning down the whole celebration. The unhealthy mindset is the idea that you need to eat cake in order to have fun, and that choosing not to eat cake is a life of miserable deprivation.
I support the ability to have a piece of cake if you want it, but in this thread, I'm standing up for the ability to choose not to have a piece of cake without being socially pressured.

My reading comprehension is fine, quite good actually, but thank you for attempting to explain your way out of what your wrote. Enjoy your sugar free life. No judging here. I'll just let myself eat cake! :drinker:

Given that I'd stated my support for eating cake if one wants well before that one, if you can only get out of my statement that I think no-one should eat sugar, you really can't read.
"unhealthy mindset that everyone here equates eating with celebrating"
the sentence clearly states that the issue is with the eating=celebrating. Otherwise I'd have said that it was indicative of the unhealthy mindset that people eat cake.