Craving lots of carbs...

Carb cravings could be yeast overgrowth, sugar addiction, signs of Insulin Resistance or your body needing a particular nutrient.

I find that for me, it depends on the type of cravings I have on what my body is telling me..........

Tom Venuto (loving sigh after I say his name!!) did this article on carbs

http://www.burnthefat.com/BIG_FAT_LIES_8_the_low_carb_lie.html

It might be helpful to you, or it might not. Might be worth the read though. Here is a peice of it:

"If you remove most of your carbohydrates from your diet for a long period of time, you're setting yourself up for a relapse. You tend to crave what you cannot have, both physiologically and psychologically. The more you cut the carbs, the easier it is to rebound will be when you put carbs back in."

I don't think 50/30/20 is unreasonable. That ratio sounds like a good one to me. I am doing 40/40/20. Yours doesn't seem like an extreme carb reduction so your craving might be something different all together.

Good luck.

Tom Venuto (loving sigh after I say his name!!) did this article on carbs

http://www.burnthefat.com/BIG_FAT_LIES_8_the_low_carb_lie.html

It might be helpful to you, or it might not. Might be worth the read though. Here is a peice of it:

"If you remove most of your carbohydrates from your diet for a long period of time, you're setting yourself up for a relapse. You tend to crave what you cannot have, both physiologically and psychologically. The more you cut the carbs, the easier it is to rebound will be when you put carbs back in."

I don't think 50/30/20 is unreasonable. That ratio sounds like a good one to me. I am doing 40/40/20. Yours doesn't seem like an extreme carb reduction so your craving might be something different all together.

Good luck.

I disagree with that article 100000%. it is possible to break carb addiction forever.

And if you are eating loads of veggies, some fruit, nuts, dairy and occasional starch and occasional grains you are getting plenty of carbs.............

I am going through some metabolic issues at this time and most of the "carb" cravings are due to some type of Metabolic disorder, not just because someone can't have something.

I know plenty of people that have been maintaining a low carb lifestyle for years and years, are marathon runners and eat a very controlled carb eating plan and a very stringent work out schedule.

That's what I was thinking! Thanks. :happy: As for everyone else, I know the whole...carbs before intervals thing. I usually eat half a banana which is 13 carbs. Is that enough or should I eat more? Then I usually eat cereal and the rest of the banana or another fruit afterwards, sometimes with an egg (when I have time to make one or can remember to bring one with me - lol!)

it's not what I would eat before an aerobic workout. I would attempt to get some more complex carbs in before. Banana's have both sucrose and fructose in them (a monosaccharide and a disaccharide respectively) both of which break down pretty fast in the body, negating much of the benefits of eating a carbohydrate before cardio. I would go with something that has more staying power like a whole grain such as steel cut oats about 1.5 to 2 hours before. After is a better time for a banana, but only the 1/2 as you said, and I don't think you need the cereal too, that's a lot of carbs, a 1/2 a banana has about 8 g of carbs, thats probably all you'll need (but adjust to how you feel, it's different for everyone). If your intervals were max (I.E. HIIT training) it wouldn't hurt to add a few grams of protein in after as well, maybe a hand full of nuts or a couple oz of chicken breast or the like (even a protein drink would be ok, but watch the sugar, some of those things are brutal with sugar).

Please don't hijack my thread with your views of the low carb lifestyle. I lose weight fine eating plenty of carbs and I will continue that way.

Please do not berate me as I was not hijacking the thread, but merely giving my point of view on the article posted, which I have just as much right to do here as you or anyone else.

that is what makes this Forum work, everyone giving their input.

If you don't want everyone's opinion and only want to "hear what you want to hear" then I don't understand why you would post on a Public and Open forum.

Hey Arielle,
Are you taking in a lot of "sugar-free" things that are sweetened with artificial sweeteners? Just curious, I've found that when I indulge in those things I tend to crave sweets more. I've been on a popcorn kick lately and that's not good either, but I gave up chocolate 2 weeks ago, so I guess popcorn is better for me than the candy bars. LOL

Please don't hijack my thread with your views of the low carb lifestyle. I lose weight fine eating plenty of carbs and I will continue that way.

Please do not berate me as I was not hijacking the thread, but merely giving my point of view on the article posted, which I have just as much right to do here as you or anyone else.

that is what makes this Forum work, everyone giving their input.

If you don't want everyone's opinion and only want to "hear what you want to hear" then I don't understand why you would post on a Public and Open forum.

I really don't think Arielle was berating you....thats a bit of a stretch....she merely asked you not to hijack the post....which is what you tend to do on any post that has to do with carbs. It's like you have some built in "carb topic radar" which you respond to in a negative way .

Perhaps your input would be better received on posts if you weren't constantly trying to shove low carbs down everyones throat. We get it....you believe in it....it works for you....thats great! If other people don't believe in it.....just let it be....instead of constantly challenging anyone who doesn't share your same point of view around carbs. I have noticed, as have many others on MFP that you are very confrontational on several posts.

But hey, I'm just giving my input and point of view and I guess I have just as much right to do so as anyone else...right? After all it is a public and open forum.

If you even read my post, I didn't push my beliefs on her or anyone else and I made a public apology in which I have not been confrontational with anyone.

In fact, people are being confrontational with me. I have humbled myself and I don't expect or will not let anyone attack me.

If you even read my post, I didn't push my beliefs on her or anyone else and I made a public apology in which I have not been confrontational with anyone.

In fact, people are being confrontational with me. I have humbled myself and I don't expect or will not let anyone attack me.

I think, without taking sides here, a lot of the frustration on arielle's part is that she didn't post about the article, and as such she really wasn't looking for commentary on said article (apart from how it might affect her original post), thus continuing on that line of discussion would be recognized as many as hijacking a thread.

it's inevitable that tangents happen in a forum such as this one, and I'm not going to say I don't do it (I do sometimes), and maybe arielle was a little harsh sounding in her request to stay on topic (that's partly due to the nature of posting, it's difficult to hear inflection and tonality in a written post), but it wasn't an unreasonable request otherwise.

Hopefully we can all be mindful of the fact that even though the forum is public, the posts are very personal and respect needs to be given as well as taken by both sides. Not saying I'm perfect in that regard, but I do my best.

What I think adds NOTHING to the equation is others posting replies defending one side or the other, all that does is escalate things, it almost never resolves the issue and inevitably will result in feeling being hurt. I would hope that we can all decide to use good judgement and if hard discussions need to continue, they continue via PM or some other non-public forum in order to keep the nastiness off public forums.

All just my humble opinion

As to the original question arielle, another thought I had was that for some, a complete removal of carbs for two or three days, and then the slow reintroduction of carbs over the course of a couple of weeks can either alleviate these symptoms and/or identify the carb type that could be setting off the cravings. Just a thought. Careful with this though, hydration levels should be closely monitored when you are very low carb, as should micro nutrient levels (perhaps adding some supplements during this time would be good)

My carb cravings are routed in gluten intolerance. I want bread, pasta, etc, but they bloat me up and make me retain water and definitely prevent weight loss. Jut make sure your cravings aren't that. I have addressed mine by eating potatoes, rice, and other gluten free solutions, but would still love to have some pasta. If the carb cravings don't result in bingeing, they are fine, but if you feel the cravings are out of control or weight loss is impeded try cutting out the gluten-containing carbs.

Hth

That's what I was thinking! Thanks. :happy: As for everyone else, I know the whole...carbs before intervals thing. I usually eat half a banana which is 13 carbs. Is that enough or should I eat more? Then I usually eat cereal and the rest of the banana or another fruit afterwards, sometimes with an egg (when I have time to make one or can remember to bring one with me - lol!)

it's not what I would eat before an aerobic workout. I would attempt to get some more complex carbs in before. Banana's have both sucrose and fructose in them (a monosaccharide and a disaccharide respectively) both of which break down pretty fast in the body, negating much of the benefits of eating a carbohydrate before cardio. I would go with something that has more staying power like a whole grain such as steel cut oats about 1.5 to 2 hours before. After is a better time for a banana, but only the 1/2 as you said, and I don't think you need the cereal too, that's a lot of carbs, a 1/2 a banana has about 8 g of carbs, thats probably all you'll need (but adjust to how you feel, it's different for everyone). If your intervals were max (I.E. HIIT training) it wouldn't hurt to add a few grams of protein in after as well, maybe a hand full of nuts or a couple oz of chicken breast or the like (even a protein drink would be ok, but watch the sugar, some of those things are brutal with sugar).

Thanks for this info, very much appreciated to have it broken down this way Banks!:flowerforyou: