Unhealthy paleo?

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dannyXoxo
dannyXoxo Posts: 60 Member
For those of you who don't know me, I am very athletic and a gym rat! I love excersising and eatting healthy hence why I chose the paleo lifestyle. I am paleo for lots of reasons but mainly because 1. I agree with the science behind the lifestyle and 2. When I eat paleo I feel great. I have always have a pretty good relationship with food and often times friends, family and the fellow gym members like to come to me for advice or support whenever they are struggling with weightloss or need some help (I am not a doctor or nutrition expert but I am a good listener and offer any advice I can)

A few weeks ago, a close friend of mine brought up the topic of binge eatting (she's not paleo btw) which got me thinking about how stupid and impossible it is to do on a paleo diet. Boy was i fu*king wrong. I have been paleo for awhile now and have enjoyed it, yesterday I had my first ever dark chocolate treat in weeks.... I typically stay away from fruits and paleo sweets like dark chocolate. After I finished a whole bar for some reason I felt I needed more! As if that hadn't satisfied my craving or as if it hadn't "hit the spot". So what did I do? I marched my *kitten* back to metro and bought another bar along with cashews! It didn't help that my bf wanted me to bake him chocolate cake as well(he's also not paleo-_-) so I ended up leaving with chocolate frosting as well! I get home eat the bar and then preceded onto making his cake. Long story short I ended the night with a **** load of cake and all sorts of non-paleo foods!

When I woke up this morning, still feeling kinda sucky and definetlly bloated I decided to skip breakfast and start fresh. Sadly for me it didn't go as planned... It started with a sesame seed cream cheese bagel from timmies and ended with Chinese food. Yes, I am taking full responsibility and I know I messed up. Today was a whole days worth of binging from donuts to pastries to pizza... You get the point. Now why am I telling you this? Well for starters it is not for sympathy or critism as I know I messed up and It's already too late to change it. I'm telling you this because it was a learning lesson I wanted to share with you. When I got home first thing I did was take Tums and then check my food log and realized i actually have had binges throughout the last couple of weeks and had not realized. They were all 100% paleo but I was stuffing my face when I was hungry, bored, full, tired and bloated -___- I just hadn't realized. (I am extremely active so it's normal for me to eat and be hungry however looking back I realized I was definitely over eatting and eatting when I wasn't hungry)

Although paleo is a healthy lifestyle , i have realized i have trigger foods and yes even though I am fit and athletic I still have days were i do mess up. But one thing is tomorrow is a fresh start. Now that I know what's going on and what my trigger foods are (one being dark chocolate) I will avoid them and focus on the bigger picture. I see alot of people on mfp complaining about binge eatting and yes I agree to some extent stres, life, and other factors play into it and that yes it is still the persons decision to over eat however, you are human, it happens and the best thing an individual can do if figure out the reasons behind the binge. Are there trigger foods or does it go deeper... Emotional or mental stressers like work and family? W.e the reason, it's important to move on and learn from your mistakes and to grow as an individual instead of dwelling on the decisions made in the past. Easier said then done but that's just my two cents :)

For the record I feel much better after having posted this and feel free to agree or disagree :p

Replies

  • jalara
    jalara Posts: 2,622 Member
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    I'm really pleased for you discovery more about yourself! I think learning our triggers (amount other things) is a great way of self-discovery!

    I certainly have my triggers, but I'm working on making sure I minimize the damage each time.

    I hope your week is a success!
  • domez
    domez Posts: 46 Member
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    I look at binge eating as the feast part of 'feast or famine' and thus I don't beat myself up about it. Having said that, I do try to feast on paleo/primal foods of which I include dark chocolate. Sometimes I feast on SAD food, which I find very sad. What I have found is that when my weight loss has stalled and I binge then fast, I find I have lost weight. I am sure someone can explain the science behind it.

    This does not work for sugary things, once I start it is difficult to stop. Sometimes I eat one of my old favourite foods and find it tastes bland and bad and it is then that I realise that my body is reacting in a new way.

    I hope this is encouraging.
  • tommyprice2k
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    Everyone is human and everyone will screw up at some point. The main thing is that you get back on the horse and keep going. Never surrender!
  • strychnine7
    strychnine7 Posts: 210 Member
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    I just housed the remaining 2/3rds of a (16oz) jar of sunflower seed butter I had opened on Friday. I want to die right now. Like seriously... it makes one nauseous eating so much. It just ain't natural. lol

    Actually, it was rather disappointing. I'd rather it would have been almond butter. It's funny. I can have an unopened jar of delicious nut butter on the shelf forever with no problems. But if I open it. I can't stop. Oh well. Back to it tomorrow and beyond.
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
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    We all have days where the stomach is a bottomless pit. Or we start out with great intentions and then eat crap all day.

    But I remind myself that the "old me" used to have those days almost every day. My "binge" today is what my normal eating used to be like.

    So... I still feel guilty over indulgences and binges, but I know that if I start the next day right, and don't make it a habit, it's OK.
  • tommyprice2k
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    ^^^^^This^^^^^
  • epcooper
    epcooper Posts: 161 Member
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    I'm just now picking up the pieces after a week of binging, actually. I successfully completed a Whole45, and quickly realized that even treats that are technically paleo can lead me down the wrong path. It started with paleo "ice cream" made using frozen banana and no sweetener...every day for 5 days. From there I progressed to paleo crepes, with just a little honey. Then it was a short step to satisfy my craving with real crepes, ben and jerry's (I ate an entire pint in one day) and eventually pizza. It was like a landslide, and every day was worse than the last.

    I was able to get it together, but I'm suffering the consequences now. Bloating, headaches, fatigue, and OHMYGOD THE CRAVINGS. For me, as long as I can stop the spiral before it gets too deep (and SAD), I don't feel bad about it. Feeling like garbage for days certainly helps remind me what damage I'm actually doing though.
  • AuntieKT
    AuntieKT Posts: 235 Member
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    I just housed the remaining 2/3rds of a (16oz) jar of sunflower seed butter I had opened on Friday. I want to die right now. Like seriously... it makes one nauseous eating so much. It just ain't natural. lol

    Actually, it was rather disappointing. I'd rather it would have been almond butter. It's funny. I can have an unopened jar of delicious nut butter on the shelf forever with no problems. But if I open it. I can't stop. Oh well. Back to it tomorrow and beyond.

    THIS is TOTALLY me! I am the exact same way. Nuts and nut butters are a food without brakes for me! I have an unopened jar of almond butter in my cubbord, and I think I am going to keep it that way! I still buy pistachios, but I always try to take them straight to work and portion them out there. I leave them there so that I only eat one portion at a time. For some reason when people are watching me I have a lot easier time with eating normal portions of things :P. I wish my "food with no brakes" was like broccoli or something not so calorie dense...
  • dannyXoxo
    dannyXoxo Posts: 60 Member
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    I'm just now picking up the pieces after a week of binging, actually. I successfully completed a Whole45, and quickly realized that even treats that are technically paleo can lead me down the wrong path. It started with paleo "ice cream" made using frozen banana and no sweetener...every day for 5 days. From there I progressed to paleo crepes, with just a little honey. Then it was a short step to satisfy my craving with real crepes, ben and jerry's (I ate an entire pint in one day) and eventually pizza. It was like a landslide, and every day was worse than the last.

    I was able to get it together, but I'm suffering the consequences now. Bloating, headaches, fatigue, and OHMYGOD THE CRAVINGS. For me, as long as I can stop the spiral before it gets too deep (and SAD), I don't feel bad about it. Feeling like garbage for days certainly helps remind me what damage I'm actually doing though.

    Sounds like me :p good too know I'm not alone :)