a binge worthy appetite

yup, I have to avoid refined carbs and sugar for the most part too. They make me hungrier and it spirals out of control into binges. When I make bread at home it is whole wheat. Focus on protein and nonstarchy vegetables, then eat complex carbs. That's the best I can figure.

I also have to avoid refined carbs. I just pretty much eliminated them 90% of the time about 1.5 years ago. Couldn't be happier, and am now in the best shape of my life. Coincidence...? Maybe, but I'm still not bringing them back.

I'm not diabetic and didn't really know or understand anything about carbs being a particular at the beginning of the year when i started my diet. But apart from pasta and basmati rice, carbs i tended to eat are wholegrain ones. I never really binged on pasta, rice of bread. My problem was sugar as in sweets. Sweets are what i mean whenever i write the word sugar and it annoys me that i have to always spell it out.

But as the year went on i kept on hearing about low carb and ketosis so i decided to try it. I started off at 100 carbs as my daily goal. It was good and fun. I was trying lots of foods i hadn't been eating. And i was enjoying eating more fat, mostly good fat but a bit of cream and more cheese. Then i had a go at 40 carbs a day and that was hard after two weeks and i suddenly gave up without any prior thought or mental chit chat about it. I'd just had it.

Transitioning back to something more normal took a little while but i got there by trying the 5:2 fasting diet. When you do fasts like in this diet, you eat some calories on fast days and the best foods to eat are high protein and vegetables. And as with low carb, you lose lots of water and your appetite. Loss of appetite is the best thing about low carb.

Anyway, I've been off sugar all year. I eat plenty of fruit. And have lost nearly all my weight and i'm intending to keep this program up for the rest of my life. The only time i really struggle is when have stress or emotional issues. Then i get counselling. You can read more detail about what i do on another thread i started called How do you control your sweet tooth. I think its in this folder food and nutrition. That said i didn't go into detail about my rules for no sugar. I've written out so many times i'm a bit tired of doing it. But i recommend if you are binger that you quit eating very sweet foods, except in small amount s in low risk situations and not often.

As to the other carbs, I can eat them but in modest quantities. I eat a lot of lentils and chickpeas etc and these do not trigger binges. It can only be because they are low GI and high fibre. They are also high in protein. I do not eat bread rice and pasta as much as i used to before i had my low carb experiment but its partly because i've recognised the value of lentils beans and chickpeas in addition to the value of eating a lot of vegetables.

Keeping binge tendencies away can be a challenge but i only get them when i've got some issues. I eat well and i avoid getting hungry. I've lost almost all the weight i need to lose. I am happy with myself at the moment. I had a short binge episode recently. I ate nuts and some high fat savouries but the binges were nowhere near as bad when i used to binge on sweet foods.

I do not miss sweet foods and the longer you do it, and the better your diet gets with high fibre, high quality low GI foods the less you will miss them too. But take away my fruit and i do miss that. I love my fruit. I don't over eat it but i love fruit. I mainly eat it fresh or stewed and with yoghurt and mixed seeds.

I also love my dairy and i eat cheese but not too much. I use high fat foods like cheese and nuts and seeds in my recipes mostly so that i don't eat too much.

you can get beyond binging as a habit but it takes commitment, focus and a change of diet and a willingness to address any emotional issues that come up. I used to most often binge as a habit. Originally it was for comfort food but it turned into a habit so that all i had to do was think of some type of sweet food and i would go and get it. And not just a little bit but a lot. And then i would eat it all regardless of how stuffed i felt. And i would put on weight really fast. And then it would be years usually before i could start another diet. To get started i seem to need to be first be in a good zone re my moods. Secondly, i needed a strong motivator. The last time i was a feeling of self -disgust which had been brewing for some time on top of my generally good mood. And then on a whim one day, i was ready. It was January 3 and i decided i would be at goal by the end of the year. I'm currently about 4 pounds away from goal. I have been lower just a few weeks ago. I think i've lost about 45 pounds.

Wow. Thanks so much for posting this. I did a little tracking and found that every day that I've binged in the past month, I've either skipped breakfast or eaten all/mostly carbs for breakfast. I never really thought about that before. So I think I will try to eliminate carbs from breakfast for a while and see how I do.

I do feel your frustration. Night time is the worst for me. Even if I save calories for a night time snack, it never seems to be enough. The only way I've found to deal with it is to physically go upstairs and stay in my room, and/or brush my teeth/chew gum.