Hi my name is Michelle and I'm a Carbaholic!!!

Don't quit eating them completely. That will only make you want them more. Use protein and veggies first, then add a serving of carbs. The protein and fiber makes me satisfied for longer than the carbs, so I miss them less. I find I tend to choose what will fill me up better over the carbs after a year at this. Good luck.

Hi my name is Liz and I am a recovering refined carbaholic. Carbohydrates are still about 45% of my daily calories but I have cut most of the refined carbs. bread and pasta is whole grain, potatoes are cooked with the skin and rice is brown (at least mine is). I see no reason to cut completely just find better alternatives.

Carb addiction, medically speaking, does not exist. It's just a person's personal taste for those foods. I for one, say less turkey and more stuffing. LOL The only difference that I know of between "refined" carbohydrates and whole grain - is fiber. If you check the glycemic index between white bread and whole, between white rice and brown, between white potato and sweet potato - the difference is actually minimal . But whole grain bread definitely tastes better.

I AM ALL FOR CARBS!, they are your fuel!, I burn 1000 calories a day, and I need that fuel!

BFDeal wrote: »

Michellekutz1 wrote: »

bread, potatoes, rice, and pasta

Everytime I see one of these "I'm addicted to carbs!!!" posts these are the four main things named. I wonder why no one ever mentions apples or oranges. Fruits have tons of carbs.

because fruit carbs are obviously different than heavy carbs

I still eat my carbs and enjoy them immensely. I did switch to whole grain or multigrain breads/pastas, brown rice, and red potatoes. (Don't know how much better the red potatoes are but I like the flavor more.) A decent amount of the time I do spaghetti squash rather than spaghetti noodles for a chicken parm type meal. I see no point in cutting them out, just make smaller portions and make better choices!

kshadows wrote: »

Why break? If you can replace some refined carbs with healthier complex carbs, just do that. My carb allowance is HIGH and it comes from oatmeal, whole grains, sweet potatoes, etc. There's nothing wrong with carbs.

THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think there is anything wrong with switching your macros around based on what you think will help you. People just need to remember they're usually doing so not because carbs or fat or protein is bad but because they lack self control around them. Lower carbs if you need to but work on your mindset about food while you do it so if and when the day comes that you raise your carb intake again you will have worked the willpower muscle so you don't go over your recommended intake...

Also I've noticed in some LCHF groups people wondering why they are still gaining... Look at their calories and sure enough they've gone over them by overeating protein and fat. So that's another thing to keep in mind. In the end you'll lose weight through CICO so if lowering carbs helps you go for it just make sure you're not over or under eating.

dsimmons107 wrote: »

kshadows wrote: »

Why break? If you can replace some refined carbs with healthier complex carbs, just do that. My carb allowance is HIGH and it comes from oatmeal, whole grains, sweet potatoes, etc. There's nothing wrong with carbs.

THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That describes my starchier carbs yes. WHOLE grains. My carb allowance comes mostly from vegetables and some fruit.

The questions people are asking about why are good, because that makes a difference as to what will work. If you are having trouble not overeating or being full on what you eat, experimenting with your macro ratios (percentage of carbs, protein, and fat) is a good thing to try, and rather than worry about cutting out the carbs it's sometimes easiest to just focus on getting enough of the other macros and then eating carbs to fill out your remaining calories (and focusing on veggies and fruits to the extent you can, although there's definitely room for potatoes and pasta, etc.). This is what I do--I eat about 120-160 grams of carbs per day, and that's probably on the low side for people not doing low carb--you can definitely lose with more.

If the problem is more that you have trouble not overeating the carbs and crave them, then they might be trigger foods for you, but my guess is that lots of people just overeat them because it's easy to ignore serving sizes since it's so common to see overly large servings of these things and lots of foods with them are comfort foods.