collegefbfan wrote: »

So this being totally in tune with your body? Does it always present itself, maybe over time, or am I missing something?

Yes.
The people who respond that way have been at this for awhile, often over 6mo or, in my case, over 2 years. We see our reactions to things we have tried over time. It's not a "this happens to EVERYONE every time." With experimenting, we discover personal reactions. I personally don't have craving issue from artificial sweeteners, though some do irritate my bladder/kidneys when I consume some of them (like aspartame in diet sodas...a no-go for me). And I'm cool with almond flour. It's just expensive and high calorie so I don't use it often. I do know I retain a lb of water when I use them regularly. I tried eliminating it several times and lost that pound every time. But I must have sucralose in my coffee...so there. Not worth it for me to give it up

And people's reaction to electrolytes are like that too. That's another YMMV, Your Mileage May Vary. Some people find they need more or less than the recommended doses for various reasons. The body and genes are complicated. People's personal machinery and medical conditions will effect the way they respond/process things.

For me I've not spent time playing with my foods to find triggers - except I do think too much cheese slows my loss. That's all speculation though. No hard core testing done.

For example I know that Keto has caused my knee pain to all but disappear but I can't say why. Is it because I stopped eating refined sugar in candy? Or wheat? Or so much gluten? Got me. I just know it happened.

I don't think sweeteners cause me to crave but with the way I recently fell off the wagon, it is totally possible. Am I going to start changing around sweeteners to see? Nope because I like Truvia and many others I don't like. I just am being careful with how much Truvia I use. Were I a diabetic or insulin resistant maybe it'd be different because I'd be watching for spikes.

I never had the keto flu. I figure it's cause of my crazy gut post surgery but I don't know for sure and just glad I missed out on it.

I don't care enough about it to do the work to become more in tune with my own body beyond what makes it lose weight...at least right now. I have a goal and if I start working on too many things at once I'll lose sight of my main goal...weight loss. That's just me. I envy those who know exactly what they can and can't put in their body - what causes headaches, joint pain, inflammation, etc..., I really do. I just can't deal with more than I am right now in that way.

RowdysLady wrote: »

collegefbfan wrote: »

Well the wife has used mainly the liquid stevia in the little bottle. Truvia very rarely. Erithytol also here and there. So tell me about sucralose. I thought things ending in -ose was sugar. Please enlighten me.

Sucralose is Splenda...

https://authoritynutrition.com/sucralose-good-or-bad/

I use liquid sucralose. It avoids the powder fillers present in powdered sweeteners, as a bulking agent, which DO have carbs. (Those powders make that Splenda packet 4 cals and 1 carb each. Anything less than 1, like .9 can be called zero.) So liquid sucralose really is zero carbs. I order it from Amazon. It's called NuSweet or some such.

I believe everyone is different when it comes to sweeteners. Taste and how it effects them. I tried the liquid Stevia and hated it but I like the packets. Go figure.

I wouldn't consider myself in tune at all, nor should anyone. As soon as you think you have everything figured out, you're going to get a curveball. That's a big part of the reason why I am constantly experimenting with my diet; keep what works, discard what doesn't. The funky part comes in where, what you've learned will need revisiting and adjusting over time.
There's a saying in the programming world: "old code rusts". This applies to the human body as well. What worked fantastically for you yesterday, might make you feel like total hell in six months, and vice versa. It's extremely rare for the body to gain a static response from anything. It's constantly adjusting and adapting to it's stimulus. That's a huge part of weight loss (and gain) fluctuations, stalls, etc.

I don't consider myself to be in tune at all, but breakfast=I will eat all day long, excess bad carbs=hunger, hunger and more hunger for me. Bad carbs for me is: rice, rice noodles, gluten free pasta and bread etc. I call them bad carbs as they trigger cravings and hunger in me. Ice cream on the other hand just tastes good.

6 months ago I had no idea what hunger felt like. I had no idea! It is only the last few months I have figured this one out.

I honestly do not think there is such a thing as being totally in tune with your body. Mine has been a learning curve from when I was diagnosed with IBS and gluten intolerance.

Spicy food=interesting bathroom visits
Gluten=instantly looking like I am 7 months pregnant, pains in my bones, nausea, brain fog, dizziness, becoming best friends with the bathroom, wind that is a weapon of mass destruction, headaches and rashes. Usually a combination of the above+always bloating and wind that will make a man proud.

I guess after my gluten issues became apparent I have learned to listen more to my body as I am slightly paranoid each time my body reacts funnily and I look for patterns. It took me Years to get diagnosed in the first place. According to my mother I have had digestive issues since I was a child. I am now 41.
So I guess we can say I am a slow learner.

All I know is this WOE agrees with my body. I feel better eating this way, I feel full. My body seems happy, with that I mean I can physically feel when I stray. I feel sluggish, bloated and at times nauseated. I have yet to track down all the culprits that affects me and I highly doubt I ever will, but I am just happy to have found a way of eating that appears to make my body happy.

The little things that I have come to feel certain about have been trialed numerous times and always give me the same results like clockwork so that's how I know that for example, eating too much fiber, which is basically anything more than 5-ish grams, will always turn my gut into a cement factory and the tight, heavy feeling that it brings also shows up as scale weight, so I know there is inflammation.
I started keto for a few reasons, but one of them was because I was definitely a sugar addict. I "needed" something sweet after every meal an also at random times every single day. I drank diet soda and used Splenda in my coffee when I started, but stayed away from low carb sweets and fat bombs until the holidays approached. Then I started trying low carb desserts and next thing you know, my "need" for something sweet was just as strong as it had previously been. I didn't think anything of eating those sweets because they fit my macros and calories, but the constant desire for them was always there and then the scale started going up... so I stopped eating them and reduced my sweetener and diet soda use. Then the "need" reduced. Later on, I cut sweeteners even more and really felt in control. I was still sweetening coffee and I was constantly battling with wanting just a little more sweetener in each cup. Feeling that nagging "just a little more" and having it because "everything was fine". Next thing you know, I'm craving sweets after meals again. So I just had sweetened coffee or tea instead. I realized the more I used, the more I wanted it. So I cut it out almost entirely. I specifically only use stevia and erythritol now, and have a very firm rule that it cannot be in my morning coffee at all because that seemed to be a trigger to rev up the craving and hunger signals for the entire day. If I only have just enough to taste once my fast is broken, I don't lose control of the feeling of "need" that I seem to get otherwise.
So, it's just a matter of realizing that what some might have just called a bad habit, was driven by a real feeling that I needed it and since it fit my macros, it was waaaaay too easy to justify. But I couldn't deny that it was doing something counterproductive