Carb "Addiction"
MurphTurph5
Posts: 21 Member
My biggest culprit is carbs. I adore pasta, breads, rice, etc. My heritage (Irish/Scandinavian) is big on the carbs as well as sugars. I have no issue eating a low/no card meal at the start. But after a few days, I'm am "hangry" and start craving anything with bread. Any help/suggestions on what I can do to deter these cravings?
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Replies
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Are you diabetic? If so this is the only true reason to limit carbs. What is the problem you are having by eating them?18
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Work those food items into your calories? You can eat bread to lose weight as long as you are in a calorie deficit.11
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It seems to be the key to a successful low carb lifestyle is just not caring about carbs in the first place. So if you’re not one of those people, consider just eating what you want within your calorie goal. For me I kinda have a love affair with pasta, so I do stay away from it (mostly) because I just want to go overboard when I have it. But I eat bread, rice, and potatoes because I’m a much saner person around them.11
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I like carbs...I eat carbs...it never hindered me from losing 40 Lbs nor has it hindered me from maintaining that for almost 5 years...
ETA: I'm not vegan or vegetarian, but I eat a lot of plant based meals...plant based typically means higher carbs.10 -
If you want to reduce the number of carbs you eat, do it slowly rather then all at once. That way your body will have time to adjust.
But, as noted in a few posts above, you don't have to eat low carb to lose weight. You just need to create a calorie deficit. I lost 36 lbs and have maintained that loss for 2 years while eating fairly high carb.7 -
I lowered my carb intake for about two weeks. It was miserable. I started adding pasta and rice back into my menu and life is great again! I lost 30 pounds and haven’t gained anything back in these past three months of maintenance. For me, cutting calorie intake was the key.10
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You can manage your portion sizes. If you're going to have something with rice, have half a cup rather than a full cup and eat more vegetables; with bread, have one piece rather than two. Eat whole grain rather than refined pasta, rice, and bread; the fiber will help fill you up. I make whole grain carb choices when I'm shopping rather than eliminating carbs from my diet.6
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If you aren't limiting carbs for other health reasons, perhaps don't do it? If you are, perhaps try tapering the carbs off over a period of time.
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Portion control is your friend, as long as you're in a calorie deficit and meeting your nutritional needs in terms of minimum protein and fat requirements there is nothing wrong with eating carbs. I have eaten pizza, potatoes, pasta, rice, doughnuts, biscuits, etc (in moderation) the whole time I have been losing weight.2
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2 things.
First, there is no such thing as a carb addiction and it is demeaning to those who have real addictions to call it that.
2nd, you have a strong preference for carbs. If they Don't cause you cravings and you don't have a specific health condition that requires limiting them, have them as part of a balanced diet.
Don't be sucked in by all the hucksters pushing keto and low carb. It has no proven metabolic advantage for fat loss.25 -
Eat through the cravings with no/low carb foods - meat, eggs and the like are good. Give yourself a few weeks to adjust and not worry about calories. Once you get over the hurdle of the first few weeks your appetite/cravings will calm down and you should be good to go.
After that point, if you experience carb cravings or feel unreasonably cold those are signs you're not eating enough calories even if you don't feel particularly hungry. Good luck and if you haven't yet, join the Low Carbers Daily group - lots of info to be found there.5 -
My biggest culprit is carbs. I adore pasta, breads, rice, etc. My heritage (Irish/Scandinavian) is big on the carbs as well as sugars. I have no issue eating a low/no card meal at the start. But after a few days, I'm am "hangry" and start craving anything with bread. Any help/suggestions on what I can do to deter these cravings?
Hello fellow Irish/Scandinavian (Norwegian)! Question - when you eat the carbs and sugar, do you go over your calorie limit, or are you fitting those foods into your calorie/nutrition goals? If they don't cause you to overeat, and you're meeting your minimum protein/fat goals, consider leaving them in for the time being and just focusing on the calories. You may find your tastes change as you go along, or you may find that keeping them as part of your food plan is what works for you in the long run.
If you find that they're a trigger food and cause you to overeat, and want to experiment with low carb, check out the group @AlabasterVerve linked to above. Good luck!3 -
You are not addicted to carbs and eating is not a sin. Being human makes you want to eat carby foods. Sugar is a carb. We can do a lot of unpleasant things for a while, until we can't and then we really can't. You can't deter cravings, but you can live with them.
A healthy diet is varied and balanced. You can eat anything as long as you don't eat too much.
A lot of the things we try to do to make our lives easier, actually makes them harder. Many things sounds reasonable, until we examine them more closely. Discovering what's real and what's scam, is often difficult (if it was obvious, it wouldn't have been a scam, would it), and sometimes we don't like to hear the truth (because that means we have already been scammed), but it's necessary in order to succeed.10 -
When you have a craving for bread, cookies or doughnuts try eating an apple or orange and glass of water....if the craving or "Hangry" is gone then you were really hungry and maybe with low blood sugar.
When my blood sugar drops I get hangry and want/need something immediately and my go to foods were candy, cookies, breads...now I pack apples, bananas, nuts for when that happens. They all have carbs but also some fiber that helps my blood sugar. A couple of months ago my husband and I were in a grocery store after bicycling and I started complain about being hungry and wanted something immediatly . They were doing free BP and blood sugar screenings. His BS was 104...mine was 68. He finally got it that my blood sugar can drop easily. Last week after swimming he had an orange packed for me.6 -
If you like carbs (I do too) then work them into your diet (noun and verb) - it's far easier to lose weight and maintain weight when you get to goal if you actually enjoy the food you eat.
Making food choices boring and unappetising seems like setting yourself up to fail to me.
Just think of all those healthy and slim people living in the so called Blue Zones who have a high proportion of carbs in their diet. No reason you can't do the same.
Learn portion control, no matter your food choices it's a very useful skill.4 -
Another consideration on the "is low carb right for you?" front: Can you imagine yourself reasonably happily eating low carb forever? Obviously, if diabetic, one must limit carbs to some extent, but the rest if us simply need a balanced way of eating that pleases and satisfies us personally.
For me, one of the excellent things about calorie counting as a weight loss method was that it gave me time and opportunity to figure out the particular foods & eating schedule/habits that gave me the best balance of nutrition, tastiness, satiation, pleasure, social satisfaction, and practicality. I learned and practiced a revised, healthy, satisfying way to eat forever.
Once I rached goal weight, it was simple to gradually add back a few more daily calories, and go on with life. Now, heading into year 3 at a healthy weight, this is so far working out pretty well, for me.
Some people feel the need to do something more radical to lose weight - that that works better for them. That's fine. But all of us need some kind of plan for keeping the weight in a healthy range after losing.
"Return to old way of eating" is not such a plan.9 -
AlabasterVerve wrote: »Eat through the cravings with no/low carb foods - meat, eggs and the like are good. Give yourself a few weeks to adjust and not worry about calories. Once you get over the hurdle of the first few weeks your appetite/cravings will calm down and you should be good to go.
After that point, if you experience carb cravings or feel unreasonably cold those are signs you're not eating enough calories even if you don't feel particularly hungry. Good luck and if you haven't yet, join the Low Carbers Daily group - lots of info to be found there.
The OP would do this to what end? If there is not metabolic advantage, it is not their preferred was to eat and there is not health condition that requires it, what is the gain to be had?
If you believe there is a metabolic advantage, please post the peer reviewed studies that indicate it.5 -
The OP would do this to what end? If there is not metabolic advantage, it is not their preferred was to eat and there is not health condition that requires it, what is the gain to be had?
If you believe there is a metabolic advantage, please post the peer reviewed studies that indicate it.
So, you don't think that a ketogenic diet (not just "low carb") has any metabolic advange over just a well-balanced, carby diet?7 -
Carbs are delicious! There's no reason to avoid them. Just make sure you're hitting decent protein and fat goals to support your muscles, organs, skin, hair and nails. Protein intake should be between .6x - 1.8x your body weight in KG depending on your activity level.
I find there are certain carby foods I can't keep in the house because I have trouble controlling myself around them. Crunchy snacky things like crackers and chips are particularly dangerous, so I simply don't buy them. I can moderate my rice, bread and pasta intake so those don't pose an issue for me.5 -
ilikeitalatte wrote: »
So, you don't think that a ketogenic diet (not just "low carb") has any metabolic advange over just a well-balanced, carby diet?
It does not...long term studies have proved this out. In the short term you lose more water weight with a keto diet...in the long term, it is no more effective than any other diet plan where your overall weight loss is dictated by your calorie deficit.
Also look up blue zones...these are some of the healthiest people on the planet and they eat relatively high carbs. Most plant based diets are also relatively high carb and while there are fat vegans out there, I'd say they aren't in the majority...
Carbs have nothing to do with weight management outside of medical conditions...weight management is about energy (calorie) balance...beyond that, carbs aren't readily stored as fat...25 -
ilikeitalatte wrote: »
So, you don't think that a ketogenic diet (not just "low carb") has any metabolic advange over just a well-balanced, carby diet?
There are so many baseless claims regarding named diets. Keto is no exception (sorry). Great sales pitches with little or no data to back them up.
But unless you have medical issues re: carbs, unless low carb is going to be true lifestyle change (as in forever)......I don't see the advantage. Diet one way to lose weight, only to have to figure out what maintenance will be. I need portion control for all foods...not just low carb ones.9 -
No one macro is inherently fattening. Carbs are not making you fat; a caloric surplus is. Eat the damn bread and fit it in your requirements.11
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The OP would do this to what end? If there is not metabolic advantage, it is not their preferred was to eat and there is not health condition that requires it, what is the gain to be had?
If you believe there is a metabolic advantage, please post the peer reviewed studies that indicate it.
I do not know why the OP opted to try a low carb diet after being a member here for six years, I just answered the question.
I know many lack the imagination/empathy needed to understand how someone could possibly choose to eat (and maintain) a low carb diet even without a "metabolic advantage", even though they enjoy carb heavy foods and even though they don't have a medical condition. And yet it happens. Go figure.
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Just sharing my experience and opinions, because everyone is different. So..If you have a need to take most carbs out of your diet, you probably will have to go completely keto to reduce and/or eliminate the cravings. I went from eating what I wanted/craved all day to one meal a day, without any cravings. Having carb foods you enjoy once in a while won't do you that much better than just eating what you want and fitting it into your calorie goals. Eat how you want to eat the rest of your life. If you are just someone lowering carbs as a fad, then keto isn't for you.3
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »If you want to reduce the number of carbs you eat, do it slowly rather then all at once. That way your body will have time to adjust.
But, as noted in a few posts above, you don't have to eat low carb to lose weight. You just need to create a calorie deficit. I lost 36 lbs and have maintained that loss for 2 years while eating fairly high carb.
This is good advice.
If you are concerned about carbs because you tend to go over calories, just limit portions. Make sure your meals include a good source of protein and some fat (cook with olive oil, for example), definitely include some non starchy vegetables (which are mostly carbs too), and then use the calories you have left for a serving of pasta or potatoes or rice, etc.
I ate potatoes in particular quite often when I was losing.5 -
ilikeitalatte wrote: »
So, you don't think that a ketogenic diet (not just "low carb") has any metabolic advange over just a well-balanced, carby diet?
I don't. The studies demonstrate there aren't, and my own experience with keto -- which I found not an unpleasant experience, for me, but not how I want to eat going forward -- was that there did not seem to be.
I think there are good reasons some might prefer eating a low carb (or even keto) diet, but OP has not identified any. (For what it's worth, the advice about limiting portions of carbs would still apply, it's just the portions might get vanishingly small, depending on how low he goes.)11 -
ilikeitalatte wrote: »
So, you don't think that a ketogenic diet (not just "low carb") has any metabolic advange over just a well-balanced, carby diet?
There has not been a single study that I've seen where calories and protein were held constant that show a metabolic advantage. There can be a useful application for those with insulin resistance and if one can't control carb cravings then possibly. But for fat loss? No.
And I have looked and debated this topic for over 5 years. If you have something, please share it.
PS: I see the pro keto crowd knows where the woo button is. Do they know where the scientific studies are??20 -
There has not been a single study that I've seen where calories and protein were held constant that show a metabolic advantage. And I have looked and debated this topic for over 5 years. If you have something, please share it.
PS: I see the pro keto crowd knows where the woo button is. Do they know where the scientific studies are??
Definitely snorted at this. A literal laugh out load.
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AlabasterVerve wrote: »
I do not know why the OP opted to try a low carb diet after being a member here for six years, I just answered the question.
I know many lack the imagination/empathy needed to understand how someone could possibly choose to eat (and maintain) a low carb diet even without a "metabolic advantage", even though they enjoy carb heavy foods and even though they don't have a medical condition. And yet it happens. Go figure.
Who knows why they tried it. Read one too many woo blogs maybe? But if they struggle with it and it has no advantage, why would someone do it? You didn't really answer that question. You just basically suggested they just push on through. Again, to what end if it is a struggle and there is no metabolic advantage?4 -
NextRightThing714 wrote: »
Definitely snorted at this. A literal laugh out load.
Glad I could brighten your day a little!
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