Recovering Carbaholic [Keto]
Options
idalor8a
Posts: 2 Member
Hello, I am Idania and I'm a recovering carbaholic
36
Replies
-
What is carbaholism? Is it a thing?22
-
I didn't know it was a thing either...10
-
Step 1 drink whipping cream
Step 2 lots and lots of coconut oil18 -
Carrots are a pretty harmless addiction.15
-
I'm pretty fond of vegetables.13
-
Try that again in here
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group
You might get a friendlier welcome.16 -
Fellow carb-lover here... I tried keto for a year but ended up returning to carbs. Lost all the weight with calorie counting alone and it's been much more sustainable. I don't think I could realistically stick to a diet that forbids fruit, potatoes, beans, lentils, pasta, rice, bread... I prefer enjoying all of them in moderation.17
-
I'm a carbaholic too, but I have no intention to stop!17
-
I decided to experiment today with keto. To see if I could actually do it. So far yes of course I've only had breakfast. Maybe I'll keep doing it for a few weeks maybe I'll give up by lunch. Idk time will tell.4
-
I love carbs. I know myself well enough to know that if I try to cut out all carbs I will freak out and binge after about three days. So I allow myself the foods I like within my calorie allowance and I am much more successful.25
-
I would only do Keto if it already fit my previous lifestyle. It doesn't, it is not simple, and it limits variety which are all things I don't need in my life unless I had a medical reason for it.
8 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »I love carbs. I know myself well enough to know that if I try to cut out all carbs I will freak out and binge after about three days. So I allow myself the foods I like within my calorie allowance and I am much more successful.
What she said8 -
I love my vegetables and still eat them in large quantities, but don't miss the cookies, oatmeal, pizza or anything else I used to crave pre-keto. It's not right for everyone, though and it's not the only way. I did feel like keto was a good option for destroying carb cravings, if that along with weight loss is your end goal.8
-
jefamer2017 wrote: »I decided to experiment today with keto. To see if I could actually do it. So far yes of course I've only had breakfast. Maybe I'll keep doing it for a few weeks maybe I'll give up by lunch. Idk time will tell.
I have no problem with experimenting on a short term basis. Just understand that with Keto after a few days there may be a large water loss which will sometimes result in an electrolyte imbalance commonly referred to as the "Keto Flu". You may see a nice drop in the scales but it will be water weight. When you come off of it the water will return. If you are prepared for all of that experiment away.
1 -
100_PROOF_ wrote: »Step 1 drink whipping cream
Step 2 lots and lots of coconut oil
Gotta bullet proof that coffee! LOL3 -
Running_and_Coffee wrote: »I love my vegetables and still eat them in large quantities, but don't miss the cookies, oatmeal, pizza or anything else I used to crave pre-keto. It's not right for everyone, though and it's not the only way. I did feel like keto was a good option for destroying carb cravings, if that along with weight loss is your end goal.
Same. You can take quite a lot of the carbohydrates out of the typical American diet and still have plenty of room left over for fruits and veggies. It’s true that I don’t sit around munching on a whole apple as a snack on keto, but let’s face it: that wasn’t something I’d actually do before keto, either.
Now, instead of having a big salad once in a while and feeling so virtuous that I decide I deserve a cookie to go with it, I eat an avocado, heaping plates of leafy greens, and moderate portions of berries pretty much every day, along with whatever else is lying around that I can squeeze in.
And I have actual self-control around food, which just...was not the case six months ago. It’s not the case when I take weekend breaks, either. People can scoff all they want at the idea of carbs as an addiction, but for some of us they really do seem to function that way.15 -
FlyingMolly wrote: »Running_and_Coffee wrote: »I love my vegetables and still eat them in large quantities, but don't miss the cookies, oatmeal, pizza or anything else I used to crave pre-keto. It's not right for everyone, though and it's not the only way. I did feel like keto was a good option for destroying carb cravings, if that along with weight loss is your end goal.
Same. You can take quite a lot of the carbohydrates out of the typical American diet and still have plenty of room left over for fruits and veggies. It’s true that I don’t sit around munching on a whole apple as a snack on keto, but let’s face it: that wasn’t something I’d actually do before keto, either.
Now, instead of having a big salad once in a while and feeling so virtuous that I decide I deserve a cookie to go with it, I eat an avocado, heaping plates of leafy greens, and moderate portions of berries pretty much every day, along with whatever else is lying around that I can squeeze in.
And I have actual self-control around food, which just...was not the case six months ago. It’s not the case when I take weekend breaks, either. People can scoff all they want at the idea of carbs as an addiction, but for some of us they really do seem to function that way.
But the examples you use don't really support the idea of "carb addiction." An apple is pretty much all carbs, so if you weren't craving apples, it wasn't just a carb craving. If you were eating cookies, remember that most cookies are as much fat as carbs.
I think low carb and keto can be good choices for people (I eat somewhat low carb much of the time and tried keto out of curiosity), but it's a pet peeve that people going on about "carbs" when they don't really mean they are unable to control themselves around carrots or apples or plain potatoes or oats or what not (yes, some people are exceptions, but even so I suspect it's rare to just crave "carbs" and not some specific food item which is more often than not NOT mostly just carbs).
I also think very often people don't realize that going from a poor, uncontrolled (eat what I want when I want it, only control mechanism is occasionally thinking "man, I should try to eat less today") diet to a more planned and healthful one very often DOES result in not feeling so out of control. It's not necessarily "carbs" at all.
And when I briefly tried keto I absolutely stopped doing it mostly because it was late spring and I was thinking about all the in-season fruit I wanted to be eating soon, and missed being able to fit in things like roasted potatoes and a very healthy dish with pasta (and lots of vegetables) and, especially beans and lentils. I was hitting my limit daily with just vegetables and some nuts and plain greek yogurt sometimes, and was doing so despite eating fewer veg when doing keto (and no fruit), but I did eat lots and lots of vegetables before keto.
Anyway, like I said, I agree it can be a pleasant way to eat for some and that it might be more filling for some than other options, but grouping all "carbs" together and framing them as the enemy or problem IMO makes no sense. If someone really does crave "carbs" generically, eating vegetables is not a bad idea or problem to have.
If the issue, instead, is feeling out of control around some specific foods, or overindulging in them, and they often are as much fat as carb, or are very specific carbs and not others, I think it's worth being more precise about that.
Nothing to do with whether or not keto is a good approach. Personally, I like low carbing for the opposite reason, though -- most starchy carbs and sweets are to me easy foods to cut back on and sensible ones for me to cut back on, as I don't miss them much and am satisfied with small portions and they don't satiate me all that much. A meal with just a small portion of starchy carbs or none is just as satisfying, so if cutting calories it's a good way. If I loved carbs (meaning starchy carbs or, I guess, sugary foods, even though they are often high fat too) most of all, I would probably find a different strategy worked better. (And unlike with keto, I can get in all the vegetables I think are desirable plus some fruit or smaller servings of starchy carbs or both without problem when low carbing, as I do it. Couldn't with keto, although that doesn't mean it's not right for others. I tend to have different ideas about how much veg is ideal in a diet than some do, and that was a frustration when I tried keto.)26 -
FlyingMolly wrote: »Running_and_Coffee wrote: »I love my vegetables and still eat them in large quantities, but don't miss the cookies, oatmeal, pizza or anything else I used to crave pre-keto. It's not right for everyone, though and it's not the only way. I did feel like keto was a good option for destroying carb cravings, if that along with weight loss is your end goal.
Same. You can take quite a lot of the carbohydrates out of the typical American diet and still have plenty of room left over for fruits and veggies. It’s true that I don’t sit around munching on a whole apple as a snack on keto, but let’s face it: that wasn’t something I’d actually do before keto, either.
Now, instead of having a big salad once in a while and feeling so virtuous that I decide I deserve a cookie to go with it, I eat an avocado, heaping plates of leafy greens, and moderate portions of berries pretty much every day, along with whatever else is lying around that I can squeeze in.
And I have actual self-control around food, which just...was not the case six months ago. It’s not the case when I take weekend breaks, either. People can scoff all they want at the idea of carbs as an addiction, but for some of us they really do seem to function that way.
I always like when people talk about carb addiction and their examples are thinks like cookies and whatnot that have equally, if not more calories coming from fat.
I've never heard someone complaining that they're addicted to beans and lentils and oats and root vegetables, etc which are all nutritionally good sources of carbohydrates. It's always the cookie as if all carbs are just junk foods.34 -
I could easily over-eat oatmeal, or really any carbs in a bowl, and I can do things to an apple that make it cookie-like, such as slicing it and soaking it in vanilla-flavored stevia and adding cinnamon to it. I love apples, still would eat a small one every now and then, and think apples are healthy. However, it's the apples/sweetness slippery slope that gets me tripped up and going for more caloric and less vitamin-packed choices. I am NOT saying that apples are bad and that people should not eat them. For me, personally, though, reducing sweeter fruits and veggies and avoiding grains has had an impact on my hunger levels and cravings.
I don't want to get into what "addiction" means as eating cookies is hardly injecting heroin. It's more about the impact certain types of food have on my feelings of satiety that I'll say is the reason why I do keto and not just avoid sweets.5 -
Running_and_Coffee wrote: »I could easily over-eat oatmeal, or really any carbs in a bowl, and I can do things to an apple that make it cookie-like, such as slicing it and soaking it in vanilla-flavored stevia and adding cinnamon to it. I love apples, still would eat a small one every now and then, and think apples are healthy. However, it's the apples/sweetness slippery slope that gets me tripped up and going for more caloric and less vitamin-packed choices. I am NOT saying that apples are bad and that people should not eat them. For me, personally, though, reducing sweeter fruits and veggies and avoiding grains has had an impact on my hunger levels and cravings.
I don't want to get into what "addiction" means as eating cookies is hardly injecting heroin. It's more about the impact certain types of food have on my feelings of satiety that I'll say is the reason why I do keto and not just avoid sweets.
And I think this is something that is true for a minority of people (I think small minority from observation, but eh, doesn't matter).
My issue here has NOTHING to do with the meaning of "addiction," but the meaning of "carbs." As I said before, it's a pet peeve that people talk about craving "carbs" when what they mean are specific carbs or, more often than not, specific carbs + fat, and basically ignore or never overeat many other sources of carbs (often the more nutrient dense ones that get treated as if they weren't carbs at all).
If someone just craves carbs, that would be an easy fix -- just eat carrots and brussels sprouts and the like, roasted pumpkin (no sugar added), perhaps a plain potato -- whatever things you consider to add value to your diet and are not too difficult to control the calories from. I can eat raspberries in huge amounts, but the calories don't add up much. Yes, you can make an apple cookie-like (you can make lots of keto desserts too, many on keto seem to eat far more sweet foods than I do), but if you can eat a plain apple and not tend to overeat them (or, like the one poster said, you never even bothered eating apples), then I don't think the issue is carbs.
That does NOT mean that low carb or keto is a bad approach, or that there aren't a few people who do find that eating more than some tiny number of carbs (even nutrient dense ones) cause cravings, sure. But so, so, so often someone complains about "carb" cravings when they don't mean they are craving carrots, but some food that wouldn't be good at all without the fat. I just wish we could be more specific in language and not use "carbs" as if they were all the same or inherently low nutrient foods or a synonym for junk food.
Again, not unsympathetic to the idea that keto can be a great choice for some people, and I like low carbing.9
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 390 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 922 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions