Is there a tasty substitute for sour cream - or should we care? page

[Seraffa]

Hi. Yes - I know about the carbs per tablespoon......it's RIGHT THERE on the package of Breakstone's whether it's "reduced fat sour cream" or "regular sour cream"....I KNOW....but what my body's telling me is that "I''m heading to the sour cream because I know I shouldn't use the yogurt (too many carbs), and that sour cream is NICE AND TANGY." MMMM....tangy....

As an OBESE beginner, I humbly confess that it's very hard to turn away LESS THAN A PINT of sour cream AT ONE SITTING as a "food source", although I know I'm going to gross out some people completely. But hey - I'm FAT. I'm here to TRY AND FIND ANSWERS. If I don't ask, then I don't GET any answers, right?

Has anyone resolved any cravings for tangy dairy products - and what did they do about it?

[Grol]

I have 100+ pounds to lose and I am dropping it rapidly with yogurt, cream, creme fraiche, pastured sweet butter, cultured butter and sour cream in my diet. I can't quite drain a pint in a meal, and I think you should probably knock that off, but if your carbs are low enough to get you burning fat (in ketosis) then there's a use for these products. Mine is mostly homemade and organic, all full fat, and used daily unless I fast. Some studies show fat loss accelerates with yogurt. One assumption is the probiotics help. I am sticking 90% to cultured products for that reason. If you're not ketogenic, I'd bet they will kill any chance of weight loss. If you are then fats are the fuel you burn.

[Helen in Oz]

more important to deal with the self-control/portion size issues, I think. If you can't convince yourself that sour cream is a condiment used in cooking in moderate amounts, just don't buy the stuff. Eat something else.

edited to add: I don't mean that to sound so terse. I mean, if you can't control it, keep it out of your orbit. But you might need to think about why you're making such a poor choice as to drink a whole pint of the stuff. I guess maybe you have some deficiencies that are helping to cause the craving, too.

Vitamin supplements and probiotics might help.

[Bostonbully]

I know this sounds strange but in the begining I would stand infront of the mirror in nothing but my boxers and ask myself "do you like being fat", "are you proud of the way you look". I obviously wasn't so when I went to the grocery store I would run those questions through my head and that image over and over. It helped me not buy the pint of sour cream, and the half gallon of ice cream. If you don't have it you can't eat it. Whats a stronger feeling, a craving for tangy dairy or hating the way you look. You decide.

[SheGlowsPale]

Can you stand just having sour cream/yogurt once in a while? I dont think in moderation full fat dairy is that bad...I still consume dairy and I'm still losing weight at a decent pace (and I really only have 15lbs to go so I'm not "obese") but it does depend on the person and their weakness sometimes...I tend not to do carb alternatives (with like coconut or almond flour) due to the fact that I believe it might cause more cravings for flour based products but dairy I seem to be ok with limiting...everyones a little different in that area...try just eating it once a week (and less the portion just a bit) and see how that goes.

[slacker]

I haven't kept track of the timeline on my path to where I am now, but can totally relate. I can remember when I would down a pint of Ben and Jerry's three or four times a week. I transitioned to 1/2 plain yogurt and 1/2 ice cream, then yogurt with honey, then plain yogurt, then let the yogurt go. That process probably took two years.

The reason that reading the labels is important, even if you think you already know what's on there, is that you need to always be in a learning mode on it and monitoring your intake in a guilt-free, intellectually curious kind of way. You don't have to give anything up completely. You just have to put it into a reasonable context. Binging on broccoli would be out of balance, too, even if it is less dangerous. There is more fat than you probably need in that sour cream, but some of your protein, vitamin D, K, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus are in there and you need those. You probably need more of them than you are getting in there. Have you calculated those yet?

The other thing you need to know is that your tastes WILL change. Really! When you are getting a good balance of protein, good fats, and good carbs, you'll appreciate these extra tasty foods in reasonable balance. I've only been pushing myself to make all of my protein target, stick to good fats, and keep carbs at least under 100 grams, and preferably under 50 grams, for about four weeks, and I can tell you that my urge to binge anything went entirely away in a matter of hours. I suspect yours will clear up quickly, too.

One of the things that I think is hardest for women, and especially us big women, is raising the willingness to properly calculate and get, actively, every damn day, our proper protein target. And I think anyone who isn't getting at least near adequate protein intake will have cravings of some kind. I could give you a bunch of theories about the psychology behind this aversion to properly admitting and feeding your protein need, e.g. meat-seeking is viewed as masculine, or whatever, but I think it is a waste of time. The bottom line is that you need to calculate it, seek to meet it, and monitor your success as if it mattered, because it does. Put a big heaping tablespoon of sour cream on top of a bowl of meat and veggies, finish that, and then see how you feel.

Just to save anyone reading this from having to look it up, here's the guideline on calculating your protein target (senior people please pipe up if I'm off here). Start by calculating your lean body mass. This is your total weight less your body fat percentage. Mine is 160 lbs. Bottom line target for adequate intake is one half (0.5) grams of protein per pound of lean body mass. That is your FLOOR. If you are stressed, ill, exceptionally active, recovering from protein starvation and needing to build strength, or just wanting to build strength, experiencing cravings, etc, your target should be higher. Eight tenths (0.8) of a gram per pound of lean body mass is a common recommended target that no trained nutritionist will argue with. (There are people who like to go higher, and maybe someone will comment on it here. ) That means that my daily minimum should be at least 80 grams of protein, more would be good and 128 grams would not be too much. Wow. Those numbers still just seem huge to me. I definitely don't get them unless I consciously plan and work at it.

Other things in that sour cream you need and maybe aren't getting elsewhere are calcium, magnesium and phosphorus, vitamin D and vitamin K. Be sure you are getting plenty of those, too.

Cover all those bases, and I expect you'll do better.

[cillakat]

Hi. Yes - I know about the carbs per tablespoon......it's RIGHT THERE on the package of Breakstone's whether it's "reduced fat sour cream" or "regular sour cream"....I KNOW....but what my body's telling me is that "I''m heading to the sour cream because I know I shouldn't use the yogurt (too many carbs), and that sour cream is NICE AND TANGY." MMMM....tangy....

As an OBESE beginner, I humbly confess that it's very hard to turn away LESS THAN A PINT of sour cream AT ONE SITTING as a "food source", although I know I'm going to gross out some people completely. But hey - I'm FAT. I'm here to TRY AND FIND ANSWERS. If I don't ask, then I don't GET any answers, right?

Has anyone resolved any cravings for tangy dairy products - and what did they do about it?

Consider using some Fage or Chobani full fat yougurt. To me, they taste exactly like sour cream but have lots of protein. Of course, you'll still have to factor in the overall cals.

[zorba]

Consider using some Fage or Chobani full fat yougurt. To me, they taste exactly like sour cream but have lots of protein. Of course, you'll still have to factor in the overall cals.

I was going to say the same thing. When I first bought Fage and was thinking it would be really mild tasting and bland, I was very surprised at both the taste and texture and how much it resembled sour cream. At first the thought of putting it on my blubes (my little nickname for blueberries ) was unsettling. Now I love the stuff and am in Canada for the summer and am worried I won't be able to find it!

[sebzzz]

The fact that you're not able to control it tells me you're body needs some nutrients that it's not getting.

Something similar happened to me when I was on a raw food diet. When I decided it was enough and that the diet would never work, I started eating a standard diet again and couldn't stop myself from eating peanut butter. I would eat the whole jar and than run to the grocery store to buy an other one. I'm not very proud of that, but twice I ate so much that it made me sick. Food can really play tricks on you. I think I couldn't stop eating it because I needed the fat so bad from having been 7 months with almost no fat.

The best way around that problem was simply not to buy any and not let even the option of buying it. Fortunately, after some of my greatest deficiencies where resolved, I wasn't so addicted on it anymore.

Hang in there mate, you'll see positive change in time.

[Seraffa]

These are great replies! I'm considering them ALL. Thanks!