Day 3 Primal -- tell me the truth. page

[brightside]

This is the morning of Day 3 for me. Dull and nagging headache. Overall energy levels are up, in that I don't have to take a sugar crash nap every afternoon. My diet had gone from "okay" to "really bad" in the months leading up to discovering/starting PB. I was truly a junk food junkie towards the end, living mostly on fast food and baked goods. I exercised a ton, ate a ton, so still weighed a ton. Yesterday, I was possessed with thoughts of sugar. Cake! Chocolate! I had to face cupcakes, carrot cake, cookies, and brownies, throughout the day at work and various meeting places. Before PB, I would not have thought twice about indulging. Yesterday, I hoovered over these sweets for a few moments, really contemplating having "just a little", but ultimately admitting to myself that I was just telling myself lies. There is no such thing as having "just a little." Idk about you, but once that stuff is in my system, that's all I want for the rest of the day. I can never get enough once I start! So, I resisted... and my question is....

WILL THE CRAVINGS REALLY GO AWAY?

I want the truth! Is there anyone out there who was truly hooked on junk food, fast food, and sweets... anyone who has used food for comfort their whole lives... who can tell me whether or not the cravings actually go away? How do you feel now when you see sweets?

I am eating lots of PB food. I don't feel deprived in the amount of food I'm eating. I feel full after meals, thank God. But as of today... I feel deprived of sugary sweets. The things I love that don't love me back. Is there hope of dissolving my dysfunctional relationship with food, just by following the Primal Blueprint?

[justyouraveragecavemen]

They won't go away, exactly. But you'll know that, although it would taste like a little slice of heaven with a rainbow topping, you feel like a yak's ass for several hours afterwards. I ate a piece of cake the other day and thought I was going to blow chunks on the floor, my heart was racing from the sugar and the actual cake bloated my belly like a balloon.

It was good, but not that good.

[Cavemanseph]

eat some fruit, its not the same but it sorts me out when i get a craving. iv only been primal for a week but am feeling ok although i wouldnt say i was a junk food junkie

[primalmontana]

Oh lord, you sound just like me. I have been eating no- gluten for about a year and mostly for the past couple months. Good news...the cravings DO go away!!!! I think it really only take me a week for the cravings to subside.

I think paleo is perfect. I have done low-carb, high protein, low fat. IT DOES NOT WORK! Ok, for some it might...not for me. All I could do was think about when I got to eat next b/c I was always hungry. This works because fats really keep the craving down. If I have a huge urge, I will eat something with fat. Granted, it is usually cheese. Not in the true sense paleo but it really works for me and atleast it's not cheese and a croissant!!

I am not saying I have everything under control- I don't. I will do amazing with my "diet" for a few weeks- then I will allow myself "just a bit" of my favorite food ( pizza, ice cream) and wham...hit in the face with crazy cravings. Just like you, it's all I want for the rest of the day ( and usually continues to the next day befor I have to slap myself.

I exercise like a mad woman...it's my job. So, I guess I'm lucky in the sense I have that part covered. I would love to get to the point that I don't feel my physique would suffer if I slowed the activity a bit.

I made a vow to myself to go 21 days paleo, no weighing myself- just focusing on my food and the mental aspect of my journey. I start teaching water classes June 1st and I'll be damned if don't feel confidant getting in that swimsuit!

Let's dissolve the disfunction!!

*i ment to say "mostly paleo for the last couple months"

[RichMahogany]

This is the morning of Day 3 for me. Dull and nagging headache. Overall energy levels are up, in that I don't have to take a sugar crash nap every afternoon. My diet had gone from "okay" to "really bad" in the months leading up to discovering/starting PB. I was truly a junk food junkie towards the end, living mostly on fast food and baked goods. I exercised a ton, ate a ton, so still weighed a ton. Yesterday, I was possessed with thoughts of sugar. Cake! Chocolate! I had to face cupcakes, carrot cake, cookies, and brownies, throughout the day at work and various meeting places. Before PB, I would not have thought twice about indulging. Yesterday, I hoovered over these sweets for a few moments, really contemplating having "just a little", but ultimately admitting to myself that I was just telling myself lies. There is no such thing as having "just a little." Idk about you, but once that stuff is in my system, that's all I want for the rest of the day. I can never get enough once I start! So, I resisted... and my question is....

WILL THE CRAVINGS REALLY GO AWAY?

I want the truth! Is there anyone out there who was truly hooked on junk food, fast food, and sweets... anyone who has used food for comfort their whole lives... who can tell me whether or not the cravings actually go away? How do you feel now when you see sweets?

I am eating lots of PB food. I don't feel deprived in the amount of food I'm eating. I feel full after meals, thank God. But as of today... I feel deprived of sugary sweets. The things I love that don't love me back. Is there hope of dissolving my dysfunctional relationship with food, just by following the Primal Blueprint?

If you're an emotionally-driven eater (which it sounds like you might be), you'll always have that nagging voice in the back of your head when you see a piece of cake, but you won't WANT it exactly. Definitely won't be a craving. It's hard to describe. The appeal will be there, even after your taste buds change and you know putting it in your mouth will make you gag. (By the way, your taste preferences will change so that anything super-disgustingly sweet will taste bad. Because it's gross, and your body knows better).

But it won't be an every day stressor for you. You'll walk by them without any major internal struggle.

Also, I would guess from the first few sentences that you're going through a bit of the "carb flu." If you want to explore that, there's been a ton posted about it here and elsewhere.

So the answer is yes, both issues will resolve on their own once your body realizes that it's going to be fed properly for a change.

[Insane Grok]

yes and no...it depends on where you are in your mental journey really. i used to still crave doughnuts and sugary stuff a lot, but will powered through it. though now...i don't. it only really happened about a month ago (been on and off again for a long time)

now i see this stuff as harmful to my body. i will make rare exceptions to the rule, like my grandma's homemade apple pie, the only bad side is the crust, she uses lard and butter and real stuff in everything.

but it really boils down to how you view the food. do you see it as a sweet treat that you shouldn't have or as something that hurts you and will kill you

[LisaAnn]

I can somewhat relate. I love junk food. It never made up my complete diet but I would eat fast food a few times a week and never say no to sweets. I was never majorly overweight but definitley could afford to lose a few pounds. I tried weight watchers, this diet, that diet. My best friend is the same way so we lived the same lifestyle. At one point I just figured ehh I'm a lot smaller than a lot of people and I dont think I look THAT bad (even though I wasnt and still am not where I want or should be). I loved food so much I just figured I would have to live like that. Then something clicked in me when the number on the scale was too high. I started doing research, found this website along with other resources. I'm not paleo but I try to eat close to paleo. I can't believe how the cravings have diminished. I eat "lower carb" not low carb. I eat around 100 grams a day. I think it took about a week and now a small square of dark chocolate satisfies when a craving does hit but they are less intense then they used to be. Trust me, I never thought I would be saying a dark chocolate square would satisfy my chocolate craving when I used to run right out to dairy queen. It's actually amazing. For me, I'll never go completely primal/paleo but I like looking on this website and the changes I have made have done wonders for me.

[Sassy]

For me, it's been a slow change:

A few years ago when I started primal, I went MONTHS without a single craving, it was amazing.

Then I let myself have a cookie binge day around Christmas time, and totally fell off the wagon for quite a while.

Then I got back on again, and fell off again....

Then I went for a while eating all the crap I wanted because I was stressed and just wanted to feed my face.

After feeling like ass for a few months, I finally got back on the wagon, and I don't really have any of those carvings much anymore. When I do, though, it's not really a memory of how yummy and good they are (like it used to be), now it's a memory of how crappy my stomach felt, so I think my whole mindset is changing in a big way.

Also - I have a few things that taste like treats to me that help to keep me from that feeling of deprivation where I feel sad I can't have what everyone else is having. (Although, that too, is changing as I find I really know I don't WANT what they're having or I'll feel sick.)

[bchanel]

I am on day 10 of a 30 day challenge. I have always struggled with my weight and food has always been a comfort for me. When I first started this, the idea of giving up grains and dairy seemed crazy! I have a huge sweet tooth. I like sweet things for breakfast and I like to have dessert after dinner. I used to hit the vending machine everyday around 3 for a Diet Dr. Pepper and candy bar. I still get cravings, but I just think about how great I feel now and how crummy I used to feel. I look back on my diet and cringe and think, "No wonder I need to lose weight!" Those kind of foods are made to be addictive and overcoming that addiction is not easy. Now when I want something sweet, I eat a bowl of strawberries or a piece of 90% dark chocolate (it took me awhile to reach this degree!) or I keep a bag of Ghiradelli (I think it's 80%) dark chocolate chips in the freezer and i munch on a few with almonds. I haven't tried baking anything primal friendly, but I really don't want to. I know how I am and am afraid I would begin to eat too much of that stuff. I love my sweets! Hang in there, it does get easier!

[MarissaLinnea]

The cravings will not "go away", but I promise you they are going to get much less frequent and definitely much less intense. I know it's hard. I started Primal a little over three weeks ago and I was a sugar feind! I would binge on sugar every couple days and not only that, but I also had a pretty high carb diet because I am very physically active. So when I cut out carbs and sugar cold turkey, I was in a bad way for a little over a week. Headaches, nausea, brain fog, sooooooooo tired.....EXHAUSTED! It was really difficult and the cravings were unreal. I'm the same as you, I can't have just one bite of sugar. Once I get that one bite, that's it for me, it's over and I will go hog wild on anything and everything that contains sugar in the house.

But now three weeks in, I am doing and feeling SO MUCH BETTER! I had a slip up a couple days ago, I had sugar and a non Primal meal on my twin girls' first birthday........making the cake led to a taste here and there, which led to a complete raid of the cabinets for sugar, plus cake after dinner, you know the deal. And I paid for my choice, because I felt really, really shitty physically that night. My head was pounding, my stomach was so upset, my whole body was "buzzing", it was horrible. Not something I care to repeat any time soon. I learned my lesson.

Anyway, back to your question. Yes, it gets better. Much, much better. Your mind will focus less and less on sweets and carbs and get more occupied with other things, it just takes time. For me I noticed a dramatic reduction in my cravings around the second week and that's when I also noticed my withdrawal symptoms getting a lot better as well. If I were you, I would stay out of the break room at work or wherever they keep all those naughty treats, staring at them is only torturing yourself for no reason. When I walk through the store and I come up to the isle with candy or pastries, I intentionally look away so that it doesn't even become the slightest possibility in my mind that I could have it. And no sense drooling over something I can't have.

Keep it up, the hardest part is almost over!!! You CAN do this!