Sugar addict annonymous! page 2

[Pudpud]

NSV!!!! Survived a whole shift at work staying primal!! I usually find this VERY difficult cos it's such a bread culture there!!! I went prepared with my own food and then just by chance they cooked a bacon, sausage and egg brunch! Yum! I'm feeling fAB!!

[Pudpud]

Roast chicken and salad for lunch.
Joeys 40th birthday celebrations yesterday did entail cake and a small amount of chocolate! Ooch!
But back on track with GRASs fed beef and veg for dinner tonight and all food and snacks for tomorrow prepared and accounted for! Get on it Abi!!

[Pudpud]

Well, that birthday cake hung around and ended up being eaten mostly by me!!! Which led to the predictable downward spiral of atrocious eating! But I'm not giving up giving up my old eating habits. Each time I regress it is less and less severe and I get back on track quicker than I used to! This is for LIFE so I just need to keep plugging away! And learning what works for me and what doesn't. At the moment I'm definitely thinking that I need to go very low carb for a while and totally cut out all sweetness! I.e. stevia in tea, small amount of sugar in 85% choc, dried fruit, fruit in general etc etc. I need to know that I can go without these things and the world doesn't come to an end. The birthday cake thing has taught me that I can't do sweet in moderation! I am an addict and need to act accordingly! I.e. never ever go there!!!! At. Least for a while and most likely forever!

[Jennifla]

I keep small cans of sardines everywhere...one in my purse, one in my car, one in my gym bag, several in the pantry. This gives me something easy to grab when I have waited too long to eat and am in danger of making lousy choices. I never ate sardines before going Primal. They give me tons of energy, too. Also, when I did Atkins several years ago, I followed one of his suggestions to deal with sugar cravings and it worked for me: take L-Glutamine supplements. I am not a big believer in supplements generally, except for fish oil. Do some research first.

[sarasue624]

Sounds like you're doing good Pudpud. I'm an off-wagon on-wagon sugar addict for years. From what I've seen there are 2 strategies:

1. Cold turkey - works well for some people if you can get over initial cravings. I have done this in the past but then something happens - even well into the cold turkey - and I go craaazy (like your birthday cake).

2. Ease up - this has worked better for me and seems more sane. I deleted all non-extremely-scrumptuous sugars first. Used stevia as a crutch for awhile but eased off that. Used 85% chocolate as a crutch for awhile but eased off that. Fruit sets off mad sugar cravings so I'm careful about that. Let myself have a treat of some sort in the evenings only then eased off that. Now I only do sugar when I'm social. This time of year I'm social a lot, unfortunately! But it'll zen here eventually.

Good luck!

[Primal Primate]

Hey Pudpud!
Nice to see you hanging in there. I also love the feeling of being fully satiated without being totally stuffed. I find that when I do start to backslide into the sugary grain filled diet I used to "enjoy" it is that stuffed gross feeling that brings me back to primal again. Grok on!

[Pudpud]

Yep! Sardines are fab! I also have packets of nuts everywhere and I love a pot of pickled mussels! They're ugly as sin but taste like the seaside and are very nutritious! Yum! I'll look into the L glut amine suggestion. Have heard others say similar! Thanks for your suggestions! Hope all is going well in your primal world!

Thanks sarasue and primal primate! I didn't really realise anyone would be reading my waffle! It's fab to know others are out there fighting the same demons and winning! And offering support to little ole moi!

I'm totally back on it! Having ham, cucumber and a little cheese for breakfast, have got a beef casserole in the slow cooker, and snacks to take with me whilst out christmas shopping today! Groktastic!!!!

[Pudpud]

Well, I've back tracked. I'm going back to the school of thought that when I go cold turkey re. Sugar/sweet stuff I feel very deprived and BINGE!!!! On whatever I can get my hands on. So today I have had a tiny spot of stevia in my herbal teas, a handful of chocolate covered raisins but have managed to avoid an all out binge. And I feel much better for it! I'd say I've been over 95% primal over the course of the day. Though saying that I do feel a little bloated this evening so I guess there are still imrovements to be made. I feel that the pressures off a bit since I decided that this is life time thing, not just to lose weight but to feel and BE much more healthy! I'm going to continue to make small changes until they add up to one massive transformation! I'm going to keep on grokking!

[Jennifla]

I don't think Stevia should be considered a binge item. There are some who eschew artificial sweeteners but I am not one of them. I probably have 2 packets of saccharine a day in coffee and tea, and sometimes drink diet soda also. I have heard repeatedly that artificial sweeteners can negatively impact weight loss, and that may be true, but if I try to make to my "diet" too austere, I will not enjoy it and then there is a high risk that I will give up completely. I ate a lot of nuts and cheese when I first started PB, and eventually stopped wanting them. I also ate an apple every day in the beginning. Now, I eat an apple maybe two or three times per week. I ate one today and it was like candy...so good! I think I will eventually give up the artificial sweetener, especially since I am starting to get away from coffee.
There are waaay worse things than the occasional raisins and chocolate, IMHO.

[Pudpud]

My thoughts exactly Jennifla! I'm sometimes too hard on myself which does me no good at all in the long run! If I want to be able to stick with this forever then it needs to be do-able! And that means allowing myself a few things within reason that I consider really tasty. And I know from past experiences that tastes rapidly change when you cut the c&#p so I'm sure I'll be able to wean off things as and when I need to.

A the moment I know I'm eating waaaaaaay too many calories. I'm not losing weight, but my focus at the moment is really entirely on controlling/eliminating the cravings and feeling better, less lathargic etc. I'm sure I'll find it easier to cut back on quantities once I'm in the swing and have dealt with the cravings.

For breakfast this morning am having an entire tin of coconut milk with a small bar of 85% melted in! YUM!!!