Marks Daily Apple Forum » Primal Blueprint Nutrition

need help getting started!

(20 posts) (15 voices)
  • Started 9 months ago by michelle
  • Latest reply from sammylou

  1. michelle
    Member

    i've been off the wagon for a few months now and i can't seem to pull myself up by my bootstraps! i know i need to get off the sugar and grains, i get terrible cravings. i am just having a hard time getting started. i need to lose about 30 lbs. i know most of the people on this forum are already living the lifestyle with no trouble, but maybe you have some ideas how i can get going with the primal lifestyle, get on a roll... i want to be primal and never look back! i understand the woe, i just can't seem to get through more than a few days without succumbing to the sugar cravings.

    Posted 9 months ago #

  2. deepthought
    Member

    Start by checking the primal journeys out. Myself and many more are daily updating on what we eat.
    Dropping carbs is not THAT hard, it's mostly about aquiriring a new "relationship" with food, and changing your opinion about what food IS.

    My opinion used to be that food is a plate full of carbs( in my case, pasta, with protein and veggies on top. Now food for me is a plate full of veggies with protein and fat on top.

    I never made a commitment: " I'm gonna go all out". I started experimenting with taking the pasta away/cutting down, and found out that it works. From there it really was easy to build on that.

    And for the cravings... I did beat mine with powerballs, good as candy and full of good fat ;)

    Good Luck!

    Posted 9 months ago #

  3. Paneristi
    Member

    Yep- +1
    And set goals ...make a meal plan and exercize plan and stick to it...

    Posted 9 months ago #

  4. michelle
    Member

    what's a powerball?

    paneristi, it's the stick to it that i'm having trouble with! i eat sugar, i can't seem to stop it... i kick myself every time. am i doomed? i really want this lifestyle to work/stick!

    Posted 9 months ago #

  5. maranne
    Member

    Michelle,
    don't get the idea that we are all perfect and never struggle because it is not true! There might be some of us who find it easy to stick to Primal with no problem but for my part I can say I do find it hard at times. I love to cook and I am a real foodie, so not having certain food groups totally changes my lifestyle. I am slowly getting into the right frame of mind and enjyoing it.
    As for sugar, it is highly addictive and not a surprise if you feel you are struggling. Don't take it out on yourself or even blame yourself. Try and find a way to deal with it. In my case I do not buy any sugar so I have no temptation at home. And some days are simply easier than others as well. I had some cake on Sunday and that was fine becaise it was only 1 piece and not the whole cake. Remember to do everything at your pace and don't feel the need to compare yourself to others too much.
    M x

    Posted 9 months ago #

  6. cc40
    Member

    Michelle,
    I think maranne is on to something here. By not having sugar in your home, it's much easier to stay away from it.

    You can't guilt your way out of anything in life. You can only guilt your way into them. The, "Ugh I feel guilty so I might as well continue to fail" is exactly what guilt wants you to do.

    It took me about 12 years to gain all of this extra weight, so I know it won't come off over night. Trying not to stress out about it can be tough to do. But if we add sugar and bad things to our bodies, that will only make the stress worse. It's a vicious circle.

    You say, "i want to be primal and never look back!" How about "i want to be primal this month", or "this season", or "this week". Maybe you are looking too far ahead and setting yourself up?

    Posted 9 months ago #

  7. Miriam
    Member

    Michelle if you can make an appointment to see a naturopath and get tested for candidia, your craving for sugar coull be yeast related, also make sure you are taking your vitamins and mineral and of course fish oil and most importantly be kind to yourself, you will get there and we are there to support you.

    Posted 9 months ago #

  8. Nick
    Member

    It's possible for carbs to be every bit as addictive as drugs. If you have an unhealthy relationship with food, you can feel a really deep emotional need for the carbs. I tried to go low carb several times before it stuck. It's hard to do without breaking your normal pattern. For instance, I'd go have some chinese for lunch (say, chicken with broccoli..perfectly fine, with no breading or sugary sauce), and it would be very difficult to not sneak a bite or two of rice -- frankly, it was disturbing how strong the pull was.
    The things that managed to help me do it that you might try:
    1) I read a lot about the dietary science. I'm somewhat technical (and my wife is a molecular biologist), so the journal papers are approachable to me, but Mark and several others (Stephan at WholeHealthSource, Dr. Eades, Dave Dixon, etc.) provide good summaries of research. Really convincing myself that low carb was the way to go scientifically, and doing so repeatedly (and I'm still sponging up everything I can), helped me because it neutered my ability to rationalize eating carbs. And as a chronic procrastinator and passive aggressive jerk, I rationalize behaviors well above my grade level.
    2) Change up your routine. If you always go to Panera Bread for lunch, you're going to find it very difficult to eat low carb -- other places can be just as difficult. Maybe don't go to restaurants with free bread. Cooking at home more helps, and I can do more interesting things since I'm not splitting my attention having to watch a pot of rice or pasta.
    3) Try to concentrate on being able to have certain things, rather than denying yourself things. I have bacon and 3 pastured eggs with beautiful orange yolks every morning. They are delicious, and it pisses people off if they hear what I eat. Yes, I make sure to drain the excess bacon grease onto my plate. Some mornings the eggs just get cooked in however much butter I feel like. If I end up going out, I can order the biggest steak I feel like I can afford -- on Friday, I was at Ted's Montana Grill disposing of a gift certificate, and got the 16oz ribeye, and they were happy to give me butter-soaked broccoli and asparagus instead of a potato and mac and cheese or some such. I did not feel deprived of anything (except maybe they could've been a little less zealous trimming the fat on that ribeye).
    4) All that said, just jump in and try it. While it may take 3-6 weeks to convert fully to fat-burning metabolism, I find the strongest cravings are gone after a week. If you find, like I did, that you end up eating freely, not watching calories, and having a ton of fat, but losing weight at twice the normal recommended max "safe" rate anyway (assuming weight loss is your motivator and not other health reasons), you will not be very motivated to go back to carbs.

    If you feel like you need a little something extra, treat it more like an addiction: donate the carbs in your pantry to the food bank. Just make sure you have enough low carb food to eat -- order a 40lb pack of grass fed beef, or go load up at the store if you're not ready to take that plunge.
    If you have cravings, you can try addressing them with glutamine. You can buy the powder on the internet (I got mine at amazon). It will stand in for carbs in a subset of neurotransmitter pathways in the brain, and can be used as fuel by your GI tract (which releases the most important satiety hormones).
    I recommend curbing your intake of artificial sweeteners as well. The dopamine response from sugar, artificial sweeteners, caffeine, drugs, alcohol, etc. is all very similar. Lab rats will go off cocaine so they can get more artificial sweetener injected into their brain. You may think diet soda will help you over your sweet tooth, but it's really just prolonging the addiction. Those vices are somewhat interchangeable at the brain level -- AA meetings tend to be full of donuts for a reason.

    See if there's anything you think could work for you, try it, and let us know how it goes.

    Posted 9 months ago #

  9. sammylou
    Member

    my husband and i were in the terrible habit of eating dessert every night. then we decided to limit it to three nights a week. no matter what. once that got easy to do and i decided i wanted to start eating more primally, i would choose to start skipping those allowed days and soon i found that it wasn't too hard to go the entire week without sweets. then if i did breakdown and have something, i wouldn't beat myself up. just decide that i would again try to go the whole week and maybe a bit longer.

    also, if i was craving sweets and it wasn't a dessert night, then i would often find a bowl of chopped fruit with almond butter drizzled over top would suffice quite well. and oddly enough, i seem to sleep better when i have a little hit of fat like nuts after dinner.

    Posted 9 months ago #

  10. SerialSinner
    Member

    Michelle, this is what worked for me:

    1- clear your pantry from carbs and sugar
    2- try to avoid eating out at least for the first week
    3- in case of terrible sugar cravings, use a little bit of diary with tea, for example, and splenda or stevia (not ideal but, imo, better than sugar or cheating with some bread or dessert)
    4- crank up the fat.

    As Nick pointed out, I also think that carbs could be described as addictive. As an ex-smoker, I did find many similarities when quitting carbs: strong cravings, withdrawal symptoms, crankiness, anxiety, etc.

    In my case, they disappeared after 5 days or a week.

    Posted 9 months ago #

  11. michelle
    Member

    bugger! i just wrote a long reply and it got lost in the ether when i hit post.

    the gist of it was to say wow, these responses are really great and thoughtful! you guys are really nice and helpful. awesome.

    i'm going to print this post out and read it through a few times.

    i have struggled with candida in the past - just cleared some up with low carb diet a few months ago. i don't have any symptoms right now except for the cravings... just another reason i need to be off the sugar/carbs.

    glutamine- i have some in my cabinet that i used to use in post workout shakes i will try that.

    i have been reading as much as i can get my hands on about the low carb lifestyle from taubes and eades, primal body/primal mind, to whatever blogs i find including this one. i understand in principle and it makes sense... it's still hard to get my brain around the idea that i will lose weight eating so much fat. i know this horse is already dead, but fat is so calorically dense it's hard to believe that eating it to my heart's content will result in weight loss. i have a healthy appetite! ha.

    Posted 9 months ago #

  12. Rose
    Member

    You sound very much like me Michelle. I'm a terrible sugar addict and have trouble sticking to low carb. Getting started is the hardest part for me, then I truck along well until something pushes me back off the wagon. Maybe it's a piece of birthday cake, or someone brings me a scone at work which I feel obliged to eat.
    I'm trying to bring new rituals or habits into my life to help. Like a pot of tea after dinner instead of desert. Experimenting with new recipes. Listening to podcasts on the way home from work etc.
    Maybe some of us need to get together for a 21 day challenge where we can support each other. God knows you don't get much support with this way of life from most people around you thinking you've lost the plot. My lunch is often the butt of everyones joke at my office table.

    Posted 9 months ago #

  14. SerialSinner
    Member

    Whenever I really get off the wagon (think half a cake, or big drinking night with late night pizza), I fast for at least 20 hours.

    I don't know if this is ideal, but I feel like my body is trying to get rid of all the junk I've eaten, and the sensation of bloatiness and general clouded-mind fluid-retentive slowness goes away like half way through the fast. I feel much better then.

    I break the fast with only a big ass salad, and next meal I gorge again with meat and fat. Seems to work for me.

    Posted 9 months ago #

  15. Graeme
    Member

    The way I started was to just aim for 5 days i.e have a treat at the weekends.After all 5 days out of your life is only a very small goal to aim for.
    I did this for several weeks primal Mon-Fri and a bit of a slacken off at the weekends.
    Then I dropped down to one cheat day (Sun) which soon became 1 cheat meal.
    Now I look at a cheat and think is it really worth undoing all the good work I have done

    http://primalworkouts.wordpress.com

    Posted 9 months ago #

  16. Sir Grandma
    Member

    I'm new to this as well, but I kinda started getting off the sugar before getting into the primal movement. 2 big things for me were

    1. stop soda. I replaced it with ice tea with lemon. I got my wife on it too, she makes a big jar every day.
    2. stop fat free junk. they replace the fat with sugar. go the other way replace sugar with fat.

    Planting a garden has been great, we have a constant supply of greens for salad and since it is so fresh and so available it becomes a staple of every meal.

    Posted 9 months ago #

  17. Sir Grandma
    Member

    Another bit of advice it to read Stephan's blog about good fats (Mark has good stuff here too). Make a pledge to keep your fats good. This has gotten me off of my biggest vice -- chips. It may help with baked goods since they are full of hydrogenated glop.

    When I cheat on chips (friday happy hour) I read packages and try to find one with good fats, or just skip it and grab some nuts instead.

    Posted 9 months ago #

  18. maba
    Member

    I used to be a dessert-fiend myself. I ate healthy and exercised regularly but my only weakness was sugar. If I can kick sugar, anyone can! Are you off processed foods? Processed foods have TONS of hidden sugar in them, even foods you would never have imagined as having sugar, have added sugar. Getting off of processed foods would greatly reduce your sugar intake. Then slowly, start reducing the amount of sugar you add in regular foods. For instance if you drink coffee w/ 2 tsp of sugar, gradually reduce the amount of sugar over a few days and you won't notice the difference at all and then you can completely give it up.

    Same way with grains, may be you can try switching to whole grains and then slowly weaning off them. I'm not sure if this the right way to do it. But it worked for me, although it was inadvertent. I started eating whole grains not to wean off them eventually but just to eat healthier according to mainstream health advice.

    When you completely give up sugar, regular veggies and nuts begin to taste sweet. We're inundated with so much sugar that we lose the sense of taste and don't know how fresh vegetables taste anymore.

    And don't be too hard on yourself. I've been primal for about 2 weeks now and occasionally indulge in desserts and have a small amount of grain. But once you eat the primal way, even a small amount of dessert or fresh fruit can satisfy your sweet-tooth. As Mark says in one of his posts, "Aim for progress, not perfection".

    Posted 9 months ago #

  20. sammylou
    Member

    and another one of my fave "desserts" is a chocolatey chai herbal tea. made with carob. i add stevia and a dash of milk. kinda like a spicy hot chocolate. it often kills my cravings for sugar.

    i am in canada so the one i buy is president's choice but perhaps there is something similar available to you.

    Posted 9 months ago #

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