sunshinetrugillo's Journal, 22 June 2017

hang in there! just know that white sugar is addictive so you are fighting something real. It will go away. Distract yourself with something or go to bed. Good Luck and when you wake up tomorrow don't forget to congratulate yourself that you didn't give into the sugar. That will be a big win! You can do it! 

I don't know what your WOE is sunshine, but have you considered just incorporating some daily calories in for your sweets? Perhaps, there's something else you can reduce to incorporate some of those calories in so you don't feel so restricted or denied. If you're worried about over-eating your allotment, just try to set aside only the amount you're allowing yourself to have for each night and remind yourself, you will still be able to eat them again the next night. Changing a habit doesn't happen over night. These reductions take some time. Be gentle with yourself. That doesn't mean "indulge", but you can accommodate if having sweets at this time of evening means that much too you, then simply let go a little of something else so you can have some and slowly reduce over time if necessary. 

I agree with egull. We had a birthday at the office I work at & they got ice cream... I wanted some so bad and gave in and had a serving & didn't get the waffle cone bowl 😫 but.... my carbs and calories had been down for a couple of days and I decided to go for it... the next day I still had a loss on the scale. It was awesome. I like to keep some whipped topping in the freezer and get a spoonful... or two if I'm craving something sweet Also, eating less snacks through out the day has helped me a lot. I try to have breakfast later - like 11am and we try to have dinner before 8am. It's hard sometimes because I work late, but instead of eating at 6 after I get my husband out the door, I wait until I'm at the office. It's a light form of IF... 

Eat more fat. It will keep the hunger away. http://jeffgilbertson.wordpress.com  

At 62, and trying this for the umpteenth time, SO FAR so good with KETO-PALEO style of eating. My cravings, for now, have disappeared...well, lets just say they are 'manageable'. Meal planning is easy...there isn't any! I eat meat in the morning with a decaf coffee, some tuna/shrimp/chicken salad for lunch with some greens or tomatoes. Lemon water throughout the day or a Starbucks Decaf Iced Americano and I splurge with 2 pumps of Cinnamon Dolce...pretty much the only sugar I have been having so far with the exception of some berries at night. Dinner is grilled protein with vegetables. NO PASTA-NO POTATOES-NO RICE-NO BREAD-NO COOKIES/CAKE/CANDY. I am eating fat, protein and very low carb fruits & vegetables. I weigh myself every single day and watch that scale go down ounces and fractions each time. But the idea is IT'S GOING DOWN! Those ounces add up to pounds each week. I walk and PUSH to get my heart rate up and break a sweat. I suffer from A-Fib and am taking medication to regulate my heart rate so its hard to get it up to 70% max, where it needs to be. But the most important thing I do is WEIGHT TRAINING! It builds lean muscle mass which raises your metabolism, balances your blood sugar & BURNS MORE CALORIES! DON'T GIVE UP! The PAIN you feel today is the GAIN you'll see tomorrow. Good Luck! 

PS: For bedtime snacks: 1. SugarFree Jello Cherry/Strawberry Cups. (They save my life.) 2. Strawberries, cherries, raspberries 3. Frozen fruit by the bag, water, ice and a packet of E-mergen-C powdered vitamin drink. Put it in the blender and pulverize it. Sweet, refreshing, cold and GOOD FOR YOU! 

Everyone is right -- if you have gnawing hunger, go with sliced turkey or cheese sticks, because the protein and fat fill you up. But if what's getting to you is craving for sweets, then really analyze what you are craving and figure out substitutes that work without completely sabotaging your plan. For example: I crave coffee ice cream and milk shakes. Instead of coffee ice cream, I eat coffee Chobani yogurt with 1/2 tsp cinnamon sugar and 1 TBSP of dark chocolate chips. Now this is not diet food, but it's way fewer calories and carbs than a hot fudge sundae with coffee ice cream or even a satisfying dish of coffee ice cream. Milk shakes? -- I have two favorites, one healthier than the other: I make frozen smoothies by filling my Magic Bullet cup with 3-4 large fresh strawberries, about 1/2 cup of frozen peaches, 1/2 carton of nonfat yogurt, and a few mint leaves or basil leaves, then fill up the cup with sparkling water. This blends up into a wonderful "milk shake" that's lactose free -- and because you use frozen fruit, you don't have to use ice cubes, and it has a better texture than with ice cubes. If you actually have sufficient carbs left for the day, you can take a carton of Chobani coffee yogurt + 2 small scoops of dark chocolate sorbet + fill the cup with sparkling water OR cold decaf espresso. Now this second option is truly a dessert, but again, it is fewer carbs and calories than an actual milk shake by a lot, and I have found over time that if I get really desperate and I allow myself to make one of these shakes, my cravings are satisfied for weeks at a time. And in the meantime... between times of succumbing to the craving for bad stuff, try out bowls of fresh pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, honeydew and cantaloupe. It won't happen right away, but over time, as your sweet tooth dulls down, a bowl of honeydew will seem quite sweet enough. I would never have believed this to be true, but after 5 years of pretty consistent low-glycemic eating, a bowl of fruit seems like a big treat to me. Good luck. Keep the fair, and give yourself a break.  

not enough carbs... Any processed carbs will make you crave sweet or fatty carbs.. Implement more fruit and veggie carbs through your day.. The most important meal is breakfast, because when you eat in the morning and what you eat will base what your not getting enough of and you will crave even at night... Don't get discouraged.. Try this, promise you it will work if you do it in this way... I have no cravings and I don't over eat and I have energy all day 

1. carbs Glucose, which is most readily obtained from carbs, is the body’s preferred and the brain’s only energy source. It should therefore predominate our diet, which is what most national and international health organizations also suggest. When we eat fewer carbs than we need, we get crazy cravings for calorically dense food, we get tired or hangry… and if you deprive yourself of this nutrient for a few days, your body will go into ketosis, which is an ill state to be in. It’s also associated with loss of appetite, nausea, fatigue, and hypotension (lower blood pressure). This metabolic state of a starving person is simulated when eating a low carb, high fat diet and tells the body it has some kind of serious illness. And since no health organization would recommend eating over 30% of your calories from protein or fat, this shouldn’t even be an option 

Sugar gives your brain a boost of dopamine, the neurotransmitter in charge of the brain’s pleasure-reward system. You need some dopamine. It’s your motivation molecule that assures you’ll do what needs to be done. Dopamine deficient mice are so unmotivated to eat that they will literally starve to death while food is readily available! But refined sugar floods your brain with dopamine, as do all addictions of all kinds, such as drugs, alcohol, nicotine, shopping or gambling. According to Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, addictive substances flood the brain with dopamine, taking it up to as much as 5 to 10 times the normal level which makes you crave more sugar especially during pivotal part's of the day including the evening 

carbs especially sugar and processed carbs will feed carb cravings. carbohydrates are not a required macronutrient by the body protein and fat is required macronutrients by the body. " https://www.graemethomasonline.com/carbohydrate-daily-requirements/ “In the absence of dietary carbohydrate, de novo synthesis of glucose requires amino acids derived from the hydrolysis of endogenous or dietary protein or glycerol derived from fat. Therefore, the marginal amount of carbohydrate required in the diet in an energy-balanced state is conditional and dependent upon the remaining composition of the diet.” In other words, when you aren’t consuming a ton of dietary carbohydrate, your liver makes whatever glucose your system needs from dietary fats and protein. Furthermore, despite claims that your brain “exclusively” runs off carbohydrates, it can derive up to 80% of its energy requirement from ketone bodies, by-products of fat metabolism, dropping its absolute carbohydrate needs to around 25 g/day (Cahill et al., 1973). Obviously, this is an extreme example and I’m not about to suggest you cut any and all carbohydrates from your diet. However, science clearly shows that anyone wanting to follow an essentially carbohydrate-free diet will not endanger their health. In fact, assuming you get a few carbohydrates from vegetable matter, they’ll quite likely do just fine." 

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Though, there are so many mixed reviews, suggestions, and beliefs, I would have spent the rest of my night sifting through it all. I appreciate the support and continue to strive for my ketosis/paleo way of eating, as it has been the most effective thus far. I am going to look into some 90% cacao for my evening cravings and see if that helps. In the mean time, I am simply going to focus on finding a hobby I can indulge in during my evening hours to keep my mind off the kitchen. For starters, to get through my cravings last night, I played a few rounds of my favorite video game. 

Also, I might add, I am setting up an appointment with my doctor to see how this is affecting me personally. I know everyone experiences ketosis differently, so I want to make sure it is the right thing. Even if I notice the changes that are positive, I want to make sure there is nothing negative happening. 

Just continue to reject and deny yourself of sugar. The cravings eventually subside. It gets easier. Sugar IS a drug, so you will experience withdrawal symptoms. - Sucrose (e.g. table sugar) - Fructose (sugar in fruit) - wheat/bread (breaks down into glucose - blood sugar - once digested) Note: When you reach for fruit, reach for -berries. Anything with -berry in its name is LOW sugar. Any fruit without that -berry has considerably more sugar (pineapple, GRAPEFRUIT, apple, grapes, etc). Sugar is sugar is sugar. Slice of chocolate cake, or a glass full or orange juice....it's sugar and your sugar craving doesn't care. 

You might try to eat a handful of nuts instead of the sugars of any kind. The fat in the nuts, especially walnuts or pecans, can help satisfy hunger cravings. Or try a part of an avocado if you like them. Just remember how high in calories they are because of the fat, but they help to sooth that hunger. Also, I love chocolate so I keep Hershey's special dark cocoa powder in my cabinet and real vanilla that I can mix with a sweetener, almond milk, and lots of ice for a chocolate hit. Unsweetened vanilla flavored coconut or almond milk is great! 💁🏻