CharleeSue's Journal, 13 March 2013

How about having a FF cup of hot chocolate or 1 Hershey Kiss instead. Just take it a day at a time. 

I hear you... I looked at your food journal and am wondering if we just don't get enough foods with protein spread out evenly in our daily meals which may cause us to feel hungry. I get in the same boat at night with my tummy growling. I am doing a challenge where I can't eat after diner, so I have just been drinking water to get rid of the growls... 

Of my binge friends who crave chocolate, they found they were really longing for a)magnesium (if its truly chocolate) or b) a preservative(s) in the type of item. If you go off the item and it screams at you, it is likely an addictive ingredient and if you crave the whole category (like chocolate), it is likely a deficiency your body is calling for. If deficiency in the diet, then when you supplement something healthy with the same ingredient, the craving will go away. If it is a preservative, it won't. Easier to fill a deficiency than to rid an addiction. If you are curious, take some plain dark cocoa powder, add your fav salt, liquid stevia (I get mine from Sprouts Supermarket) and an alcohol free vanilla (I get mine from Trader Joes) to it. If you feel satisfied, you have an answer. If you are still unsatisfied, I would add an organic coconut oil to it along with minced oatmeal (to add bulk). Playing around with it, I was able to find what was yelling at me. If nothing takes that yen away, look at the preservatives (which are appetite stimulants) and see what you eat with them. I had a combo of needing magnesium so now take a daily supplement (instead of the chocolate) and needing to control one preservative. That preservative sent my boys to the kitchen to make up desert type items I could have -- because it dumped off all candy and commercial cakes. These days my challenge is no sugar in any form (except the original fruit) and keeping on doing exercise. I found if I get sugar, it packs on 3-5 pounds of water weight (really annoying). Hang in there~ 

I have also been eating a lot of chocolate the past few days. I've had a nasty sinus cold and have been off track completely and eating "comfort food". It's good to just get back to it and not to be to hard on ourselves. Tomorrow is a new day and I will be back to my tuna sandwiches, apple a day (keeps doctor away!) and no more snacking after 8:00 pm! Also - the daylight savings loss of 1 hour has messed me up :\ 

Quit beating yourself up. You did a great job for an entire day! You know that we both need to live moment to moment. It's over, it's done, and yes, you start again. But remember, you ARE starting again. You could have eaten like that all day. The last thing that we need is to berate ourselves continually. I think we do enough of that without having it be over a very late night minor binge. You are my MENTOR remember. We will do this....slow but sure, we WILL do it!! Love you!