Who doesn't cheat? :)

[marylouise]

Originally Posted by clackley

It took a long time to find a reliable and affordable source and I must order at least $200 worth at a time but is so worth it. So yes, aside from coconut oil and olive oil, my fats are animal. I would also say that, the real reason and biggest problem for me with grocery store meat is the treatment of the animals but I don't think it is actually harmful to eat. I think it is the carbs that cause the illness - plain and simple. Do what you can when it comes to meat and animal fats but don't get worried that it is going to hurt you.

But I have read the fat is where the toxins are stored
I am not going to really stop eating the fat from animals.
What you said though should be screamed from the roof tops!
It is a heart felt subject.

One of my 8 yr old grand daughters will not eat meat. She can stop Hercules in his tracks. She is not from a family of veggie eaters. She was born a vegan. Strange but very true.

Once she asked me if I would eat Cricket. My little dog. Kind of breaks my heart when I see a dead animal today. I see my little grand daughter saying grandma please don't eat a dead animal. We will be moving out of our RV bus soon. I am going to have Black Rock chickens. A few weeks ago she said grandma mama wants me to ask you something. I said okay sweetie what is it.

She said please if you get chicken you aren't goin to eat them are you? I said no sweetie grandma is gona love their eggs!!

And please pass the bacon!

But I didnt say that to her

[marylouise]

I do take anti-oxidents. I also try to eat some veggies. I was so cruel to my body I think it will never be normal again. I am so carb sensitive, smelling them, I think raises my blood sugar! I have to stay as close to zero carb as I can be to keep my sugar numbers low!
Eating just one avocado without any other food will raise it at least 20 points. And I feel very bad when my BS goes up.
Green beans will raise it. Almost any carb will. Kind of concerned about this problem too.

[biancasteeplechase]

I started low-carb about a month ago, and I personally have had a whole shift in my views about "cheating".

We're all told, so many times and in so many ways, that if you 're good - eating less and exercising more - you'll be thin, and if you're not thin, it's because you're being bad. For so many years I tried faithfully to eat what I'd been told was a healthy diet - not too much saturated fat, lots of vegetables, not much meat - and I exercised every day, and yet it didn't seem to be doing me any good.

Then I learned the science behind low-carb, and that - as others have said above! - healthy eating isn't about "eat less, you pig"; it's about eating the right things - even though we've all been told they're the wrong things.

For me, one of the eye-opening things about LC is that there are so many tasty foods that I no longer have to feel bad about. Eggs Benedict (without the English muffin), steak béarnaise, the delicious bacon-stuffed tomato recipe I found hear on Low Carb Friends - I don't feel deprived, and I don't crave carbs. I'm lucky not to have urges to go off-plan - and that makes it easy to say "No thank you" when someone offers me something carby.

[clackley]

Originally Posted by biancasteeplechase

I started low-carb about a month ago, and I personally have had a whole shift in my views about "cheating".

We're all told, so many times and in so many ways, that if you 're good - eating less and exercising more - you'll be thin, and if you're not thin, it's because you're being bad. For so many years I tried faithfully to eat what I'd been told was a healthy diet - not too much saturated fat, lots of vegetables, not much meat - and I exercised every day, and yet it didn't seem to be doing me any good.

Then I learned the science behind low-carb, and that - as others have said above! - healthy eating isn't about "eat less, you pig"; it's about eating the right things - even though we've all been told they're the wrong things.

For me, one of the eye-opening things about LC is that there are so many tasty foods that I no longer have to feel bad about. Eggs Benedict (without the English muffin), steak béarnaise, the delicious bacon-stuffed tomato recipe I found hear on Low Carb Friends - I don't feel deprived, and I don't crave carbs. I'm lucky not to have urges to go off-plan - and that makes it easy to say "No thank you" when someone offers me something carby.

trading up and with health benefits!!

[clackley]

Marylouise, I have one daughter who at about 4 yrs. old started to be aware that her food was once alive and an animal that she could identify. She never stopped eating meat but we had some 'issues' with her diet. Today she is a biologist that does research in some pretty exotic locals. Currently in Congo studying benobos. I always encouraged her love of wild life but she knew that dietary choices were personal and not something to be dictated by her, her parents or anyone else. but simply a personal choice.

[vcesljarev]

Originally Posted by Leo41

I think there's some confusion here among those of us who are eating in maintenance and those still working on weight loss.

"Low carb" isn't only Atkins, and I have had holiday meals that included a dessert [sugar!], and yet my total carbs for the day were only about 60g--which is low-carb by almost all definitions. I don't consider that a 'cheat,' and I don't appreciate anyone else deciding that my WOE involves 'cheating.' That's insulting.

The issue of grains has been brought to the forefront by the Paleo community as well as Dr. Davis's Wheat Belly, and while I don't eat any grains in general, I reserve the right to have a bagel if I want one on occasion, and it's not 'cheating.' It's a choice I've made on one particular day.

My WOE is not a religion, and food is not a moral issue. It's a matter of choices I make daily to preserve my health, which includes maintaining my weight. No one else can decide for me what are correct choices and what aren't.

Amen to that

[JWR]

I totally agree with the first side effect that you have.
When I come off of the low carb lifestyle, I crave more and more carbs. I can't get enough and they do not satisfy your appetite.
What works for me during vacations and holidays is try to limit the amount or portions of starchy foods and then the next 2-3 days I keep the carbs down under 20/day.
Everyone is different and when you are on this lifestyle, you will find what works for you. I love the intensity and commitment that you all have.
Way to go!!

[coffeelover]

This topic made me think of different personalities. I'd be curious to see how attitude toward WOE relate to personaliy types like Myers-Briggs, etc. Personally, I'm totally stressed by strict plans, keeping records, measuring, and lots of rules for myself. That doesn't feel very "lifestyle" to me at all! On the other hand, I have several friends who are the complete opposite of me and have great success being very strict with themselves and setting rules.

My attitude towards all this is that every day is a new day. Today I'm choosing not to cheat - who knows about tomorrow, I'll deal with that then. Bottom line is that rigid prescriptions for myself lead to failure. I make daily choices and just do the best I can. Then I move on.

[clackley]

Originally Posted by coffeelover

This topic made me think of different personalities. I'd be curious to see how attitude toward WOE relate to personaliy types like Myers-Briggs, etc. Personally, I'm totally stressed by strict plans, keeping records, measuring, and lots of rules for myself. That doesn't feel very "lifestyle" to me at all! On the other hand, I have several friends who are the complete opposite of me and have great success being very strict with themselves and setting rules.

My attitude towards all this is that every day is a new day. Today I'm choosing not to cheat - who knows about tomorrow, I'll deal with that then. Bottom line is that rigid prescriptions for myself lead to failure. I make daily choices and just do the best I can. Then I move on.

If that were what it was all about, then 'strictness' would never work for me. It is about understanding the power of food over my body and mind and choosing to keep both happy.

[cantare]

It's only cheating if there are Things I Can't Have. On my plan there's nothing I can't have--only things I won't have right now. Semantic trick? Maybe. But that's the realization that's piloted me through a lot of choppy waters, and I feel it is the essence of empowerment: I make the rules. No one is grading the homework papers here (not even me) and there's nothing and no one to rebel against by "cheating". By now I know how my metabolism works, and I know what certain foods can do to me. I can have absolutely anything I want any time I am prepared to accept the known consequences of eating it.

For most of the deviations people have listed, I almost invariably (and automatically) say "not right now." When I do make an exception, I make it count and enjoy it without reservation. Either way, it goes down a lot better than some little voice saying "You can't!" or "You shouldn't have!"

[lowcarbella]

Originally Posted by ravenrose

as we have discussed before, you need to know whether you are an abstainer or a moderator. Google that along with Gretchen Rubin to read her description of the two personality types.

if you are an abstainer, you better just stick to your plan. that's what I do. it's the only thing that works and I know how dangerous it is to stop being vigilent.

if you are a moderator, you can probably plan to eat things that aren't strictly low carb occasionally with no great harm.

in addition to that distinction, obviously someone who weighs 300 lb is in a different boat than those with 20 lb to lose total. if you have a whacked metabolism, it can take weeks to lose what you gain in one indulgent meal. *sigh*

thanks for this Rose .You made my day.I googled and read that article.I am a total abstainer.
This explains why I can't have cashews in the house.I also read 'willpower versus rules' from End of overeating and it all makes so much sense now.I cud never eat one bite and stay on plan.I have to give 100%

[MaryMary]

I don't deviate from my plan. I am free to ut choose not to. I am done with the experiment of 'I am a normal eater'. I know I am not normal around certain foods containing sugar and grains, including alcohol which is fermented sugars and grains.

I have tried to be normal without success so today choose to have a plan, that has worked for me over a decade with one small test in 2011. I keep it simple and eat my proteins, fats, cooked and raw veggies as well as a fruit per day. I eat the same amounts today that I did in 2003. It is just enough but not too much. Whenever I add more, I start feeling stuffed. I don't like to feel I am stuffing my feelings in anymore.

[SkeeterN]

This is me raising my hand like in school!

I will celebrate my 9th year eating low carb in April. I can say that in all these years I do not cheat! Do not wish to cheat. Have no desire to cheat!

I am very creative in the kitchen so I do not need to cheat as I can pretty much make something as equally yummy as something I see that I once loved.