I'm having a bit of a food obsession

[rubidoux]

And it's worrying me a bit. It makes me feel just a little bit out of control because I just want to eat it all the time. I love it when I get through the day without really thinking about food, which had been the case for a little while. I don't think this is gonna knock me out, though, because it is really low carb and it's also super filling and satisfying, so it's not like I could eat six servings of it. The last couple of days I have been eating just once a day so that I could have one big whopping serving of it for dinner and call it a day.

Anyhow... it all started the day that I wanted to make the taco soup recipe that you all were talking about a while back (which is quite good just as written!), but I didn't have any broth in the house. So, this is what I did, and have been doing almost every day since.

brown 2 pounds of ground beef
add 1 can of petite diced tomatoes (or less, to minimize carbs)
add chili powder to taste
and secret ingredient -- about 4 drops of ezSweets
stir in 8 ounces cream cheese

Super easy, one pan meal.

If you make that 3 servings (which are huge, if you're eating more than once a day you could do 4 or even 5), it's:

61 grams fat
6 grams carb
65 grams protein
850 calories

[nolcjunk]

Well, the food is on plan for you and you aren't eating too much of it, so seems ok in principle. But, I also hate having cravings and having any food control me so I would mix it up with something else and only have it a few days a week. Would you like it as much without the dairy? I found at the beginning that I would get cravings for dairy and could eat a whole meal made up of cheese.

[rubidoux]

Originally Posted by nolcjunk

Well, the food is on plan for you and you aren't eating too much of it, so seems ok in principle. But, I also hate having cravings and having any food control me so I would mix it up with something else and only have it a few days a week. Would you like it as much without the dairy? I found at the beginning that I would get cravings for dairy and could eat a whole meal made up of cheese.

I know! I should mix it up a bit. Yesterday I made some homemade mayo and mixed up some tuna that's sitting in the fridge now (I like it to sit for a day in the fridge before I eat it, is that weird?) thinking I'd have that to eat tonight. But I've been fantasizing about this soupless taco soup stuff. I may work up the gumption to save it for tomorrow and have the tuna tonight.

My gut is telling me it's the tomatoes that are calling to me, even though it's a pretty small amount. I eat very little veg and it's possible there's something my body is really grooving on coming from those tomatoes.

I do have a small roma tomato at home, maybe I will have a bit of that and some onion with my tuna tonight and see if that hits the spot.

Last night after I ate my one big whopping meal, I was planning on having a snack of either mascarpone or cream cheese and sour cream w a little sweetener and lemon oil. But then I wasn't hungry for it, so I don't think the cream cheese is calling to me.

[ItsToni]

I tend to obsess as well...especially if it's a meal that I know is safe. I guess by eating it, it takes away the worry about if something is legal or not. Chicken and feta cheese has been my latest LOL

[nolcjunk]

Originally Posted by rubidoux

My gut is telling me it's the tomatoes that are calling to me, even though it's a pretty small amount. I eat very little veg and it's possible there's something my body is really grooving on coming from those tomatoes.

I do have a small roma tomato at home, maybe I will have a bit of that and some onion with my tuna tonight and see if that hits the spot.

.

That just might be it. I was once camping and ate absolutely no vegetables. It was all meat, meat, meat, and eggs. I was craving vegetables so badly that I could not wait to get home to a big salad.

[rubidoux]

Originally Posted by ItsToni

I tend to obsess as well...especially if it's a meal that I know is safe. I guess by eating it, it takes away the worry about if something is legal or not. Chicken and feta cheese has been my latest LOL

I have also had a chicken and feta obsession! lol With some kalamata olives and red onions and, if I can afford the carbs a few bites of tomato. Mmmmm. I may have to make that agains soon, it's been a while.

Originally Posted by nolcjunk

That just might be it. I was once camping and ate absolutely no vegetables. It was all meat, meat, meat, and eggs. I was craving vegetables so badly that I could not wait to get home to a big salad.

I have gone much longer with fewer veg than I'm having now without wanting them. But I probably should listen if my body asking. When I was zero carb, I went for about five months with basically no veg at all. I thought I was being pretty liberal by allowing myself one or two small salads a week and things like diced tomatoes in my chili and onions/garlic pretty freely and a pickle here and there.

[svenskamae]

A lot of people have some level of intolerance/sensitivity to vegetables in the nightshade family--which includes peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes. If I start craving a food too much, I start suspecting that I have some level of intolerance to it.

Maybe try cooking without using nightshades (no tomatoes, oh no! ) for 3 weeks and see if you feel better and the craving drops off. Intolerance to nightshades can cause joint pain, so if you have those symptoms, it may be another tipoff that nightshades/tomatoes are a problem for you.

[rubidoux]

Originally Posted by svenskamae

A lot of people have some level of intolerance/sensitivity to vegetables in the nightshade family--which includes peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes. If I start craving a food too much, I start suspecting that I have some level of intolerance to it.

Maybe try cooking without using nightshades (no tomatoes, oh no! ) for 3 weeks and see if you feel better and the craving drops off. Intolerance to nightshades can cause joint pain, so if you have those symptoms, it may be another tipoff that nightshades/tomatoes are a problem for you.

Very interesting! My first thought while reading this is "but, but, but... I want to eat this stuff!" which is probably what I'd think if I was having a real issue with it. I have two more portions of this meal all measured out in the fridge and I think I will eat them and then try the experiment.

Oh man, salsa!

I did try to make a batch without the tomatoes, thinking it would be a bit like hamburger helper with no noodles (left out the chili powder and subbed some cheddar for part of the cream cheese), but it didn't hold my attention the way the tomato-ey stuff does.

[trishthedish]

I can relate but for me it is roasted cauliflower and roasted brussel sprouts. I really get obsessive about eating it... I feel a little nervous when I think of having something else for dinner and omitting these foods. I have been keeping an eye on it but am at least grateful I am craving veggies instead of my old, high sugar/high carb choices!

To begin curbing it, I started to measure my portions of these foods. It has helped.

[sillyme]

Jane just a thought but you might be obsessing more because you are only eating once a day? If you ate and were satisfied for breakfast and lunch perhaps you would be more open to eating something else for dinner? I don't think 850 calories is enough for one day either?

[clackley]

That is a lot of protein in one meal if I am correct in thinking you are eating 1/3 of 2 lbs. of ground beef in one meal (more than 70g). That could potentially, be the problem.

[rubidoux]

Originally Posted by sillyme

Jane just a thought but you might be obsessing more because you are only eating once a day? If you ate and were satisfied for breakfast and lunch perhaps you would be more open to eating something else for dinner? I don't think 850 calories is enough for one day either?

It's the only food that I eat some days, but I also have somewhere between 200 and 400 calories of heavy whipping cream during the day. My calories have been bouncing around between 937 and about 1400 over the last couple of weeks.

The thing about eating is... it makes me want to eat more. That effect is a lot stronger if I'm eating carbs. I will feel hungry again an hour after eating a good sized carby meal every time. But even when I'm eating low carb, I tend to think about food a lot more during the day and do a bit of white knuckling to keep myself from just eating everything in sight (which is ok to do if you're just doing basic LC, but I'm following nutritional ketosis and keeping my protein at about 70 grams a day).

When I don't eat during the day, I tend to not think about food much at all. While I was thinking about this meal the last few days, I wasn't at all bothered by the fact that I was sitting in starbucks for hours each day and had the pastry case right there (and that stuff is my true love, though it does not love me back). But if I had, say, eaten breakfast, I don't think there's any way I could handle being in a starbucks that way without breaking down.

I know it doesn't make a lot of sense, but when I'm fasting, although I feel empty, I don't feel desperate, ever. Even when I am very hungry and empty, I can sit down and eat a small amount of food and then stop.

Originally Posted by clackley

That is a lot of protein in one meal if I am correct in thinking you are eating 1/3 of 2 lbs. of ground beef in one meal (more than 70g). That could potentially, be the problem.

Yes! I think it is too much protein. According to my calculations it was:

61.00 grams fat
6.00 grams carb
65.00 grams protein
850 calories

So, not 70 but pretty high. And I am having a hard time keeping my blood sugar from going up in response to it. I think I do, at the very least need to split my protein up into two meals. Sometimes I do do that, like eat around 4 or so and then again around 8. It's strange, though, how you feel when you're doing NK. Like, there was a time in my life that four hours between eating would have seemed like a good long time and I would have really wanted to eat more, but I am not jonesing for that second meal at all when it comes around, but I don't want to eat a good sized meal at bedtime, either.

I'm not sure I follow you though on why that would make me crave this meal?