Food addiction monster...rawwwrrrrr

[kellysue24]

I am probably the only food addict on this site, but ugh this sucks. I seriously feel like satan is on one shoulder and an angel on the other.

Satan. "Just give in, you won't last anyway."
Angel. "No, you can do it, you did it before."
Satan. "You'll do it again and gain it all back again."

I mean seriously for 3 days!

I feel obsessed by food. Even low carb food. I think about what I am going to eat next.

Any ideas of how to get past the thoughts? It's a battlefield of the mind.

[MtherGoos]

You are DEFINITELY not the only food addict! Trust me, speaking for myself, I know I fall into that category! However, I do find that it gets easier with a Low Carb WOE. It really truly does. If you can stick it out and get past it, it will get easier and better.

I know a lot of people have talked about L-Gluamine really helping a lot with cravings and wanting to eat. I haven't tried it, but you might want to look into it.

For me, spending lots of time on these forums helps immensely! Reading about the successes, knowing what works, and getting advice makes a huge difference.

Don't give up! Hang in there and know you're not alone!

[Julie1972]

Eat!!!! Seriously, eat until you are full. Once your body adjusts, your appetite will decrease. During my two months with this WOE I have had times when I am more hungry than normal and I can curb my appetite by eating a higher fat snack like cheese, cream cheese on an oopsie roll, bacon, etc. Another thing that helps me is a cup of coffee with HWC. Hang in there! This too shall pass............. :-)

[Biochic]

Originally Posted by kellysue24

I am probably the only food addict on this site, but ugh this sucks.

Oh boy- far from it!

Eat legal foods until full. Fat helps!

[jhbyrd]

NO you are not the only one for sure!!! The binge monster has had me in its grap for the past couple weeks/days and forever!! It is a battle some weeks are easier than others but it is always lerking-like you with LC food and Bad food. I am always thinking about the next meal!! IT is a never ending cycle!!

Jeannie

[tobelowcarber]

You are definitely not alone. Carb monster was with me all day today and I feel it's effect on my mind and body. Back to low carb tomorrow I go!

[Kimberli33]

TIME...just ignore the evil one a few more days and he will go away or be alot less noticeable.

[Knittering]

Oh, you are FAR from the only food addict here!

I found that cutting out all processed foods, including diet drinks, helped a lot. So did eating more fat than I used to (I put coconut oil in my coffee in the morning and eat avocados because I don't like the fat on meat, chicken skin, etc.)

[muncheechee]

As a he others have said, you are certainly not alone! Try reading The Diet Cure... it's been instrumental in me sticking to lc this time around

[trishthedish]

Hi, my name is Trish and I am a compulsive overeater. The high I get from binging on food is extremely addictive. I will live with this compulsion for the rest of my life, one day at a time.

You are not alone.

I tried 12 steps... Learned a lot, but not for me.

I read tons of books. Applied what worked for me and didn't obsess about what didn't.

Sought counseling... Got lucky to find one that listed binge eating disorder as one of her specialties. I had no insurance at the time and had to find one that offered a sliding scale. They are out there.

Adopted an LC lifestyle... I need the physiological edge it provides.

You CAN live with this and be healthy and successful. Yes you can.

[CherylB]

I hear your cry and I can assure you that this board (and countless others) are FILLED with compulsive foodies. I am posting a review of a book I'm just beginning to read. I think it is something that can help many of us understand the nature of what we call "food" and to come to understand that we are "sheep amidst the wolves." The wolves being the creators of these "hyperpalatable foods."

They literally are designed in laboratories to be irresistible. They are created just so that we will eat more and more and more of them and not know why. All they care about is the "bottom line" (not OURS, but theirs.) In effect, we have been duped and we are literally being drugged by these producers of "food."

There are tons of other reviews of this book on Amazon, so please go and read more for yourself. You can also click and read excerpts from the book. It might make you feel a whole lot better about the struggle you are finding yourself in.

It's not your fault. It truly isn't, and it's not a sign of a weak-will or lack of self-discipline. We are simply "hooked."

Originally Posted by Amazon Reviewer

The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite. As a middle aged woman who eats pretty well, gets regular exercise, and takes great supplements, it gets pretty discouraging to deal with the frustration and potential negative health consequences of the extra 20 pounds I am carrying around, not to mention the fact that I look in the mirror and see my grandmother's body!

Consequently, I am always on a search for the magic fat loss bullet. So it was a synchronistic moment when I happened to listen to an interview with Dr. David Kessler on PBS recently. This is the former FDA commissioner who reinvented the food label and tackled the tobacco industry. His new book, The End of Overeating, was a must read for me. I wasn't disappointed.

The book is a fascinating read, full of documentation and testimonials on the growing obesity problem and our apparent inability to control our food intake as a culture. Let me walk you through the salient points in this book:

We are biologically wired to respond to sugar, fat, and salt. As processed food became an industry designed to create a profitable product, our waistlines grew. In 1960 women between the ages of twenty and twenty nine weighed an average of 128 pounds. In 2000, that number grew to 157. In the forty to forty-nine age group, it grew from an average of 142 to a whopping 169 pounds! Yes, ladies, the average perimenopausal woman in America weighs 169 pounds, so don't feel alone.

Most of us blame ourselves for our weight gain. We attribute it to a lack of self discipline and control. Well, it turns out that certain foods actually override our conscious will and drive us to continue to consume them. This is a biological phenomenon he equates with alcohol addiction. We are collectively addicted to sugar, fat, and salt.

He discusses some interesting research on rats being fed sugar combined with fat and shows how these animals will walk across an electrified plate to get to Fruit Loops; a food with a layered combination of salt, fat, and sugar. Rats will go to great lengths to eat this food and will become obese as a result.

His chapter on neural networks was particularly interesting to me. If you have read my book The 8 Keys to Wellness you know I am a big advocate of creating new habits by repeating a desired behavior 21 days in a row in order to form new neural pathways that will reinforce the new behavior. What this book showed me was that even if we create those new pathways, the old ones are still there. For example, people who quit smoking will continue to want a cigarette years later when they are in a situation that triggers that old neural pathway. I was a little discouraged reading this, but it also helped me give myself some slack because of the many times I have failed to stay on an eating and exercise plan, an affirmation strategy, or any other self development scheme I have tried. It also explains the 'rubber band effect'. This is what happens when you try to create a new behavior and rebound back to your old way of doing things. It's all about brain chemistry!

Fat, sugar, and salt-especially when combined, interact with the opioid circuits in the brain, which causes us to consume more of the substance that triggered the reaction. Think about potato chips. You don't think of them as having sugar, but the simple sugars in the potato covered with fat and topped with salt are a deadly chemical combination that triggers an insatiable desire to consume all of the potato chips. The same thing happens with tortilla chips or bread. You can't even tell when you are satiated, because the combination of the fat, sugar, and salt overrides the ability for the body to create satiety signals to get you to stop eating.

Further, the food industry is dedicated to getting you to become dependent on these addictive foods. They add chemicals which further enhance the brain's pleasure circuits and cause you to want to eat more-and gain weight in the process.

Dr. Kessler provides a great overview of the steps we can take to avoid taking the first bite of these deadly foods. He admits that this is a very difficult process but it can and needs to be done if we are to prevent the adverse effects that fat has on our health.

Here are his recommendations:

1. Become aware of what you are compulsively saying to yourself about a food cue.
He says we have to be conscious of our 'premonitory urges' which you can notice and then say 'thank you' to your brain for telling you. Then you can choose something else.

2. Engage in a competitive behavior to cause habit reversal.
We need to plan ahead if we want to compete with our brain's old habits. For example, instead of driving by that fast food chain you usually drop by, change your driving route so you avoid it. Start to notice your habitual behaviors that lead to over eating.

3. Formulate thoughts that compete with, and serve to quiet, the old ones.
Our thoughts have power over our behavior. We need to disconnect pleasure thoughts with the behaviors we no longer want to reinforce. NLP has some terrific techniques for this. Minimally, we can transform, 'That ice cream looks really great; I'll have just a few bites' to I know I can't have one bite because it will lead to twenty bites.' (I love this because that is how I learned to quit smoking. I knew I couldn't have just one cigarette-or even a puff, because if I did I would be smoking a pack within a couple of days.

4. Get support
A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that social networks can promote obesity. If you have friends and family that are obese you are more likely to be obese. So, it's important to develop ongoing relationships with people who demonstrate the behaviors you want to create, yourself. In other words, get some skinny friends and do what they do.

5. Create rules to guide your eating behaviors.
Rules aren't the same thing as will power. He says willpower leads to a conflict between the force of the behavior you want to create and your determination to resist the old patterns. If you have rules to follow, you don't need to have will power. So, we need to create specific, simple rules that we follow. A good example is "I don't eat French fries," and "I don't eat dessert."

6. Change your emotional connection to certain foods.
The thought of certain foods triggers emotions that were developed as a result of the brain chemicals that were stimulated when you ate that food at some time in the past when you wanted to 'medicate' yourself. The way to overcome the pleasurable anticipation of, "I can't wait to go to the movie and eat popcorn" is to connect negative emotions to the fat, sugar, and salt layered foods we crave. Tony Robbins has a great example of thinking about Milk Duds. Milk Duds are one of my favorite indulgences, especially when you combine them with buttery popcorn. He says to look at Milk Duds and think of eating cockroaches. They look kind of like cockroaches, so it can be relatively easy to do.

Remember, the goal is to change our neural circuitry to overcome the desire to eat these foods because once we start, the biochemistry involved in stopping is virtually insurmountable.

There is a lot more in this book that will help you understand how these insidious foods are keeping you fat and will inspire you to do something about it. You can it online or at any bookstore.

[kellysue24]

ha no one read my sarcasm about being the only food addict

BUt seriously awesome advice. I am going to look at all these resources! I made it all day on plan. Day 5 DONE!

[Heheher]

I have found that once I get into ketosis and stay there for a week or two the hunger monster disappears. If carb creep gets me and I slip out, I have to start the process all over and fight the constant urges to eat carbage again. I can actually forget about food when I'm in ketosis. I LOVE that feeling. I've been consumed by thoughts of food my entire life. The freedom is totally worth it! So, I encourage you to just keep going! Don't give in to satan, he is a LIAR!

[synger]

I've been reading the Thin Commandments, which deal with a lot of the emotional/psychological aspects of dieting (so it works pretty well with just about any plan). I also recommend The Four-Day Win, which also deals with similar subjects, with very easy tasks that you can do for four days to set yourself up to succeed.

Anyway, both of them talk a lot about those inner voices. The Thin Commandments even suggests that you write up a health script -- a list of sayings and encouragement and goals that are personal to your health journey -- and record them so you can listen to them every day. Eventually, that script replaces the "Satan" script, and you can hear yourself using your own words against the temptations.

I haven't recorded mine yet, but I've written them up and read them every day. Mine's four pages, under categories like Hunger, Temptation, Discouragement/Want it NOW, and Motivation. It's really been helping me run new, healthy "scripts" in my head when I'm tempted, or tired, or frustrated because it's taking SO long to lose weight.

[synger]

Here are my scripts. They are personal to my needs and issues, but see if you can modify some of them to fit your journey, write them up for yourself, and keep reading/repeating/listening to them each day:
----------

Hunger

Hunger isn’t that big a thing. I can wait half an hour. If I’m still hungry then, I can eat a small snack.

I’ve gone a whole day on only 500 calories before; this is nothing. I’ll be fine until my next meal

It’s not time to eat yet. I ate just a little while ago. The next meal is coming soon. I do not need a snack.

I’m not that hungry; but I’m REALLY tired of being fat!

Snacks are for growing children, or for athletes who need more fuel. I have no need for a snack; I had a full meal a while ago and will be eating another meal soon.

If I run out of calories today I get a whole new set tomorrow. I’m not going to starve between now and breakfast!

Discouragement/Want it NOW

It took me thirty years to get this fat. It will take some time to lose it healthily.

Time will pass whether I lose weight or not. I might as well take the time to eat on-plan.

One pound a week is my aim. One pound a week and I’ll have lost over 50 pounds by this time next year. One pound a week is do-able. One pound a week is healthy loss. One pound a week is sustainable and maintainable.

In a year, I will look back to today. I can do this for a year. I want to be healthy for myself, and for my husband, and for my daughter. Getting to a healthy weight will allow me more time with my daughter.

I have earned the right to be healthy and enjoy my retirement. I will be able to travel and enjoy walking around cities and parks even when I am older. I will be mobile and healthy.

I am like a full roll of paper towels. I have removed some sheets of paper towel, and I can’t always see the difference. But there ARE changes. I have lost almost fifty pounds! That’s a small child, or two huge bags of dog food! That’s amazing! Most people never lose that much weight. I have. I will continue. And as my body gets smaller, each pound lost will become more and more apparent.

I am like a huge old steam ship, like the Queen Mary. My ingrained bad habits of eating and moving are the course I’ve been on for years. I have begun making course changes, but I may not yet see the results of those changes. It takes a LOT to change the course of a steam ship, and a lifetime of bad eating habits and unhealthy choices. But the course IS changing. I will stay the course and it will change slowly but surely to a healthier, slimmer way of life.

A year from now I'll be glad I started. "Only" one pound a week, for a year, will be more than 50 pounds lost forever, in a slow, safe, sane way that may be easier to maintain. One pound a week is five fewer pounds of force on my knees. One pound a week is less of a stretch to tie my shoes. One pound a week is easier to carry things. One pound a week is being able to walk longer without pain.

When I stay on plan for the day, I’m healthier today than I was yesterday. I can’t see it on the scale, or in my clothes, but I’m stronger, I’m leaner, and my blood sugar is more stable than yesterday. Each day I’m on plan is one more day closer to the healthy, strong body I seek.

Today, I am losing the next pound. I will be at my next mini-goal when that pound comes off. Never mind the rest... it’ll come off later. Today, I’m focused solely on the next pound.

Temptation

I love myself enough that I don’t HAVE to eat what is offered. I don’t have to buy unhealthy food just because my family wants it. I don’t have to eat their unhealthy choices. I can choose to eat something else - something on-plan for me.

I keep saying I will do anything for a healthy body that can move without pain. This is “anything.” When I eat on-plan I satisfy my body with healthy food and allow it to heal itself, fuel itself, and use up the unhealthy fat.

I don’t have to eat it just because it’s there. It’s okay to throw leftovers in the garbage. I paid for it; I can dispose of it as I wish. Eating it won’t make me a better or more frugal person.

Do I want to eat that, or have more time with my daughter? Do I want to eat that or have more time pain-free with good mobility?

Each bite of sugar and starchy food is like a little crowd of tiny ninjas who rushes right to my knees and ankles and begins cutting them up with tiny little knives of pain. NO NINJAS ALLOWED!

It’s just food; it’s not THAT special. I’ve had it before. I will have it again. Just not today.

Imagine a room full of the food in question. There is lots of it -- shelves and shelves of it, in all varieties. Imagine all that luxury of food. Grocery stores are full of it. It’s not going to disappear. This isn’t my last chance to have it. I can plan for it to be part of my diet in future. I don’t need it today.

It's easier to stay on plan than to get back on plan. Just for the next hour, then the next day, then the next week. I can do ANYTHING for a week!

That food is not about me. It’s not something I choose to eat. It’s not a healthy choice. There are plenty of food choices that are healthy and tasty that are on my plan. This is not one of them. I don’t need it, I don’t want it, and I don’t choose to eat it.

Exercise

I don't have to want to--I just have to do it.

Thirty minutes is nothing. It’s half a TV show. It’s reading and responding to one forum of posts. It’s a shower. It’s making dinner. I can spare 30 minutes for exercise. I can spend 30 minutes for my health and strength. I deserve to use that time in a healthy, “selfish” pursuit.

I love myself enough to exercise. I love myself enough to take some “me time” to walk or hike. I deserve a strong, healthy body that can do the things I want it to do. I deserve to walk and move without pain.

Motion is the lotion. Exercise keeps muscles strong and limber. Exercise works the core and the heart and lungs. When I exercise I make it easier to do it next time.

Do I want to sit a while longer, or do I want more time with my daughter and husband? Do I want to blow this off, or do I want a longer, more pain-free life?

I like how I feel when I’ve exercised. I feel stronger, healthier, and more flexible. I am woman; hear me roar! I am happy when I have exercised. I can do this.

I want to hike, and swim, and row. I want to ride horses again. Imagine my hiking trail, surrounded by trees and greenery. Breathe deeply. Listen to the birdsong and the wind in the trees. Imagine myself moving strongly and confidently through the greenwood. Healthy, strong, happy.

I can bike. I like feeling like I’m flying, and the strength of my legs. Think about Jo. If she can ride on her tricycle each week, and she used to need a chair, then I can do this! Imagine myself pumping along, controlling the bike around corners, working harder up the hills, and the wind in my face as I go down hills. Imagine myself running errands or shopping on my bike. Being able to swing my leg easily over the back, even with the basket. I can do this!

Motivation/Results

Keep doing this. When I go to Michigan this year everyone will be amazed. Keep doing this. I can do those beach stairs, and bike to the beach. Imagine my sisters and how proud they’ll be of my new shape. Keep doing this!

Think of Teddy. She’s lost over 150 pounds eating less. If she can do it, so can I. 1200-1400 calories a day isn’t bad. It will come off. I don’t need drugs or surgery. I can eat tasty,, healthy meals and still be within my plan and calorie range. It WILL come off. Look at how much Teddy is doing now that she just couldn’t do before. Soon, that will be me!

I’m not losing weight SO I can love myself, I’m losing weight BECAUSE I love myself. I love myself enough to take care of myself. I deserve a slim, healthy body that is strong enough to garden and bike and hike and move things. I deserve a long life so I can see my daughter grow and blossom, and meet my grandchildren.

I WILL be able to ride a horse. I WILL be able to shop the regular sizes. I WILL be able to sit easily in a booth, and not squish people up on the Metro. I WILL be able to navigate through a crowded restaurant or store without having to pre-plan the widest way through. I WILL be able to take my daughter to an amusement park, or Oktoberfest, or Renn Faire, and not have to sit and rest every half hour.

[rosewoodb]

[svenskamae]

I agree, great post, Synger!

Thank you!

[Skinny Train]

Anxiety is a trigger for me. Many addictive type behaviors are anxiety related even if doesn't feel like it. If I find myself wanting to eat when I'm not hungry, humming a tune while tapping my wrist or whistling while patting my head can help. It sounds crazy, but if you can identify triggers, and apply a diversion, you can start to break the pattern. It's the only thing that has ever helped besides cutting wheat consumption. That's the physical and the diversion tactic is the mental for me.

[mom2jjl]

Gosh I needed to read this!! Cannot even BEGIN to say how many times I get to day 3 and that lil evil voice talks me out of the low carb way of eating AGAIN!!! Drives me NUTS!!!!