Addiction

[sofarsogood]

Does anyone else feel like this?

I know I am addicted to carbs and I am glad I have started the Atkins program, but instead of looking at it as a lifestyle change I have to take it as one day at a time.

I think it is similar to an alcoholic who is trying to quit drinking and just concentrates on getting through each day without alcohol.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Addiction

yep one bite at a time keep reprogramming your mind. with lots of practice you will finally be able to do it without really seeing the high carb things you might have eatten instead.

Happy low carbing.

[slimndown]

Re: Addiction

Yes - I feel the same way. I'm not really a CARB addict - I'm a FOOD addict. My mother is an alcoholic and has been since a teenager. I never did pick up that habit but we both medicate ourselves with our addictions - her with alcohol and me with food. On a LC approach, I find it easier to control my food addiction because I don't have to fight with low blood sugar encouraging feelings of stress. It is something I take one day at a time but after about a month or two everything subsides and it gets a little easier - don't think about the differences as much. It's important that once you get to that point of control to not overestimate yourself and allow yourself to indulge 'just this once' or you are starting ALL OVER again.

[dreamof145]

Re: Addiction

Yes, it is an addiction. Even though we have vowed to make it a life-style change, we still have to work at it every day. It does get easier to resist the temptations, but if I gave in once, it would be easier to give in again and again. I am constantly reminding myself that those foods are what made me fat and miserable. I think it is very much like an alcoholic or drug-addict.

[loser4life]

Re: Addiction

I couldn't have said it better guys- it is an addiction, just the same- one slip leads to another! That is what helps me the most not to cheat- once will lead to that day to the next, to the next week, etc!!

[sofarsogood]

Re: Addiction

Thanks you guys. I'm also glad to hear that the cravings will ease up over time because right now it's still all I can think about and if I start thinking about what I will eat tommorrow or next week I almost get panicky.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Addiction

so fix your house as a an Atkins low carb your phase house of food and then you don't got to think about it. just open the kitchen cabenit or frig at meal time and let your tastebuds rule what you will have. Once your ketosis kicks in your cravings will be emntal and you can overcome those. you can deepen your ketosis with a high fat bit to eat you can sub exercise good for you brain chems for the craving causeing brain chems or you can use the distraction method of water and something other then eating to take your miind off that food. Some folk are good at mental images oif the craved food turned yucky with all kinds of gross stuff

Or just run to ADBB and post post post and folk will talk you down.

happy low carbing.

[goin2Bgood]

Re: Addiction

instead of looking at it as a lifestyle change I have to take it as one day at a time.

That's how it was in the beginning for me too. Now it's become such a way of life I can't imagine going off plan. Things like parties, holidays, baking etc. don't even bother me anymore. I'm so pleased with how I feel eating this way that the idea of "one little bite" of anything bad sounds as appealing as sticking toothpicks in my eyes

[Sheshy]

Re: Addiction

I totally agree that it's an addiction!

[sofarsogood]

Re: Addiction

so fix your house as a an Atkins low carb your phase house of food and then you don't got to think about it. just open the kitchen cabenit or frig at meal time and let your tastebuds rule what you will have

I wish I could do this, but I have two girls (3 and 7). I have to have all the bread, fruit, milk, granola bars, etc. in the house for them, unfortunately for me.

I have been in ketosis since the second day (according to the stix and my breath), and since yesterday the stix have been the deepest purple so hopefully tommorrow will be easier.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Addiction

so make a place for their foods and then label it theirs and you will not touch it cause you'd never steal from your kiddies

[kealoha]

Re: Addiction

I have five children, so I know the horror of having all kinds of stuff you can't eat around the house. Add to that a husband who's nightly snack is a bowl of icecream and a brownie (and yet doesn't gain an ounce!) and it was SO hard in the beginning.

However, honestly, the cravings really do subside. I KNOW that even one small bite will lead to another, will lead to another, and will lead to me being fat and unhappy. At least now I'm fat and happy because I know I'm doing something about it! I can bake brownies and not have the overwhelming desire to stick my finger in the batter. I can grab my husband a bowl of icecream and not sneak a bite on the way to bringing it to him. I can sit beside him while he chows down on all of my old favorite foods and not feel like I'm dying because I can't have it.

Don't get me wrong, I'd still like to eat it...just because I know it would taste good. However, other than the good taste, I would get nothing out of it. It wouldn't satisfy me. It wouldn't make me feel happy. In fact, it would make me feel horrible because I've been working so hard and ONE bite would ruin my cheat free streak and I just refuse to do it.

At the beginning, I would watch my kids eat PB&J's (which I don't even really like) and sit there and just drool. It was torture. Now, it doesn't even bother me. The fleeting thought of, "That would probably taste really good" isn't worth sabotaging everything I have been working towards. It has taken me a while to get to this point though!

[higgies]

Re: Addiction

Totally addicted. I guess it's weird to think about it like that, but it's true. It feels like a lifestyle now, but I guess it is like an alcoholic going to a bar...and I didn't think of it like that much, but when I'm surrounded by desserts and bread, etc...it is like that. Always tempted even after all this time!

[cleochatra]

Re: Addiction

I'm there! Hi, my name is cleochatra and I am a carb-ie-holic. The nice thing is that my family has slowly learned to eat the way I do. It does take time, but my amily actually prefers it, and we are a happier lot as a result.

Why?

Think about this: your kids have inherited your lovely blood sugar issues and predispositions to addictions to things like carbs. Should they really be bogarting the granola bars? No way, girliemay! And milk? Make it high-fat if they have it. It's more filling with more staying power and less of the sugary-badness left in the milk after the skimming process.

[sofarsogood]

Re: Addiction

Good ideas.

I know one of my daughters is like her father (the 7 year old). She has never liked sweets, and rarely wants them. But my youngest was born with a sweet tooth (3 years old). I think this new way of eating will help them in the long run as well.