It wasn't even a real cookie!

[Amber Lorraine]

Good morning,

I am four days post whole30, it ended just days before Halloween and I was so proud that I didn't crave Halloween candy. I have been eating all compliant foods. I keep a food journal using paleotrack.com, most days I get optimal paleo rating. It's been a great tool to make sure my macro and micro nutrients are in balance.

So, I went grocery shopping today and decided, I'm going to make some "cookies." Said cookies were made of organic almond butter, no added sugars. cashew meal, chapped walnuts, 2 tablespoons of raw cacao and topped off with a pecan. I dropped them in roughly 1 ounce dollops on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and froze them. I had one and it was a gateway to sugar cravings. WHY?!? Because I called it a cookie.

It's in the early hours of the morning here on the East coast, why am I still awake? Online school. It's the only time I can fit in the gargantuan amount of reading I have to do for my classes, not to mention do the laundry and clean. I have a 5 year old who is a busy bee and a perpetually sick and grumpy 1 year old. I'm also active duty Navy along with my spouse. I coach soccer in the spring and fall, thank goodness soccer season just ended after my double game on Saturday, now I can catch up on breathing, lol.

So back to my post, my sugar craving ends in me eating a whole (organic, no soy lecithin) dark chocolate bar. Hello, 40 grams of added sugar in one sitting! I feel like a failure and I'm not looking forward to the amount of time I'm going to continue to crave sugar in the coming days. Crap.

I can't believe that I went off the deep end after only 3 days post whole30.

Any advice? I wonder if the sugar beast will ever die.

[ShannonM816]

First, you're not a failure. Don't even think that. You successfully completed a Whole30 while balancing a really busy life -- that's a success. 

 

I think you've already figured out one thing not to do in the future -- don't make the cookies. At least, not for a while. Unfortunately, feeding the sugar dragon keeps it alive and strong -- and will wake it up even when you feel like you've had it under control for a while. And even if what you eat isn't necessarily that sweet.

 

I struggle with this too -- I've always had a horrible sweet tooth. I was amazed when the cravings went away during my first Whole30 -- and disappointed in myself when I indulged in sweets and brought them back again. I suspect that my sugar dragon will never be completely gone, but it does seem to get easier to control it, most of the time. What seems to be key for me is eating three good template-based meals every day, so that I'm not hungry and just looking for something to eat. Also, I know that once I choose to indulge in something sweet, I'm more likely to want more sweets, which sometimes is enough to help me turn them down. (But sometimes it's not -- I'm stubborn and tend to make the same mistakes over and over again before I eventually learn something from them.)  And I try not to keep anything in the house that I know I have trouble not eating, like chocolate bars or ice cream. 

 

Don't beat yourself up about this. You had one bad day. You know how to get back on track now. 

 

(Just a side note here: tracking, even on paleotrack.com, is strongly discouraged during a Whole30. More info here. And I realize you're post-W30 at this point so it doesn't matter, but thought I'd mention it, for you and for any new people who come along and read about it.)

[missmary]

(Just a side note here: tracking, even on paleotrack.com, is strongly discouraged during a Whole30. More info here. And I realize you're post-W30 at this point so it doesn't matter, but thought I'd mention it, for you and for any new people who come along and read about it.)

 

seconding this: paleo track's "optimal paleo" rating may or may not reflect the right macronutrients for you on a particular day. It would be better to go by your own hunger and energy and sensation to learn what works best for your body.

[MeadowLily]

Technically, you didn't really fall down.  You've completed your Whole 30.    But if you were on the Whole 30 and you did this, I would say that falling down is not a failure.   Failure is staying down.  You would've started over but you don't have to...you made it.

 

Failure is starting out strong with high hopes, falling down after 7 days and then completely disappearing off the face of the planet.

Failure is never coming back or letting the home team help pick yourself back up, shake the dust off....when we're all rooting for you.  

[SpunkyBug]

First of all, you sound like you are rocking a super-busy life, so pat yourself on the back for that!  Don't worry so much about the cookies and the chocolate, but good for you for thinking/talking it through. I'm just a month past my first Whole30, and while I learned a lot during those 30 days, the days after are teaching me even more about my relationship with food.

 

Growing up, I learned that a meal wasn't complete until you ended it with something sweet -- a couple cookies after lunch, ice cream after dinner. I don't think of myself as having a big sweet tooth, but this has been a major adjustment for me. After a savory/salty meal, my taste buds and my brain are screaming: "What's going on here? Where's my something sweet?!" This pattern was established over a long period of time, so I imagine it's going to take a long time to change it.

 

Good luck to you and to all of us!

[Tessina]

Technically, you didn't really fall down.  You've completed your Whole 30.    But if you were on the Whole 30 and you did this, I would say that falling down is not a failure.   Failure is staying down.  You would've started over but you don't have to...you made it.

 

Failure is starting out strong with high hopes, falling down after 7 days and then completely disappearing off the face of the planet.

Failure is never coming back or letting the home team help pick yourself back up, shake the dust off....when we're all rooting for you.  

 

 

I agree with what MeadowLily said, and I want to say completing a whole 30 while active duty is an achievement in itself.   Thank you and your Husband for your Service.  /Salute

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

   We're behind you all the way!!