Day 13: I. Cannot. Stop. Snacking.

[Betty7]

I'm almost to the two week mark. I started out pretty shaky, and, thanks to the forum, I found out that I wasn't eating nearly enough. I've struggled a lot with trying to eat more at breakfast, and I'm making small progress. Though, I'm finding I'm snacking all the time to try to eat enough and I can't stop. I just can't stop!

 

I stuff my face as much as I can in the morning, but I just don't have much of an appetite that early, and I end up eating almost continuously until lunch becaue I'm hungry thereafter almost every hour on the hour. I'm usually okay for a big break between lunch and dinner, and I definitely don't feel the need to snack after dinner, but I am struggling bigtime with the morning hours.

 

I'm conerned my morning habits are why I'm still feeling lethargic, and I'm really concerned that I'm going to walk away from this experience feeling like a failure because I couldn't do it "right." Any thoughts? 

[Physibeth]

First off I want you to let go of words like "can't" and "failure"...the way we talk to and about ourselves has a ton of power. 

 

Here is what I suggest. Work your way up to a proper template meal 1. Create a meal that fits at least the minimum of the template and eat as much of it as you can an hour after waking making sure you visit each food group. Also avoid having coffee with or before that meal. If you can't finish it package it up and when you get hungry again get it out and eat the rest. Keep doing this and you should be able to work your way up to just meal 1. It is ok to have mini meals between meals while you adjust to eating 3 times a day. 

 

What is the composition of your meal 1 right now and what are you snacking on? 

[MeadowLily]

Cold Turkey.   To stop...remove yourself from the gerbil wheel of snacking, do not allow any snacks between meals.

Zero. 

 

If you'll wait 4-5 hours inbetween each meal, your appetite will get on board in just a few days.  It's the only way to break these snacking cycles.  Soon, you'll be able to hit the floor in the morning, make a breakfast, wait for lunch and supper. It's compliant to snack all day long but not recommended. On Day 31, it's possible to return to full bore snacking, then immediately restart another Whole 30 to try and recoup.

 

Constant snacking gives the blood sugar swings UP and down all day and evening.  The body doesn't gets a chance to balance out those blood sugar levels and it's kept going by the pancreas/digestive tract trying to keep up.

Stop today.   No more snacking for two more weeks.  Zero.

[MeadowLily]

GFChris

Whole9 Moderator Since July 26, 2013

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Posted 16 July 2013 - 10:14 PM

Snacks are ok, but you should have them only when you're truly hungry (the test is asking yourself could you eat steamed fish and broccoli)  and they should be a mini-meal including at least a protein and fat. Also, you want to avoid eating at least 2-3 hours before you go to bed.

• Tom Denham
•  

~Chris

[Betty7]

Physibeth, meal 1 varies greatly. For example, this mornning, it was 1 hardboiled egg, a piece of leftover chicken breast, 1/2 an avacado, and 2 cups of roasted sweet potato and zucchini and 1 cup of raw carrots. Some days it's a leftover salmon, or tuna salad, and fresh spinach with whatever's lying around in my fridge roasted in oil or ghee. 

 

I'm eating half of breakfast at home (I usually finish the protein/fat and struggle with the veggies) within a hour of waking, then eating the other half of the cooked veggies at work within 2 hours, then a banana within three, then the raw vegetables right before lunch. Sometimes I've eaten some of what I had planned for lunch before lunch! It seems on those days it's harder to not eat something before dinner.

 

That sounds like a plan, MeadowLily. I'll just have to plan better and focus my resolve. Willpower of steel!!

[MeadowLily]

In Chapter 16 of It Starts With Food Melissa and Dallas give guidelines.

 

1.  Eat 3 meals a day.

2.  Start with breakfast.

3.  Don't snack.

4.  Stop eating a few hours before bedtime.

[Betty7]

From everything I've read, there seems to be two schools of thought:

 

1: No snacking, period.

2: Eat when you're hungry, but avoid snacking if you can help it.

 

So it's hard to pick what to do. I can just not eat enough in the morning, and fight hunger pangs until lunch, or I can gradually make everything I'm eating happen at "breakfast." Six years ago, I quit smoking cold turkey with no problem, so that strategy is probably what I need for quitting snacking.

 

And here, I thought fighting cravings was going to be the "hardest" part. I haven't really had any cravings at all. Eating enough has by far been my biggest struggle.

[MeadowLily]

"No snacking"

 

"As we explain in detail in It Starts With Food, eating three meals each day with minimal snacking (except pre- and post-workout meals) helps to keep your hormones in a healthy rhythm and teaches you to focus on eating mindfully. However, it’s really okay if you find you have to eat between meals.  For folks who are used to eating six small meals, it might take some time to get used to eating just three big ones. For those who work really long days, you might find that four meals or three meals and a snack are in order. For kids and pregnant/nursing mothers, this recommendation goes right out the window; snack away (just make sure you’re leaving about 3 hours between eating sessions, and not grazing all day). Sometimes, for no apparent reason, you just need a little something to get you through, and that’s okay too.  The success of your Whole30 likely isn’t riding on whether or not you have a mini-meal a few afternoons."

- See more at: http://whole30.com/2015/01/rules-recommendations/#sthash.WdvN2SqK.dpuf

 

 

 

http://whole30.com/2015/01/rules-recommendations/

[MeadowLily]

If you're a nursing mother, snack away....as Melissa and Dallas write up above.

 

If not, we can rationalize with ourselves.  Doing what we've always done, we'll get what we've always gotten.  It's so important to keep breaking the snacking cycles.   Snacks are not the same as pre/post workout meals.

 

The school of thought for chronic snacking is to stop in the name of balanced blood sugar levels...or Stop, in the name of love for your best results on Day 31.

[Tom Denham]

I suggest that you eat as much as you can for breakfast and then stop. When you stop, however, don't eat anything else until lunch time. Nothing. No leftovers from breakfast, no fruit, and certainly no part of your lunch. You won't die of hunger and it will give you an important achievement - no snacking all morning. Drink as much water as you want. In fact, drink lots of water. 

 

You can eat leftovers from breakfast with your lunch if you like, but don't eat them between breakfast and lunch. 

[MTNan]

I agree with NO snacking, especially if you have a "snack dragon" rather than a sugar dragon, like I do. I believe it's infinitely easier to resolve to not snack, rather than thinking about it or worrying about it, which just focuses your mind ON snacking rather than forgetting about it. Due to work and family schedules, I usually eat lunch around 11:30 and don't eat dinner until between 6:30-7:00. Afternoon snacks were a huge part of my routine, but I learned on w30 that I really can do just fine without them, mostly it was habit rather than hunger. The size of my lunches at work is almost laughable; my coworkers eat for 10 minutes and chat for 20, I spend the entire half hour just eating! It's become somewhat of a joke at work, but I really do wonder how other people survive on such little food!

So I guess the outtake is resolve to not snack, and continue to work your way toward bigger breakfast. You'll get there!

[ladyshanny]

I'm with Tom on this one, as it sounds like as much a mental "I can't do it" as a physical consumption issue and you may need that "hunger" incentive to eat a larger breakfast each morning.  (We don't advocate going hungry if you are legitimately hungry between meals....but in this case it's a bit of a training issue because I think you are relying on being able to have snacks at your whim) You needn't stuff yourself until you feel like you're going to be sick, but you do need to eat more than you think.  You need to get those hormones in line and cruising along properly in the morning and the way to do that is to eat a big breakfast within an hour of waking and then eat lunch at lunchtime etc.

[Betty7]

That puts it in a lot of perspective, ladyshanny. I'm used to not eating breakfast at all, and postponing, knowing I'll let myself snack, is totally a mental crutch, reinforcing the "bad behavior." I'm usually hurrying in the morning, too, which just adds to putting off eating a proper meal.

 

I'm setting my alarm 15 minutes earlier tomorrow and forcing myself to take my time, sit, and eat what I make. No packing it up. No mercy. This is a war against my bad eating habits, my complacancy with feeling like crap, and being in horrible health. 

 

I can do this. Thanks everybody for your input and encouragement!!

[frogtox]

Not snacking on something mid morning was tough for me. It wasn't until I was eating enough of the right thing for breakfast that I stopped being quite so hungry. And, when I did get hungry I just tried to ignore it... I figured being hungry wasn't going to kill me and it made my lunch all that much more satisfying.  

[Hannlib]

Agree with the cold turkey plan. When I whole 30 I don't eat between meals. At all. I don't put anything in my mouth. It's a rule for me like no grains, no dairy etc etc. Three meals, water or herbal tea between. Nothing else. That mindless shoving food into my mouth is something I find it useful to address. I appreciate my meals so much more.

[Betty7]

Day 14: I did much better today. NO SNACKS!

 

 

Meal 1 - Two fried eggs with a fistful of spinach, one leftover crusted chicken tender, 1/2 a leftover baked eggplant, 1/2 an avocado

 

 

I sat at my table and ate it all. Every. Single. Bite.

 

 

It was funny. I sort of felt like a little kid being punished, because I really struggled with the last quarter of the meal. But when I was done, I was full in a good way, and I felt proud of myself. It was actually easy not to snack today, because the first time I really found myself thinking about food, it was 11:30! There might just be something to this. Lol.

 

 

Meal 2 - 2/3 cup tuna salad over a handful of romaine lettuce, one leftover crusted chicken tender, the other half of the baked eggplant, one small banana

 

 

It might have been a bit light on the veggies today and heavy on the protein. It’s hard to tell because I feel like the eggplant didn’t amount to much after it was baked. Should we be measuring our 2-3 cups of veggies before or after we cook them (I had heard as a rule of thumb that 2-3 cups of veggies was appropriate, although now I see the template doesn't really give a quantity like that...)? Anyway, I've heard a lot of people say they spend a few hours on Sundays chopping veggies. I need to learn to do that so they’re always readily available to throw in my bag on the way out the door.

 

 

15 ½ days to go! Let’s turn on the awesome!!

[ladyshanny]

 

Day 14: I did much better today. NO SNACKS!

 

 

It was actually easy not to snack today, because the first time I really found myself thinking about food, it was 11:30! There might just be something to this. Lol.

 

 

 

Should we be measuring our 2-3 cups of veggies before or after we cook them? 

 

 

LOL, yep, there might be something to it! Good job today!!

 

Measure your veggies post-cooking.

[Betty7]

I did notice last night, however, that I have developed a painful itchy rash under my right arm (on the bra line), which I suspect is shingles, based on how it looks, the mild tingling, and the tenderness. I'm only 32, so I kind of want to cry. I didn't see anyone post about shingles in the forum anywhere, so this doesn't appear to be common. I suppose the rash could be just about anything, but I do intend to go to MedExpress and find out after work today. I'm just kind of floored that I would have something like this happen after two weeks of eating clean.

 

Anyone have an, "It's always darkest before the dawn," speech they'd like to give? 

[ladyshanny]

I did notice last night, however, that I have developed a painful itchy rash under my right arm (on the bra line), which I suspect is shingles, based on how it looks, the mild tingling, and the tenderness. I'm only 32, so I kind of want to cry. I didn't see anyone post about shingles in the forum anywhere, so this doesn't appear to be common. I suppose the rash could be just about anything, but I do intend to go to MedExpress and find out after work today. I'm just kind of floored that I would have something like this happen after two weeks of eating clean.

 

Anyone have an, "It's always darkest before the dawn," speech they'd like to give? 

It isn't completely uncommon for new Whole30-ers to come down with an illness during their first Whole30.  The immune system can be somewhat compromised while the body sends resources to healing and rebalancing and little bugs can sneak in.  I hope you don't have shingles but I'm glad you're going to the doctor.  Could be eczema or contact dermatitis?

[Betty7]

I think it's highly unlikely it's contact dermatitis because of how localized to one spot it is (and how not exposed that spot is to the elements). I feel like it probably isn't eczema because it isn't dry, crusty, or scaly. It could be either, though. It could be something different altogether. Though I'm sure it is auto-immune related. I've had alopecia areata on and off for the past seven years.