Fruit/Nut Binge

[SMB2003]

Hello, this is my first forum post. Yesterday was Day 21 for me. I have been battling sugar cravings for a few days leading up to yesterday and was able to calm them by drinking some mint tea and putting my focus elsewhere. Yesterday however, it got the best of me. I had a bit of a "binge," between lunch and dinner, consuming dates, some dried apricots (that didn't even taste good), and when my craving wasn't met I turned to a plum, a banana, some grapes, and about 3 or 4 handfuls of nuts. I was finally able to pull myself together and just stop, but found I felt like crap physically the rest of the evening. How would you treat this? Does it warrant a restart? I didn't explicitly break any "rules" regarding off limit foods, but I understand dates are to be used in emergencies only, and I did use them to help with a sugar craving. It was also not part of a meal.

I tried to look back and see what may have caused the out of control sugar craving. I workout very early in the morning and have been having a post workout meal of a higher carb vegetable with some homemade breakfast sausage. This week I changed up my usual sweet potato to a mix of 1 whole butternut squash + 2 apples all mashed up that I planned to eat throughout the week. I am wondering if the sweetness from the apple so early in the day set me up to crave sugar for the rest of the day. I also had my lunch very late and was starving by the time I ate which may have been a factor. I was also thinking I might need to include more fats at my meals. After doing some research I now realize this may have been my bodies "extinction burst," I must have missed that in the book. Had I known maybe I would have put up a harder fight. :-/ My plan going forward is to dust myself off, move on, and keep going and recognize what is really happening should I get another sugar craving. But as I mentioned I was curious to know if this is something that would require a restart in order to get all benefits of the program?

[jmcbn]

You don't need to restart, no - but you're right in looking for the cause of the binge and seeing what approach you need to take from here. In the short term eating fats & proteins will stop any further cravings. In the long term I'd avoid the fruit with post WO or early in the morning as this can definitely set you up for cravings later in the day. As you mention being beyond hunger by the time you ate lunch was probably also a contributing factor - a bit like going food shopping when you're hungry!

I think you're on top of things - increase your fat/protein content, and keep on keeping on.....

[SMB2003]

Thank you for the response! 

[Noelle]

First of all, I've been there. You're definitely not alone in this!

How would you treat this?

With kindness. No, really. Your foods were compliant, so you don't need to restart—and you're right to think about what happened and why. But go easy on yourself.

I also had my lunch very late and was starving by the time I ate which may have been a factor.

This! When I undereat or get too hungry, the urge to binge skyrockets. This can be especially problematic if you have a history of dieting; when you go too long without eating (or eat too little), your body thinks, "Oh, no! there's not enough food! Better stock up!" It sounds to me like overdoing it on fruit and nuts was your body's way of getting in the extra calories it needed, ASAP.

Make your meals a little bigger, continue to eat those starchy carbs, and make sure you're adding a fat source to each meal.

[SMB2003]

Thanks Noelle. :-)