Immense cravings

[HerTwoScents]

I am craving dessert foods (I am dairy free and somewhat paleo on a normal basis), which I had been craving during pregnancy, and shortly before I started the Whole30. I have hypoglycemia as well.. My blood sugar can be riding on the low side because of diet and therefore I'm craving more treats. I am on day 8 and I have been doing fantastic! But today my cravings are out of control! I decided to have an orange in hopes that it would call them down, and continued on about my day.. But now, the craving is back in full force. I checked my blood sugar and its within normal range. I am breastfeeding my 2 month old, my supply is normal.. Nothing has changed for me. I don't know what's going on!!! Any advice? Thanks.

[ShannonM816]

Don't eat something sweet when you're craving something sweet. I know it sounds backwards, but if you want those cravings to ultimately go away, eat fat and protein instead. Have some olives and some leftover meat. Or an avocado.

 

The other thing is, be sure you're eating enough. As a breastfeeding mom, plan on eating four full meals a day, plus feel free to have more than that, especially more fat. Have at least one serving of starchy vegetable a day, and probably you should aim for more than that. Try about a fist-sized serving at each meal for a few days and see how you feel. And again, don't skimp on the fat. Add some in addition to what you cook in. Add a dollop of mayo to dip your vegetables in, make up some chimichurri sauce to drizzle over pretty much anything, really. Avocados, olives, coconut flakes.

[HerTwoScents]

No, that makes complete sense. I guess that would be feeding my "sugar dragon" huh. Because after eating the orange my cravings went into over drive. Almost buckled and ate a piece of whole grain waffle with agave lol. But I didn't! I even went to the grocery store and bought nothing but sweet potatoes and pistachios. I have been eating quite a bit those lately. I have half and avocado with breakfast every morning and coconut milk, that's enough fat for that meal lol. For lunch I had a salad and tomato basil soup. Then that's when the craving hit. I'm assuming I didn't eat enough fat, and definitely didn't have any protein.

Thanks for helping me work out the kinks!

[HerTwoScents]

Oh! I forgot to add, the avocado and coconut milk is in addition to three scrambled eggs with onions and bell peppers and mushrooms. Sometimes two strips of bacon or sausage.

[ShannonM816]

Definitely up the fat in your lunch -- have the other half of the avocado, or some olives. And I don't know what your salads look like, but if you don't already, try bulking it up with non-leafy-green vegetables. Add some roasted sweet potatoes or beets, carrots, radishes, cucumber, bell peppers, zucchini or squash, or whatever sounds good. A lot of times the leafy green stuff just doesn't keep you satisfied as long as bulkier, denser vegetables will.

[HerTwoScents]

I think that was my downfall. I tried to have a nice light lunch and it totally backfired. I did eat two chicken drumsticks I made the night before, before I ate the orange. Hoping the protein would help, but it didn't so I thought well let's see what some sugar will do. I forgot to add that I had the chicken, I forgot about it lol.

This learning curve is going to take a bit to nail down but I'm staying dedicated!

Thank you for your advice. This evening I made baked pork chops, asparagus, broccoli, and smashed sweet potatoes. I'm full and satisfied. But extremely gassy to where my stomach hurts :/ I guess it was the broccoli.

[Britishgal]

What do you mean by a "nice light lunch"? Just curious...

[HerTwoScents]

What do you mean by a "nice light lunch"? Just curious...

Something filling but not heavy.

[ShannonM816]

For best results, make all your meals match the meal template, which means including protein and fat in all of them.

 

Two chicken drumsticks may not be enough protein for a meal, unless you're finding some really big ones. And remember that the meal template is a range (1-2 palms of protein, 1-2 thumbs of fat), and is the minimum you need to eat. If you wanted to sneak some extra into your salad in addition to the chicken, you could chop up a hard boiled egg and mix in, you probably wouldn't even notice it was there, volume wise, but it would give you a little extra protein.

[QuilterInVA]

If you don't eat enough, you will have cravings. A lunch with no protein is not Whole30 compliant.

[ShannonM816]

If you don't eat enough, you will have cravings. A lunch with no protein is not Whole30 compliant.

 

Just for the record, it's not that the meal isn't compliant. Something is only not compliant if it breaks the rules. There are other things, like the meal template, the no snacking suggestion, and the don't eat fruit on its own suggestion that are not rules, but rather recommendations to make your Whole30 the best it could possibly be. More on rules vs recommendations here. You could eat nothing but fruit for 30 days and technically say you've done a Whole30 and you'd be right -- but you probably wouldn't have had a very good experience with it, and you definitely wouldn't have gotten the most you possibly could from it.

[chelsealdavidson]

For the first few weeks, I simplified my food so I was aware of exactly how much fat, protein and veggie was in each meal.  Salads can be deceiving because it LOOKS like there's a lot of fat and protein, when there's not necessarily enough.  Until the sugar cravings were completely staved I avoided recipes and filled my plate exactly as the "Thumb"//"Palm" chart said.  It helped me learn my body a little more quickly that way.

 

I'm still a little afraid of elaborate recipes /  fancy salads, simply because I don't want to starve myself unknowingly.  Perhaps this is part of the source of your craving?