Frankie Klimek Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 I completed a Whole28 early this year before I moved to for a new job. My first WholeXX experience was fairly easy, even enjoyable. That was when I was a homeowner with a garden, a decent size kitchen to prepare things, and a job with a very stable schedule. These days my life is hectic -to say the least. I'm a pilot, I'm always on the run, I have a small apartment, and since I moved six months ago I have eaten out more than any time in my memorable life. Sadly, many times fast food has been the "food" of choice. I feel terrible. For the last three weeks I have been trying to get back on the Whole30 path, but I hit the wall on day two, every time. I'm not talking about a minor hurdle, I'm talking about a insatiable craving for crappy food. I know that I could do better on my portions of fats/proteins/carbs/fiber and I know that I could mix it up a little better with my menus, but no matter how much good stuff I eat the sugar monster gets the best of me. I don't have an addictive personality and have never had to deal with anything like this, but I am ADDICTED to bad food. If any of you have experienced this I would love to hear about how you overcame it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cayenne Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Bad food, or unhealthy fast food, is built to reel you in and suck you dry. We all know that and yet....the food still beckons us. It is an addiction. My husband lost an entire leg last year to fast food(diabetic) and THEN lost all of his toes last month! And still, he wants pizza, Bojangles biscuits etc. If anyone has a reason to detest bad food, it is him. He may still lose the rest of his leg as the wounds are not healing. The damage was done years ago, years of fast food. It is a struggle, somedays an hourly struggle. My humble suggestion is to take 1 meal at a time-eat a healthy meal, then if you HAVE to have something unworthy, at least you have a good foundation. Tell yourself-OK, If I eat a veggies, lean protein and good fat(for example), then I can have "what ever". Never have "what ever" first. You may find that that one healthy choice builds on another healthy choice. Since my husband has been donating his body parts to science, the thing I crave is sugar. Isn't that just sick! I see the effects of diabetes daily, at home and at work, and yet sugar just beckons...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cayenne Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Oh, and I really disagree with the sugar monster thing....A monster we all would know to run away from and slam the door on. No one would entertain a monster. But a mistress(Yeah, I am a girl) or a siren, THAT is what sugar is. Slowly calling to you from the shadows, so pretty, smells fabulous, tastes great and lights your whole brain up in 1970's colors! Addiction, pure and simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators ladyshanny Posted November 24, 2015 Administrators Share Posted November 24, 2015 I agree with cayenne in that the foods are designed to draw you in and become addictive. They designed them to addict you. I completely disagree with "if you have to have something, go ahead after a meal". The only, only, only, ONLY way to get past this is to cut them out entirely, dig deep and get through the "detox" process. Any other way would be like quitting smoking by smoking after every meal. No. Stop. Get angry at the food scientists who have done this to you if you need to. Get angry and then get started cleaning up your body. Draw the line and do not allow those foods even one more molecule of your body. They want to take over, bite by bite and destroy you. You stop them and take control and destroy that draw that they have on you! You are worth it! (this was slightly more kick-in-the-pants-y than I would normally write but I stand by it. You have to take control. Now.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seafarer Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Hi Frankie! You are definitely not alone in your reaction, and hopefully you'll get lots of feedack that will work for you. There are a couple of forum discussions on why the second time is harder, and this article is on the W30 website: http://whole30.com/2015/02/second-whole30/ Personally, I think one of the hard things about an addiction is that you have to trade "now" for "later". You can have the crappy food now & make the noise in your head go away "now", or you can have the good food and know that the dragon is still chattering in your head while you have to wait until "later" to feel the rewards of that choice. No instant rewards while you are ignoring the "now" siren! For me, I had several false starts on Whole30 #2, and what got me over the hump was deciding to eat only the W30 foods that I truly loved, and always eating at the upper (FAR upper!) end of the template. Honestly, I was so stuffed that I probably could have gone 9 hours between meals, instead of the recommended 4 or 5 hours. Also... and this was key... I made sure that sleep became my number one priority. When I am well rested there's not much that can knock me off kilter. I looked forward to every meal, I was never hungry, and I was well rested enough that my sense of humour was firmly intact. (A couple of minor tweaks included treating myself, every day, to at least a few moments of sunshine, fresh air, a good book, and contact with someone I love but don't talk to nearly enough. Your special-to-you tweaks will probably be different. The point is to not only treat yourself well with your food choices, but in every other area of your life too.) I started my second W30 mid-August of this year. 30 days went by like a breeze. My re-intro's were illuminating in ways I couldn't have previously imagined. I off-road when I want to, but normally I really don't want to, mostly because I am still treating myself well... good food, good rest, good relaxation, sunshine... and I like to be treated well. I have discovered that tiger blood is real. I have discovered which foods lead to a re-awakening of that insufferable sugar dragon (dairy) and which ones cause me to feel vaguely "unwell" (legumes, gluten) which in turn makes me start dreaming about my former "comfort" foods. ("Comfort food" is SUCH a contradiction in terms, don't you think?!). I regularly get compliments about how good I look. My moods are pretty much great. And my favourite NSV? I wandered by the full length mirror in my bedroom sans clothes, caught a glimpse, and thought "wow, you are smaller than you used to be". The best victories are the ones you can hug to yourself! YOU can do this! Stop thinking about what you are giving up. Embrace the good foods that you love. Use my tips or someone else's. Come to the forums & read about everyone else's problems, struggles, and victories. Ask, ask, ask questions. Give yourself a star on the calendar for every good meal that you have. Do this one meal at a time if you have to. You are so worth it. Really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cayenne Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 I can typically get through a meal by telling myself I can have what I want after I eat....I usually don't eat anything because I am satisfied.....It is a mind game that works for me. Again, for me, at times of high stress adding deprivation(to the mind, not the body) is tough so I play the game. If I still want whatever after I eat, I can have it-not talking W30, just life in general here. I have strung along 50+ days of this thinking. To me, saying no,no,no is just more negative thoughts that I get enough of from work, stress at home etc. It is a different way of thinking and not wrong....for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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