Day 19 - still CRAVING & after-dinner STARVING. Help!

[annielynne]

So, it's day 19. Both my boyfriend and I are doing it together. The cooking every day is getting tiresome, but the biggest problem is I'm still absolutely craving sweets and especially bread. Even though we eat large meals, I still find myself starving an hour later. Sometimes at night (around 10pm) I'll be starving and can't sleep until I eat something. I usually get up and shove a bunch of eggs and bacon in my face at that point -- which is a fourth meal.

 

My questions are:

 

1. When in the world will these cravings stop? Do they ever stop? 

2. Even though I "eat until I'm full" I find myself still starving at night. Any suggestions?

 

 

These things are making it more and more difficult to stick to the Whole30. I really don't want to quit but the cravings are getting worse, not better. I also don't feel any better or have any of that "rockstar" feeling the plan talks about. Or is it too early for that?

 

Thank you!

[ShannonM816]

Could you give us a couple of typical days' worth of food (including approximate portion sizes), water intake, and exercise? Maybe something will stand out that you could change to get better results.

In general, the best way to combat cravings is to make sure you're eating plenty of protein, fat, and vegetables, and drinking plenty of water. Many people say they're eating huge amounts, when in reality they are not eating enough, because their perception of serving sizes is skewed by years of calorie restrictions.

Many people also believe they're eating plenty of fat because they're cooking in fat, but that may not be enough. Fat helps you to continue to feel full between meals, so if you're getting hungry quickly after meals, adding avocado, olives, coconut flakes, mayo, or oil-based sauces and dressings to your food may help.

[annielynne]

I have not been exercising at all. It's been hard enough getting my routine down to spend all this time cooking, let alone exercise. I started exercising this morning and hope to keep that momentum.

 

Here's generally what I eat:

 

Breakfasts

2-3 Eggs & 4 pieces of bacon, or eggs w/ leftovers (salmon cakes and such). Usually lots of eggs. Sometimes a nut/banana/fruit oatmeal-like concoction.

 

Lunches

Leftovers usually. A meat (3 chicken strips, or one chicken breast, or one pork chop) and lots of veggies (tomato, carrot, celery). A fruit (grapes, orange, apple, pear, banana are my go-tos). About a handful of each side.

Sometimes chicken salad (chicken, mayo, pecans, celery, grapes, apple) with veggies & fruit on the side.

 

Dinners

Meat: Steaks (1/2 steak... no idea on oz.), lots of Chicken (1-2 breasts). Pork chops (1-2 pork chops, usually in ghee with herbs).

Potato (not sweet -- I hate sweet potatoes), homemade applesauce, lots of broccoli. Various veggies. All about a handful of each.

 

Snacks

Nuts or an apple with almond butter (I try not to snack but sometimes I'm so freaking hungry I have to eat).

 

According to my weight I should be drinking 17 cups of water a day but that feels impossible and also too much. I try to get 10-12 cups in, but I do know I've been lacking in that area after reading some of the other posts.

 

 

I think maybe I'm terrified of eating too much fat. I feel like it would clog my heart and kill me by eating so much. But maybe that's poisonous thinking?

 

I am also getting terrific migraines. I've always had headaches (Dr. said there was nothing to worry about). The first five days were miserable with sugar withdrawal headaches, then they went away, now they are back with a vengeance. Sometimes they hit me out of the blue. Last night I got an intense one right after I just ate. Does it have to do with my diet or should I go see the Dr again?

[SugarcubeOD]

Hey there;

 

You're definitely not eating enough veggies, I'm sorry to tell you.  I'm not sure what a 'handful' of tomato, carrot, celery is... can you quantify it in terms of cups?

The template asks for 1-3 cups of veggies PER meal, every day!  You can definitely get more veggies into each meal by removing the fruit and replacing it with vegetables.

 

The fact that you have to snack is telling me that you are not eating enough. I don't see any fat in your meals except for the bacon in breakfast.  The cooking fat is not generally counted as much of it stays in the pan or cooks off.  You need to be adding food based fats (mayo, coconut, olives, avocado) to each meal as per the template recommendations (linked below).

 

Headaches can definitely be caused by undereating, which I do believe you are doing, but the food you're eating shouldn't be giving you screaming headaches right after you eat unless you're eating something you're allergic to.

 

Also, as a side note, the fruit nut 'oatmeal' is not a compliant dish to eat for breakfast and it's an enormous sugar bomb into your system first thing.  Please put that aside.

[Carlaccini]

Okay - I am seeing a fair bit of fruit going on.  Your fruit habit probably what is keeping your sugar dragon alive and well.

 

Drop the fruit in your morning meal and add some veggies.  The fruit generally will spike your blood sugar setting you up for a crash later on.  For example I have a huge breakfast every morning of a palm sized portion of ground meat, fist sized portion of sweet potato or potato, and handfuls of baby spinach wilted down.  Severed with generous dollops of homemade mayo.  This meal holds me from 7 am to 12 pm.  If I were to add a fruit - I would be hungry at 10:30 or 11.  The sugar from the fruit causes blood sugar to spike and then crash again.  

 

I also see quite a bit of raw veg.  Raw veg doesn't digest as well as cooked veg does.  So a huge mixing bowl sized salad with protein will only hold my hunger for 3 hours.  So make sure you are eating at least 3 cups of raw veg if you are choosing to consume it.

[annielynne]

Okay, up the veggies. Try to cook them. I can do that. I'm probably only eating about one cup per meal unless it's potato, but I've been trying to cut down on potato because it becomes my "fall-back" veggie just to help fill me up. I don't really like veggies so I'm struggling to eat enough. You can only have so much broccoli, carrots and tomatoes in a day. Everything new we've tried hasn't worked it, so I'm still trying new vegetables to hopefully expand my palette (sp?).

 

Chill with the fruit, I can do that too.

 

Nix the "oatmeal". Got it!

 

The fats: I think I'm not getting enough fat because of the four things mentioned (avocado, olive, coconut, mayo) I don't like any of them except mayo, and you can't slather everything in mayonnaise. Coconut is okay enough... does using coconut milk count or do I have to eat actual coconut shreds? Does ist count if I put coconut cream on my food?

 

Are there any other alternatives for fat that I can eat other than avocado? I've been trying to fill it with almond butter and handfuls of almonds/cashew/walnut but that is obviously not working. Boy, am I messing this Whole30 up :/

[chezjulie]

You're not messing up!   The mods are just giving you some suggestions to eat in a way that is more ideal for being successful on the program, will be more satisfying, and will help you with the cravings.  

 

Here's the meal template they're talking about. It gives you the amount of coconut milk that counts as a serving of fat (1/4 -1/2 of a 14 oz. can). It's a great thing to hang up in the kitchen for reference:

http://whole30.com/downloads/whole30-meal-planning.pdf

[SugarcubeOD]

You actually CAN slather everything in mayonnaise! LOL! Seriously tho, you can make mayo based sauces like ranch or other fat based sauces like Sunshine Sauce (google Sunshine Sauce Mel Joulwan... I"m on my ipad and it's a pain to link).

You can also put coconut butter on food and yes, that does count as a fat... please don't eat it directly out of the jar, people have found that it can be VERY food without brakes...

Nuts are not an awesome source of fats... can you try making a really limey guacamole? Or super limey and spicy guac?

I"m impressed that you're trying more veggies. Keep trying! There are tons of things out there that with the proper cooking method are amazing... Brussels Sprouts for instance can get sweet and caremelized in the oven on high heat... same with brocoli. Some people (not me) like Cauliflower made into cauliflower rice or mashed.

You can totally do this! You're definitely not screwing it up!!!

[ShannonM816]

 and you can't slather everything in mayonnaise. 

 

Sure you can. Roasted veggies dipped in mayo, hamburger patty topped with mayo and mustard, along with whatever burger veggies you like, and some more veggies on the side. Change up the mayo flavors -- garlic mayo, horseradish mayo, mayo with Frank's hot sauce. Here's some other recipes for ways to use mayo. If that's the fat you enjoy most, it's fine to have it a lot. It is worth trying other fat sources too, of course -- I was surprised to find that even though I've always though I didn't like olives, I found a variety I do like (Castelvetrano), and I've gotten to where I don't mind kalamatas chopped up in recipes. The meal template outlines how much of different fat sources to have to get a serving. 

 

You can choose fattier cuts of meat so that you don't need to add as much. You can make sauces like chimichurri or Moroccan dipping sauce and add them to your meats and vegetables. If you can find compliant bacon, that's a nice one to have on occasion, although it can be expensive to have all the time.

 

For the vegetables, what veggies have you tried and how have you cooked them? Because most of them benefit from being roasted, rather than steamed or boiled. Is it a taste or a texture issue? There's so many vegetables out there, keep trying them and I'm sure you'll find plenty that you like.