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I have started and failed a handful of times at Whole30. When I succeed for a span of days I feel great! I have absolutely no sugar cravings and I was actually in the best physical shape I had ever been. But I crashed, hard. I have been trying for the past two weeks to get back on track to eating healthy but I can't seem to find the same drive I originally had the very first day I started my Whole30 journey. I know what I have to eat but the sugar is always calling my name. I have tried eating more fats, cooking with more fats and drinking more tea when I start to think about sugar but I can never get my mind off of the sugar train. HELP!

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Just as a heads-up - if you can edit your title, I would suggest it. 'Help!' doesn't tell the moderators what you need.

 

As for the sugar cravings, I'm in the middle of Day 5, and the sugar has been screaming my name all week. Someone had a big cake at work today, and I was almost grabbing some before I realized what I was doing. It took everything I had to walk away. I could literally smell the sugar.

 

Have you tried incremental decreases ahead of starting your Whole30? I cut down alcohol ahead of my Whole30, which I think has been helping me adjust to having none at all. It's also helpful to form a support group - use the forums, work with a buddy locally, tell everyone you know that you're doing it so you feel the need to be accountable to the pledge. 

 

I'd also ask if you're answering the sugar cravings in the early part of the plan with fruit. If you are, don't! That sustains that craving habit and validates your general addiction to sugar (albeit naturally-occurring sugar), which gives the sugar dragon the keys to your new lifestyle. Once it's in... you've lost your way. If the moderators pop in, I know they'll ask to see what you're eating while on the plan, so maybe type up a basic summary.

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Sometimes it just requires that you power through those uncomforatable feelings that happen when you don't give in to your cravings.  It can manifest as cranky, irritable, uncomfortable and even have annoying physical symptoms that make you feel like if you don't give in, you'll suffer forever.  You wont' suffer forever... but tomorrow is not going to be an easier day to have those uncomfortable feelings.

 

The best we can tell you is to eat to the high end of the meal template, don't skimp on fat and find yourself some distraction techniques (walk, phone a friend, bath, tea, journal, play a game with family) to get through the feelings.

 

The siren song of sugar is loud, aggressive and insistent and unfortunately there is no way around it except through it so you need to decide you, for 30 days, are not a person that eats sugar of any kind and then just power through.

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I think distractions would really help because now that I am thinking of it, most of the cravings happen when I am not really doing anything the requires concentration. Doing an incremental decrease is a great idea! Ive been trying to quit cold turkey and it worked the first time but come day eight, I found myself face to face with a bag of cookies.

 

When I find myself eating the sugary treats that I am trying to avoid, it's carby or chocolate-y foods like chocolate chip cookies or chocolate chips by themselves. I have tried to eat cashews and almonds but now I find myself eating way too many of those. So I want to stop with the sugar and the nuts all together. I usually have a chicken sausage skillet with two eggs for breakfast, half a piece of chicken and broccoli for lunch and then red meat with a veggie for dinner. I got good for a while eating apples or fruit after dinner to fill a little void. But now I am realizing I was eating fruit because my mind wanted sugar, not because my body was hungry. My question is, how do I know when my body wants fruit or when my mind wants sugar? I am not one to have my stomach growl when I am hungry so I usually just eat three times a day or post training.

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If you're truly hungry, you'd be willing to eat something bland, like plain fish and steamed broccoli. If you wouldn't be willing to eat something plain, you're just craving something.

How much is "half a piece of chicken" that you mention for lunch? Did you add fat to that meal? Because it really doesn't sound like much food at all, and not eating enough is going to make cravings worse and harder to not give in to.

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I will definitely try to eat more! I think a big issue of mine is I always have numbers going through my heard of how many carbs, fats and proteins I'm eating and I don't want to overdo it. but when I say half a piece of chicken I usually bake a chicken breast every other day just in the oven with some herbs and have half of that each day with a cup of broccoli

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I will definitely try to eat more! I think a big issue of mine is I always have numbers going through my heard of how many carbs, fats and proteins I'm eating and I don't want to overdo it. but when I say half a piece of chicken I usually bake a chicken breast every other day just in the oven with some herbs and have half of that each day with a cup of broccoli

 

How does that amount of chicken relate to the palm of your hand? Each meal needs 1-2 portions of protein the length, width, and height of your palm. Go for 1-3 cups of vegetables at each meal, so you could definitely add more veggies. And then have 1-2 thumb-sized portions of fat, or 1/2 to a whole avocado, or a heaping handful or two of olives or coconut flakes, or occasionally a small handful of nuts. Definitely make that meal bigger, and if that's pretty typical of the size of your meals, you probably need to make them all a bit bigger.

 

Don't worry about the calories, carbs, fat grams, or any of that. Just feed your body plenty of nourishing, healthy, tasty foods, so that it can function at its very best.

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