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Eating after dinner - intense cravings


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Hello! 

I finished my Whole30 on 5/22. Throughout the Whole30 I really tried to cut down on snacking after dinner. This time of day has been hard for me for about a year - every night needing "something." During the 30 days I went up and down with success. Probably 15 out of the 30 days I "failed" by giving in to raw nuts or fruit. Totally giving in to my sugar dragon. I still felt SO MUCH better and lost 9 pounds, so I didn't think too much about it. However, during reintroduction I realized that I didn't slay my sugar dragon at all. The day I reintroduced sweet potato fries (a no brakes food typically) I majorly snacked at night, feeling again like an animal unable to stop. It freaked me out since I hadn't had that intense of cravings throughout the Whole30. I'm wanting to give the program another round and do so without nuts/nut butters. And maybe also limiting fruit. Does anyone have an experience with this? I feel so lost that I quickly gave in to my cravings. I read Food Freedom Forever, so know this is going to be a continual process, but I'm looking for any more advice or experience! THANK YOU!

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The first thing you might try is not ever having fruit between meals, only with a full template meal. So in the evening, if you want to eat, have a hard boiled egg, or some leftovers that include protein, fat, and maybe some vegetables. If you don't really want those things, you're probably not actually hungry, so don't eat, go find something else to do that will keep your brain and your hands busy for a little while -- work on a hobby, do some laundry, organize your closet, go for a walk, read a book, work on a puzzle, take a bubble bath, or just go to bed early.

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  • 4 months later...

After dinner used to get me too.  This is silly, but worked for me, and that was to make some tea.  I don't even really like herbal tea, but the process of messing with it was enough to make me feel like something had happened.  And I'm talking old school (not keurig) - teapot, boil the water, get out the teabag and cup (pretty cup :)), then steep the tea, etc.  I even recommend getting some sort of assortment of tea because it takes a little bit of brainpower to choose which one you "want".

More than once the tea sat on the counter and got cold because I'd forgotten about it entirely after getting re-involved with tv or whatever.  Just going into the kitchen and doing something that took 10 minutes or so was enough for my brain to feel like "okay, we went into the kitchen and got something" and/or to get past the reflexive feeling that that was supposed to happen.  If you actually drink it then that takes even longer.  Sometimes I still wanted something but it was easier to say no to after that.  It took that a long time to go away for me (and may never fully go away).

Hope this helps!

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  • 1 month later...

This is weird, but sometimes when I'm anxious and I want crunchy stuff, what works is to floss and brush my teeth. I can do it while I watch TV or listen to an audiobook and it fulfills something your brain is accustomed to getting, some kind of sensory input for yer mouth. Similar to the tea habit for me.

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