HFLC Diets how to stop cravings

[annabell1]

Hello I'm trying LCHF/PALEO/KETO But I need help somedays I can't control my cravings especially at night time I start overeating then I'm angry at myself for not having will power. Sometimes I think it is out of boredom but other times it's like I have an addiction and have to eat. I have T2D caused by being on high dose of hydrocortisone infusions and prednisone steroids in 2011. My medication for my T2D is diamicron 60mr and junivia 100mg I was told that these medications can cause cravings due to them releasing insulin and causing BSL spikes so you feel hungry. Does anyone know if that is correct?

I also suffer from Ulcerative colitis. I was very unwell with severe pan ulcerative colitis in 2011 it caused me to have issues with eating and became so unwell lost weight but my brain was like yah I am loosing weight then I lost 20 kilos in 2 weeks stopped eating then ended up in hospital malnourished with my kidneys and my body shutting down nearly on my death bed. I was so unwell yet was like yah I'm losing weight you know that saying I'm loosing weight even if it kills me well that's what was happening to me. Sorry for the long post and thank you for reading but would like any suggestions ideas on stopping my cravings.

Edited by Mod

 

[zand]

Can you eat cheese? I usually find a lump of cheese works wonders.

 

[xfieldok]

When I was dx T2 I went keto. It took me around 4 weeks to go through the carb addiction and then I was free. It was so liberating! No more hunger.

Then about a year on I was dx with something else and put onto steroids. I still eat keto but I get horrible hunger pangs. Sometimes I can ride them out, sometimes I will have some cheese to stem them a bit. If I get to the point that I know the steroids should be starting to drop off, it is easier to ignore.

I was told to take my steroids early on as they can cause insomnia, so I take them around 8am. Come evening, I am generally ok.

 

[DCUKMod]

Hello I'm trying LCHF/PALEO/KETO But I need help somedays I can't control my cravings especially at night time I start overeating then I'm angry at myself for not having will power. Sometimes I think it is out of boredom but other times it's like I have an addiction and have to eat. I have T2D caused by being on high dose of hydrocortisone infusions and prednisone steroids in 2011. My medication for my T2D is diamicron 60mr and junivia 100mg I was told that these medications can cause cravings due to them releasing insulin and causing BSL spikes so you feel hungry. Does anyone know if that is correct?

I also suffer from Ulcerative colitis. I was very unwell with severe pan ulcerative colitis in 2011 it caused me to have issues with eating and became so unwell lost weight but my brain was like yah I am loosing weight then I lost 20 kilos in 2 weeks stopped eating then ended up in hospital malnourished with my kidneys and my body shutting down nearly on my death bed. I was so unwell yet was like yah I'm losing weight you know that saying I'm loosing weight even if it kills me well that's what was happening to me. Sorry for the long post and thank you for reading but would like any suggestions ideas on stopping my cravings.

Edited by Mod

Hi Annabell - When you have these cravings, is there anything in particular you are craving? When you give into your craving, do you eat the thing you crave, or do you have something else?

(I have a bit of a theory about some cravings.)

 

[annabell1]

Hi Annabell - When you have these cravings, is there anything in particular you are craving? When you give into your craving, do you eat the thing you crave, or do you have something else?

(I have a bit of a theory about some cravings.)

Hello DCKUKMod sometimes it is a particular food I crave like ice cream sometimes it is something sweet like lollies or a particular chocolate sometimes not exactly sure what sweet I am craving. I also found if I eat something after I finished my taste buds wants another taste so I look for something to like an orange or mandarin hard to explain. but if I don't have what I am craving in my home I will search for something else to replace that craving so if I am craving ice cream and I don't have it I eat something else but it doesn't stop my craving so keep looking for something else .I notice also when I have had a bad day with my UC I crave salt so look for something salty... or I think it is because sometimes I feel fatigued low energy so I am looking for something to give me energy. other times I think for no reason why I am craving and not really sure what I feel like to eat but feel like I need something. sometimes I am not hungry but I am still looking for something to eat.

am I allowed to write what I am craving on here want to make sure before writing thanks

 

[annabell1]

Can you eat cheese? I usually find a lump of cheese works wonders.

I can tolerate cheese some days and do eat it when I am looking for something thinking it will help me sometimes it may help me be not always

 

[annabell1]

When I was dx T2 I went keto. It took me around 4 weeks to go through the carb addiction and then I was free. It was so liberating! No more hunger.

Then about a year on I was dx with something else and put onto steroids. I still eat keto but I get horrible hunger pangs. Sometimes I can ride them out, sometimes I will have some cheese to stem them a bit. If I get to the point that I know the steroids should be starting to drop off, it is easier to ignore.

I was told to take my steroids early on as they can cause insomnia, so I take them around 8am. Come evening, I am generally ok.

Oh I can so understand the steroid hunger when I am put on them! yes they are great at inflammation but the hunger pangs ... I am not on them now but understand exactly about insomnia I took in morning also but still gave me shocking insomnia

 

[Goonergal]

am I allowed to write what I am craving on here want to make sure before writing thanks

Yes, you can post details of the food(s) you’re craving

 

[xfieldok]

Google keto fat bombs. Make the ones you can store in the freezer.

 

[TriciaWs]

I still get sugar/carb cravings, they never went away although mine are triggered by stress as well as extra steroids sometimes.
A cube of cheese helps but not always.
But I try to have stress relating craving foods on stock - stevia sweetened chocolate, ditto icecream, reduced sugar biscuits, plus stuff in stock to quickly make nut butter balls or a keto mug cake
and I always have some berries in the fridge to stir into greek yogurt.

 

[Mbaker]

I would suggest a programme of some sort either formal like the low carb diet this site offers / Diet Doctor or your own.

I believe you need to try to order what you are doing. At its simplest this would be to list some meals say for 2 weeks. Try to eat these at regular times, write down how you feel after each. Maybe post your results and ask for help if necessary.

The drugs you are on are confounders, these may ultimately be holding your success back. In some ways it is chicken and egg. A clean Keto / LCHF diet will lower inflammation if given some time, steroids will lower inflammation but can cause high blood sugars.

 

[DCUKMod]

@annabell1 - I totally get the salt cravings after digestive issues (which I am assuming have you visiting the loo more than you'd like?) I know if I have am upset tummy, when I begin to feel like food, it'll be something chicken bone broth, or something equally salty.

Do you feel hungry, or thirsty, when the craving strike? Do you think your cravings could be boredom, if you go from one thing to another?

When I started adjusting my diet, what seems like eons ago, I was quite afraid of it all. My fears were around hunger. Not hunger because I thought I'd be living on slivers of cucumber and lettuce leaves (actually I quite like salad), but because in my past I had spent some years battling anorexia, and obviously I had zero wish to relive those times. So, I made sure that when we ate I always had plenty of food available to me, and I ate until I was full or satisfied I had had enough.

I may have got really lucky, but I rarely had cravings. I could give myself a good talking to that I'd had plenty to eat.

My only real memory of really wanting something was when we were anchored off Deshaies(Guadeloupe, where they filmed Death in Paradise). Although well out in the bay, from our anchorage, we could smell the bread baking in the Boulangerie. How I wanted either croissant or baguette with pate. Hey ho.

I think it's important to find your triggers.

I would suggest if you don't already, you sort yourself out a food diary, recording everything to eat, everything you drink and how you feel (whther it be relating to your U/C, general mood, or cravings). Give it a couple of weeks and look back and see if you can see any patterns arising.

I'm not at all sure my theory on some cravings applies to you.

Eons ago, when suffering with some intolerances, I saw a naturopath, who, during the initial consultation asked me about favourite foods that I liked to eat, and if I had any foods I could just eat and eat. My response was oranges and tomatoes were go-tos. From that point, they were barred from my diet, as just a small part of an exclusion diet. When I added them back in (again as part of the reintroduction phase of the exclusion diet), my symptoms raged.

The naturopath reckoned those foods triggered reactions in me, almost like addictions, and the chemical reractions to inflamation they caused made me want more and more often.

So, my theory is that "we" sometimes need to give up our go-tos because it might be a chemical reaction making them just that. The way you descibe your cravings doesn't point quite that way to me anyway.

Lots of investigations required, I'd say

 

[annabell1]

I would suggest a programme of some sort either formal like the low carb diet this site offers / Diet Doctor or your own.

I believe you need to try to order what you are doing. At its simplest this would be to list some meals say for 2 weeks. Try to eat these at regular times, write down how you feel after each. Maybe post your results and ask for help if necessary.

The drugs you are on are confounders, these may ultimately be holding your success back. In some ways it is chicken and egg. A clean Keto / LCHF diet will lower inflammation if given some time, steroids will lower inflammation but can cause high blood sugars.

I have heard that so I'm going to ask my Endocrinologist and my GP about them. I can't take metaformin as they don't agree with my UC I joined a FB group but I wasn't happy with the response I got from them. I feel good here