A self indulgent rant thingy...

I know where you are coming from. It can take a long time to harness your food demons, it took me 2 years. What do you usually eat in a normal day .

It is difficult when you first reduce your food intake, but after a few weeks your stomach and mind will adjust and you won't feel so hungry, or think about food so much.

Oh love, I totally get it.
And giving up ciggies and changing to a different diet within a short space of time is HARD.

I don't know what way of eating you have chosen, but some of us veterans may be able to give some suggestions on avoiding the nagging cravings. I am philosophically opposed to hunger and deprivation - mainly because sooner or later, I just can't stand it any more, and eat uncontrollably.

What do you now eat, on a daily basis?

You might find if you up your good fats intake, it will stop you being hungry and thinking about food all the time. So for example have those lovely fresh veggies but absolutely smother them in butter.
Or my favourite is to stir fry veg in coconut oil, then add a dollop (tablespoon or more) of lovely full fat creme fraiche, with a half teaspoon of dijon mustard and a sprinkling of the Peri peri or is it Pirri Piri flakes for a bit of heat, stir it round and yum. Delicious veg and very satisfying.
While it might seem counter intuitive to add lots of cream and butter to your diet one of the main benefits is that because it is so satisfying you get off the cycle of thinking about food all the time and allow your body to start eating only to when you are full and not needing snacks etc. That way you end up naturally eating less calories with none of the hassle of calorie counting either.
I also tend to have a dessert every day of fresh berries and double cream.
Interestingly after 6 months of this way of eating LCHF the Triglycerides (free fatty acids thingies) in my bloodstream ( what they worry about now instead of total cholesterol apparently) have halved from 0.8 to 0.4 which seems good to me and my so called good cholesterol has increased. Cutting out carbs has brought HBA1c right down to 35. I now eat carbs occasionally but it has to be something really good and worth it as I then have to have a walk to get my BG levels down so i don't just eat bread for the sake of it but if it's really good warm fresh rolls with oil and vinegar at a restaurant I will treat myself - or like the other day share a really delicious dessert and then go for a walk (15 mins walk is often enough or if I've really splurged then a bit of a jog or an extra 15 mins usually works).
So if you feel the need for a treat then try something with double cream as there's a limit to how much cream anyone can eat. My go to remedy for feeling hungry in the early days was one or two teaspoons of double cream. It's satisfying and nice without being something you want to eat more of. The sugary stuff like that creme egg is very moreish and you can eat and eat and not feel full (though you might eventually feel sick!)
Oh and I lost over a stone in weight on the full fat diet too whilst never feeling hungry or counting anything. Just cutting out nearly all visible carbs and avoiding processed and 'low-fat' foods (which are full of sugar instead).

When I get hungry or feel like I need something I have some low sugar jelly with double cream, a babybel or other cheese, nuts etc or even meat with cream cheese. These tend to fill me up and as already said you can feel when you've had enough double cream etc

You have some great suppot and advice here @paula.nolan42 but I just want to add that I feel your pain x

I find that for me pistachio nuts is something I can eat a whole packet and still drop my bgl. Also Babybel shows only 'Trace carbs' so they are good too. I can also eat a shedload of chocolate coated peanuts, but they have to be Wilko's own brand coz the chocccie is dark, low carb high fat. I gather that 85% choc bars are quite good too. As said by others above, the secret is using high natural fats to compensate for the lowering of carbs. Coz fats take longer to digest, then they keep us 'satisfied' longer. This is what makes the LCHF diet easy to do but probaly more sustainable in the long run compared to other ketogenic diets. It is a diet that one can use to either lose weight, or maintain weight simply by controlling the fat intake while reducing bgl at the same time.

paula.nolan42 said:

I feel hungry all the time, or at least I think I'm hungry, I think about food all the time. I've just had a lovely dinner of Plaice & Broccoli & Asparagus & a little Smash... and already I'm thinking about when I can eat again. In fact the only reason I go walking is to have extra calories to eat. I don't think about cigarettes because I'm thinking about my next meal. Before my diagnosis, I ate what I wanted, when I wanted and how much of what I wanted. Of course that's exactly why I'm now Type 2 and obese and all that jazz.

I had a creme egg today. I think I could have swallowed it whole !

Today is just one of those hard days where I really miss my drug of choice... Food, self indulgent comfort food.

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I don't know how you actually "do" your eating. By that I mean, whether you eat on the hoof, from a tray on your lap, at the table - that sort of thing.

In this house, we always eat at the table. I find if I eat from a tray, with TV in the background, I can find my plate empty, but I haven't really appreciated my food. I also find I think about food less this way as food gets it's own series of slots in the day, a bit like other routine tasks we undertake. Even when my OH is away, like now, I still set the table and sit at it, as I would do if we were together. I think the trendy way of describing it might be mindful eating.

Thankfully, we have never snacked, so I have always had eating events in the day, rather than a grazing approach, although we all have hungry days, once in a while! Part of the secret of those tricky, hungry days, is to have sensible eating options close to hand - whatever you choose those should be, but for me, they would tend to be fat based, or higher fat (nuts, cheese or even a small packet of pork scratchings, as those options impact my bloods less, and are satisfying. Unfortunately, carbs tend to have us coming back for more sooner than a fattier option.

If you don't already, could it be worthwhile trying for a structured eating process, to "put it in it's place", and hopefully minimise it's intrusion into the rest of your day? Without doubt, the early days can be tricky.

Good luck with it all.

Have you ever noticed that a chinese takeaway leaves you wanting more as soon as you put the plate away, regardless of how much you have shovelled into your tum tum? I discovered that a takeway such as this is the one meal absolutely guaranteed to spike me over 33 mmol/L. Even a single miniature pancake roll will have mega effect on me. Is it the noodles. or the rice? No, because I have tried it without those. I think it is the MSG in the sauces, because i get the same effect with convenience foods,even so called lo sugar ones. and also certain gravy pots and stir fry sauces..

Sometimes we have individual issues that make dietary requirements tiresomely individual too.

I have some hormone stuff going on, which seems to make me a bit more likely to react to carbs and crave them. I also gain weight and fluid retention more than some. I think it is partly being a middle aged female, with PCOS, and a coupld of other slightly more obscure hormone annoyances.

But the upshot is that I have had to cut carbs down to levels where the cravings ease off. I have also learned that particular foods are more likely to make me crave (grains - esp wheat - and root veg).

So, for me, your porridge, smash and carrot would trigger the cravings, while fruit, dark chocolate and nuts would not.

I am not suggesting that those same foods have that effect on you, but you might find that you do have particular 'trigger' foods.

Here are a couple of threads you may find interesting.
All low carb, so minimal impact on blood glucose. Most are delicious.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/vegetarian-vegan-low-carb-recipe-index.61859/
and
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/low-carb-recipes.4871/