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Type 1 Carb addiction

A

ariaxo

Well-Known Member
Messages
194
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Other
I try so hard to eat healthy but I always go back to eating carbs. My body craves for carbs all the time, I am definitely addicted to it. I waste so much money a month on takeaways and junk food. I eat until I get uncomfortably full. if I go shopping and buy crisps with 20 packets inside and a cake, I’d finish it all in one day. I don’t really hear much about carb addiction but it is seriously bothering my life. What can I do? I have this urge always for carbs.
Today I ate coco pops and then shepherds pie and now I’m contemplating going to my local corner shop to buy a big packet of Doritos. Yesterday I did the same and bought chocolate digestives as well as a big packet of cheese and onion crisps. My diet doesn’t include any vegetables or fruits. I drink 2 litre water though. When I try to eat healthier it never lasts. There are vegetables and fruits that I like eating but nothing gives me the high feeling that carbs do. When I don’t get it, I become irritated and very depressed. Maybe it’s a mental health thing because it makes me feel less empty inside. But if I’m watching something interesting, I can’t seem to watch it without junk food. And if I have something delicious, I have to find something to watch.
I’m type 1
 
Google carb addiction, or sugar addiction. There's loads of videos and info out there.

When I was first diagnosed I went cold turkey on any carb that raised my bg according to my meter. It was tough at times in the first few weeks but I want to keep my eyesight and my limbs. Seeing my sugar rise was motivation enough for me.
 
I think it’s because I don’t care about losing my life.
I have watched and did my research. Some tips helped me for like 2 weeks which is very big for me cause I usually don’t last more than 2 days but that’s it. Nothing has changed my life forever
 
I can only say that carbs are addictive. I can only suggest you try to gradually replace the carbs bit by bit with the other foods such as meat, cheese, fish, nuts, sensible fruit, veg etc. Try the more complex carbs when you do have them and try to avoid buying the bad things and bringing them into the house. For chocolate, say, buy 85% Dark (not 70%). You do get used to the taste and the lack of sugar. Choose cakes without icing topping and so on.
 
ariaxo said:
But if I’m watching something interesting, I can’t seem to watch it without junk food. And
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Sounds like your mouth gets lonely and needs distraction. Carb addiction is just like any other addiction, and the same strategies work. Recognising the addiction is a great first step.
 
lucylocket61 said:
Sounds like your mouth gets lonely and needs distraction. Carb addiction is just like any other addiction, and the same strategies work. Recognising the addiction is a great first step.
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So would I be able to get the same help that drug addicts get? Could I be prescribed something by the doctors that can reduce my appetite?
 
Hello from a fellow carb addict here.

For me my motivation were some of the possible consequences . I'm not talking about death but losing a limd or losing my sight. Again- this would effect not just me but my husband and kids- I don't want to be a burden. I also can't imagine being without sight but if that happened I couldn't work as a lawyer either.

so saying you don't care about losing your life- what about just losing a limb?

Anyway- I have gone down the very low carb route. I love carbs and I do use things like artificial sweetener to help. However, I don't ever let myself have even 1 piece of normal chocolate or one lolly of one- whatever is there. The thing for me is having less than 10 or 20 grams of carbs a day means no cheating ever- for example 1 mintie has about 6 or 7 grams of carbs- I can't have that- it's just not worth 70% of my daily carbs.

Ultimately though you have to decide your approach to being a diabetic. If you live alone then not buying that stuff is a first step but if you don't really want to make that change then it is impossible.

People here have left me vent a number of times when my diet gets me down but I am allergic/intolerant to carbs. That is just a fact I live with. I use my meter to help keep me focused. If I slip up then I start again and my slip ups are like having something with 3 or 4 carbs that I thought was 1 or 2 so still not huge.

Good luck in deciding your path and then making the changes you need to.
 
The other thing I would say- it took me a while before I could go shopping as all of the things I couldn't eat there overwhelmed me. If you live with a partner maybe they could do the shopping for a while and not buy the crisps for example- once you have bought them you have made the decision to eat them.

I really do understand and feel your pain and today has been not such a good day for me- luckily I had already had some diet jelly prepared and so pork crackling bought so they have helped. If I could eat carbs I would but I can't.
 
ariaxo said:
So would I be able to get the same help that drug addicts get? Could I be prescribed something by the doctors that can reduce my appetite?
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I am talking about the way to look at the problem mentally and emotionally, the severity of it and how real carb addiction is.
 
I would be very upset if I lost a limb but not enough to stop eating carbs
 
ariaxo said:
I would be very upset if I lost a limb but not enough to stop eating carbs
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It's alright to say that now, but you might think differently if that happened to you. I used to be a total carb addict, much like you, and going on a short-term keto diet actually broke my sugar addiction. It was hard to do, but worth it. My doctor thinks I might have been diabetic for a year or two before I was diagnosed. I was off sugar for years by that time, and on a healthy vegan diet, but still eating delicious sourdough bread, crisps, etc... Do you know what happened? I almost lost my leg. My femoral artery is completely blocked and can't be easily corrected with surgery, and the lack of blood supply gave me permanent nerve damage. So now I walk so slowly I regularly get overtaken by old ladies with walking sticks, and I am in constant pain that is partially controlled with medication that leaves me drowsy and lethargic. And although my condition may be stable if I continue to look after my health, the risk of losing that leg is a still a constant threat. And I can no longer do some of the things I love to do, like taking long walks, riding my bike and it has affected my work as a freelancer because I can no longer sit at a desk for long hours due to the pain. That's what can happen when you choose crisps over your health. But even so, I am glad it's my leg and not my eyes, or my heart or kidneys.

I know you're feeling low, and it is so much harder to look after your physical health if your mental health isn't tip-top. I think you should see your doctor about that. Cognitive Therapy and Intuitive Eating might help you.
 
ariaxo said:
I would be very upset if I lost a limb but not enough to stop eating carbs
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I can see your honesty, I saw my dad and the impact of what he didn’t do to take control and it didn’t change me. There are many ways diabetes can negatively impact other than losing a limb but very easy to think, it won’t happen to me so why worry. I mean smokers kid themselves so why can’t we? But if that isn’t your motivation, it won’t work

For me the fear of covid and dying did it to me but I don’t know if you have something in your life that you can hook onto to help give you the drive?
 
I'm sorry to hear @ariaxo of your trials and it is the case diabetes completely changes lives both physically and psychologically for the diabetic as well as those nearest and dearest to them.

I was brought up in west central Scotland so potatoes, sweets, deep fried anything plus a box of Mr Kipling's cakes are engrained... even for brekkie.

I have like @MrsA2 gone cold turkey and eat as low carbs as possible and when in Sainsbury's, I do still look longingly at the sugar stuffed donuts and what have you...especially Fox's custard creams

And yes, it's an addiction - as I've suffered withdrawal symptoms from headaches, shakiness as I've also ditched beer and caffeine at the same time (but kept red wine)!

It's a difficult road to hoe of that's there no doubt and I'm sure all of us here will have fallen off the wagon at some time too - has your GP provided any counsel ?

All the best
 
I’m a very bad carb addict. So much so every few weeks I feel really rotten and I’m sure it’s my overall big sugars reducing.
It’s tough.
But I wouldn’t just reduce slowly. Rip off the plaster.
Now we are in lockdown it’s easier (for me anyway) because I’m not out and about able to succumb to temptation.

my advice is get loads of no carb snacks.

have Parmesan and cheese crisps (no potato)
Have pork belly (fab if you have an air fryer)

just loads of stuff that you can eat.

i also have the highlights hot chocolate. If it’s really bad I have one of those.

move also discovers twinnings tea cherry and cinnamon. It’s a bit sweet but no carbs. If not a creamy taste person so even tea is a bit bland. But these are a godsend.

but overall you have to want to do it.

It’s hard and it’s more than that but you can’t use such words here!!
I’ve been mega low carb (less than 10g some days) since new year and it’s getting easier.
Everything triggers me. mid i hear something on radio I get a craving. People on zoo eating snacks or talking about food makes me crave. So I made snacks. So I also have food with me.

but at the end of the day it has to come from you.
I’m so determined because I think I’ve solved issue. The feeling rotten every so often was a nightmare while working and I couldn’t do it. So my aim is by doing this now while I’m stuck at home when I ever get back to work hopefully my overall big sugars will be low enough and my body used to them that I won’t go through those nasty drops again.

imseriously worried about Easter because Easter eggs are my favourite. But I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. It’s a few weeks off yet so a lot of good work till then.

good luck.
 
I have nothing that is scary or worth enough for me to fight the urge.
 
I’ve tried cold turkey and it never ever worked so I tried taking fast food off my diet then sugary foods and that worked for 2 weeks. But that’s it. Cant do it any longer
 
ariaxo said:
I’ve tried cold turkey and it never ever worked so I tried taking fast food off my diet then sugary foods and that worked for 2 weeks. But that’s it. Cant do it any longer
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But you are a T1 right? (would be really helpful if you completed your profile).

According to many T1's here carbs are fine if accompanied by the correct insulin dose.
Personally I disagree but is it just your insulin management that is at fault here rather than your carb addiction?
 
I’ve stopped drinking normal soda and I have diet soda and that’s the only change I’ve made because diet soda to me it’s just the same taste as the normal one. But the no carb crisps and chocolates don’t have that same feeling and they are most likely expensive and not in normal supermarkets. Even if they were, they don’t give me that same high feeling and dark chocolate tastes disgusting to me. I have hot chocolate from time to time but I need my crisps and Chocolate and cake
 
I am type 1

My previous diabetic nurse said that but my current one seems to think my diet is the root cause of all my issues. It’s not just diabetes it’s ruining, it’s just the fact it’s very unhealthy and I am close to being overweight. And my diet is just sugar and nothing else. I want to be healthy

I don’t know how people can go all day without sugar
 
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