HFLC Diets how to stop cravings

annabell1 said:

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.

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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 - 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