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Hunger - no particular logic here

LittleGreyCat

Well-Known Member
Retired Moderator
Messages
4,432
Location
Suffolk, UK
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Diet drinks - the artificial sweeteners taste vile.
Having to forswear foods I have loved all my life.
Trying to find low carb meals when eating out.
I am usually in ketosis but from time to time I get carbohydrate cravings which are hard to resist.
Often this is when my partner gets a loaf of bread (especially sourdough) and I get a craving for cheese toastie and baked beans which was a childhood staple and is a family tradition.

However I have just fasted for my 6 monthly bloods and my appetite seems to have gone.
Not complaining as I am dropping a few pounds because I am eating very little, but there is sourdough, cheese and baked beans in the house and I'm not very interested.

I do have a bit of a bad back which may be distracting me from food, but it is all very strange.

Anyway, on the principle of using lemons to make lemonade I'm not fighting it and waiting with interest to see how long I can go on dropping weight before I get fed up and have an attack of the munchies.

Perhaps all I need is a minor distraction and carbohydrate cravings are just a side effect of minor boredom. What shall I do next? Mmmmm....food!

Not recommending putting your back out as a weight loss strategy, though.
 
Hi @LittleGreyCat, Sorry to hear of your troubles.
I wonder whether the smell of bread and maybe even sight and touch evoke tastes and memories which stimulate appetite and cravings. Whilst wearing a nose peg, dark glasses and gloves might ameliorate this, I am not sure how fashionable it is to do so!!
I am not sure how fasting works to dull appetite unless there is a possible increase in ketosis and accompanying nausea etc.
I hope your back improves soon. Best Wishes.
 

I read that the great Dr Bernstein was still attracted to the aroma of freshly backed bread 30 years after he gave the stuff up. Supermarkets often bake bread on site and exploit the enticing smells to elicit the Pavlov reaction from their customers. Its also a trick used by people selling their houses, to invite potential customers over when they are baking bread, accentuates the cosy homely sensations. My wife makes and eats toast in my presence, I just think of the damage it would do to me and that turns off my receptors. Took some time to learn this and I think most of us struggle with this issue.
 
I was reading somewhere about how hunger comes in waves and it rang true for me especially at the beginning of LCHF. The waves lasted roughly twenty minutes then would pass and they tended to start at the times that I was used to eating. As I take a drug (not Diabetes related) which promotes appetite I struggled for a time but eventually I learned which was the real hunger signal and which was the 'Gabapentin Munchies' as I call them. I now eat twice per day but I could happily go OMAD if only for the fact that I am on food dependant drugs. Funnily enough hunger never gave me nausea or dizziness etc just a squeaky, rumbling tummy at the beginning, these days I can answer the signal by eating and forget about eating for 10-12 hours - something that I find strangely liberating.
 

Hmmmmm, if my other half brought sourdough bread into my house he would be out the door!
 
KK123 said:
Hmmmmm, if my other half brought sourdough bread into my house he would be out the door!
Click to expand...

I can comfortably have bread in the house but I have to be honest and say I havn't baked bread at home since diagnosis. I think I might crack even though I no longer crave any kind of bread at all. I know my limitations
 
KK123 said:
Hmmmmm, if my other half brought sourdough bread into my house he would be out the door!
Click to expand...

If my partner thought it was dong me harm then she wouldn't buy it.
She has made a lot of sacrifices and been enormously supportive. She also gently prompts me if I am showing signs of drifting from the straight and narrow.
In turn I am generally strong enough for her to eat "normally" without upsetting me.
Reduced cheesecake slices from M&S the other day, but I am strong! Made of iron! {sob}

I do regret lost foods. I had perfected a five grain brown wholemeal loaf in the bread maker which was to die for. Ummm... Which is why the bread maker is in the loft.

Some things are more about the idea, though. I have tried the occasional small slice of pizza (from herself's plate) when eating out and I find myself thinking "Is that it? What's all the hype about?". I think that because pizza used to be an eat out treat when the kids were young it has an enhanced memory. Pasta, though.....
 

Yup. I had the same experience with mince pies last Christmas. I thought I'd really struggle but the fact was I found them a little sickly. This from a person who could easily eat six boxes over the Christmas fortnight.
I won't bother buying any this year, instead I will buy the most expensive joint of meat I can find in Yorkshire and guard it against the rest of my family like a rottweiller!
 

Hi littlegreycat, I was only joking of course, you sound like you have a great partner. My lot bring stuff that I prefer not to eat into the house all of the time, I wouldn't expect them not to, I know it's down to me to make my own choices. With the pizza thing, have you tried using lo dough if you did decide to try it again? I tried it for the first time last week and was surprised how delicious it was when used as a base for pizza.
 
I can't have sweets out though - my lot need to hide them from me! Toooooooo hard and upsetting to see them and not eat them.
 
Of all the things I have had to give up, coffee is the one that caused (and still causes) the greatest pain.
And yes, I know that coffee isn't carby. I had to give it up for other reasons.
But goodness, I miss it.
And the smell wafting up from other people's cups, and out of shop doorways, and across the room...
 
I miss toast and marmalade. I have tried the low carb breads but they just dont measure up for me. I see Duers do a half sugar marmalade but have swerved that too. I dread becoming ill with a cold because tea and toast always equals comfort for me. Oh well I can still have tea I suppose.
 
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