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Junk Food Temptation

Type2Guy

Well-Known Member
Messages
94
Location
Chicago, IL
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
In popular culture the term junk food junkie is casually employed by many looking to invert their undeserved guilt over a sugary snack with the same ease at which many identify as being OCD when thinking of how they want to keep their work space tidy. However, in my particular case, I cover the pathology to genuinely qualify for the pair of labels at an Olympic level, which made a diabetes diagnosis seemingly inevitable given my obsessive pursuit of starch, sugar and salt in nearly every conceivable taste combination over four decades until it all came to a halt last month. I have been stalwartly committed to a low carbohydrate high healthy fat diet since diagnosis, but with each passing day the weight of abandoning control for the delicious chaotic over-indulgence of damaging foods feels like it would be a welcome act of self destructive liberation from the perpetuity of this management regime.

It is so very hard to shut down that negative yearning, which is why I find it an invaluable service to actively connect to a network of others with diabetes for support, inspiration and hope in this trying time.

Thank you for reading this.
 
The problem with so-called self-destructive habits is they're not at all efficient at the destruction part - they take years of abuse and a slow erosion of everything worthwhile before they reach their inevitable conclusion. So the end result is really a very long drawn out and miserable process for everybody concerned.

I have a cousin of a similar age to myself who has been self-destructing for as long as I can remember - in her case a combination of alcohol/cigarette abuse and anorexia. She only now appears to be entering the end stage phase of her self-destruction. I figure there have to be far more efficient and infinitely faster ways of commiting suicide
 
That is very true and heart heavy. I feel a guilt laden hesitancy drawing an influential deterrent from anyone's downfall, but sometimes illustrating the consequence of poor choices is extremely helpful. I don't equate my former eating habits with anorexia as weight loss wasn't ever a factor, although there is a feeling of disordered eating that I never really intellectualized until my diabetes diagnosis. I have zero fear of death, but I am profoundly terrified of the dying part, so suicidal ideation is fortunately not on the menu of my long list of neurotic choices.
 
I recognise your description of disordered eating. Why not leave it in the past? That was then and now is now.

I used to feel at the mercy of food rather than nourished by it, and, happily, don't feel like that now.

It has taken me a while to relax and let a high fat and low carb diet enable me to deal with those food cravings that haunt many many people, diabetic or not. I never dreamt that it was possible, but it really is.

I've chosen to blame the foods, not myself: I believe that 'comfort-eating' ends up being anything but. As you say, it is addictive.
 
Sorry to hear that you are finding the start of this journey so tough but hang in there, it does get easier! It really helps if you enjoy (or could learn to enjoy) cooking. The thing that I have found really helpful has been finding foods that I can use to replace carbs which trick my brain into thinking I'm eating carbs, that way I don't feel I'm missing out. For example cauliflower has been my new best friend. Grate it then fry in coconut oil to make cauliflower rice, mash it and it looks like mashed potato, lovely roasted, can be used to make pizza base etc. I use almond or coconut flour to make cakes, biscuits, pancakes, muffins and crackers. I always find it helpful to have low carb snacks in the house eg nuts, cheese, olives etc as LCHF way of eating is certainly not as instantaneous as being able to grab a sandwich / packet of crisps etc. If you want some meal ideas there are lots on this forum - try here: http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/what-have-you-eaten-today.75781/ . I think success stems from being organised with your eating - maybe try writing a weekly menu plan if you are in a position to do so. Make a shopping list and stick to it (or if you don't trust yourself in the supermarket, ask someone to do the shop for you). Stay strong - you can do it and it will be so worth it when you are in control of your BS levels and are leading a healthy, complication-free life.
 
I had similar feelings when I started on this - not long ago, just at the beginning of this year. I wasn't particularly into junk food (although I liked it) but I was very happy as a luscious, hungry, fat woman who ate whatever she liked and enjoyed every morsel. It was a decades long antidote to tortured dieting in my twenties and early thirties, where I stayed thin through starving!

It has also always felt important to me to be adaptable - to be able to go out into the world and find what I need rather than planning and lugging stuff with me, and the thought that every day out and weekend away would require planning, pre-cooking and packing made my heart sink.

Anyway, turned out I was wrong. The beauty of LCHF for me is that I never feel deprived, I eat delicious, luscious food every day (and still lose weight). I've eaten out a few times and still managed to have lots of lovely food - oh the joy of asking for extra cream or cheese!! I've also managed fine out and about, even if lunch has consisted of slices of ham and cheese rolled up together and eaten as I drive along! I've even eaten a MacDonalds - discarding the bun and eating the rest and I have to say, messy though it was, it was delicious.

But what's happened for me is that actually, eating the right food at last, I find my hunger is less urgent and compelling, my appetite reduced and my cravings virtually gone. I eat two or three good LCHF meals a day, I eat til I'm full and I rarely get hungry in between, want snacks, or crave food that's not good for me. I'm still fat, but I'm getting thinner by the week, not only because of the food I'm eating, but because I'm now so full of energy I walk further and faster everyday and occasionally break into a wobbly jog.

I'm happy, I'm well, I still stuff my face. Life is good ;-)
 
Hi Type2 Guy,
It's pretty miserable when food that has been part of your life suddenly becomes forbidden. I find that focussing on what I can eat is better than worrying about what I can't have.
However, early days are when you need to modify your palate and be strict - what things in particular cause you to lament. Maybe we can think of alternatives.
Best wishes
Adam
 
You're not alone!

On the first wave of euphoria at learning there was something I could do to normalise my blood sugar levels, combined with the knowledge that going wheat-free meant I was – for the first time in years – IBS- and severe acid reflux-free (miracle!), I found it fairly easy to stick to a low carb diet. In the beginning. But I felt very much at the mercy of my food cravings and even though they definitely lessened on a low carb diet they didn’t disappear completely. It felt like I was constantly falling off the wagon, clambering back on and promptly falling off again!

Over the years I’ve trained in various therapies and I totally bought into the idea that emotions were the driving force behind my compulsive overeating. The problem was no matter how many emotions I “dealt” with the food addiction remained. Something wasn’t quite right, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

I recently discovered a book written by a woman who cured herself of Bulimia – she was influenced by a book she’d read written by an ex-addict who’d cured himself of alcoholism – and both their books are about the way our brains work. They both premise (and I’m wildly paraphrasing here) that for as many emotions as are associated with our addiction problems (in their two cases food and drink) the real problem is the strong habit (of using the substance) created in our sub-cortex – the primitive, animalistic, instinctive part of our brain. I learned from this book that through regularly overeating in the past I had physically changed my brain and it is that habit of overeating that is driving my overeating!

Eating (and overeating in times of plenty) is/was a basic survival drive in all of us. The pleasure-centres of the brain (those areas stimulated by the very food (often carb/sugar-heavy) that we usually overeat) are also located in the sub-cortex. So the habit (of regularly overeating “tasty” foods) and the brain-stimulation that arises from eating those types of food combine to create a strong neural pathway in the sub-cortex which constantly and strongly urges us to overeat. Emotions be damned it’s all about the neural pathways!

The book helped me to understand that the cravings to overeat were just instincts; that the sub-cortex doesn’t care whether we need to eat or not, it’s just been conditioned by our own actions to remind us to continue those actions; and that the instincts are entirely powerless. They are just reminders. Whether I act on them or not is entirely my decision. I realized this answered the questions that had been going round my head for so long – who is the me who was having the cravings and who is the me observing the cravings I was having? Apparently the answer is the “lower” primitive brain and the “higher” thinking brain.

Reading the book, reading the science, understanding that my instincts are just that and I don’t have to act on them and that my emotions have absolutely nothing to do with them has, well, freed me.

I would never have believed it was even possible to do except that I’ve done it. I've learned to recognize my habit voice and I’ve learned to ignore it and carry on with my life. For me - that means I’m back to losing weight. For you it could be what you need to continue that "stalwart commitment"

(If you’re interested the two books are: Brain over Binge by Kathryn Hansen and Rational Recovery by Jack Trimpey)

Good luck!
 
[QUOTE="Type2Guy, post: 903501, member: 193282"However, in my particular case, I cover the pathology to genuinely qualify for the pair of labels at an Olympic level, which made a diabetes diagnosis seemingly inevitable given my obsessive pursuit of starch, sugar and salt in nearly every conceivable taste combination over four decades until it all came to a halt last month. I have been stalwartly committed to a low carbohydrate high healthy fat diet since diagnosis, but with each passing day the weight of abandoning control for the delicious chaotic over-indulgence of damaging foods feels like it would be a welcome act of self destructive liberation from the perpetuity of this management regime.

Thank you for reading this.[/QUOTE]
Hi @Type2Guy if it's any consolation I ate healthily and still got T2 diabetes and I am now eating more of what I used to consider, or had been led to believe, was unhealthy such as burgers and sausages (95% meat content), butter, cream and full fat, as opposed to low fat, foods! On the plus side it's tastier, my hba1c is now down to 36, I'm loosing weight slowly but surely and I feel better than I have for years! On the negative side it's costing me a fortune in clothes because I have to get a smaller size every 3 months!
 

Wonderful post IMHO , all the essentials explained in a nutshell.
 
Type2Guy - You are definitely not alone.... I've noticed that I don't post my wagon crashing days. I have had a toxic relationship with carb heavy food for years, like toxic relationships, those things that are 'bad' can feel sooo f-ing goooood. But like another poster has said, it's the long game of destruction....

Taming the beast is a journey that you've started - no matter what you've improved your numbers. I've found that if I bring my focus to one day at a time, one meal at a time, one sweat inducing activity at a time, I don't have near panic attacks at my future on planet diabetes. Doesn't mean I don't get frustrated and generally pi***d off at unpredictable times - I am trusting these wonderful people on this forum that it gets easier.

I still want a cigarette 7yrs after giving up (21yrs of Benson n Hedges joy) Today I choose not to have one.

Your not alone.

Jo x
 
Just to be contrary, at the moment I'm enjoying the novelty of my new food regime. I've cooked food I would not have considered before and really enjoyed it (such as Spinach Surrender). This afternoon I was with my family at an Italian Restaurant and worried about what on earth I could order. Then I saw it - sirloin steak cooked with stilton & mozzarella and finished with cream. I swapped the potatoes for a nice salad and it was brilliant. I would never have thought to try it before.

My point is - you've got a load of new possibilities for new favourite foods.
 
Inno T2 guy...I no longer analyze this problem...it just plain sucks.
 
It does get easier once you accept that there isn't much of a choice unless you want to go down the road of medication and insulin. Right now you have a choice. Choose to indulge your ''needs'' for carb laden foods OR choose to improve your diet and say no to them. The reward is that you could avoid the complications and medications further down the line. You can protect your feet and limbs and your eyesight from damage that will be permanent. When I heard the diagnosis myself I said ''no way can i go without the fries and cake and ice cream'' when the mood took me to eat them, which was incidentally not often. I didn't cause my condition by eating 'junk'....life just decided it was how it was going to be and left me to deal with it. I had the obvious choice of just ignoring it and hoping it would go away or the choice to face it head on and do the best I could. Thankfully I found this forum when I was in a very dark place. I had little knowledge and saw no way to deal with this damned diabetes BUT .....here I found support and caring people that were willing to listen and answer my sometimes stupid questions. The least I could do was try after all their efforts and do you know what?.....I am so glad I did listen and act on their advice. I have never felt better health wise and hopefully when I get my Hba1c checked in a few weeks I will be told it is within a non diabetic range. That will be the biggest reward and make all the denying myself that pack of chips or bar of chocolate so worthwhile. Oh and today...in the heat of summer I walked by the ice cream van and didn't even glance at it because I have accepted that things have changed now.....and you will accept it too in time. You are almost ''in mourning'' for what was and can't be now....but you will get past it in time
 
Thank-you for posting this - sums up entirely my situation.

I was regularly binge eating junk food years before type 1 diagnosis. This to the extent that I would need to make myself vomit because it was physically too painful to hold the food in (i.e. bulimic not through wanting to be thin or to get rid of what I had eaten...more a serious binge eater who had to vomit as a consequence, if that makes sense). Very much an addiction.

8 years later and, despite trying daily to stop as I know it is extremely dangerous, it is all as bad as ever. Ironically, I am not overweight and my hba1c is always under 6 or just slightly over, as I cover the food appropriately with insulin. I get nothing but praise at the diabetes clinic and have no signs of any complications, which in a perverse way is unhelpful as I could do with some stark motivation to really kick this.

I've done counselling, self-help, you name it. No difference. I agree with one of the posters above that Brain Over Binge is a fantastic book, and I do honestly feel it is more a habit than anything emotional. I have nothing to be emotionally needy about, other than normal ups and downs which everyone experiences. But I struggle to implement any kind of strategy for longer than a few days. My last request to the NHS for help was humiliating and dismissed as 'not a problem deserving NHS resources as entirely self-inflicted'. While I do not entirely disagree with that , had I presented with diabetes coupled with alcohol or drug addiction - where the same argument could be used - I suspect I would have been able to access help.

Anyway, I accept I'm on my own and that this is my responsibility ultimately, but any tips/suggestions from those of you who have faced similar difficulties and overcome them would be welcomed. I don't want to carry on this way.
 
Are you related to Type2Guy perchance lol ?
 

@type_1_girl Have a look at this site:

http://www.dwed.org.uk

I'm sorry you didn't get any help when you asked for it. I hope you can find something to help you on that site.

Take care. X
 
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