Damn the Carbs!!!

Just venting guys - but I cannot get away from the carbs!!!! I eat them and boy do they go down fabulously! If I eat dense protein I can barely eat a small portion - so why don't I stick to that? I eat carbs and I seem to be a bottomless pit! UGHHHH! Sucks when you know what to do but you just can't stick to it.

Carbs are not our friend but darn they taste so good!!  I just can't handle a lot of carbs, even the healthy ones.  I do much better with protein and low carb.  I fill up quickly at a meal but I can snack just fine.  I was eating way too many snacks and had to put the breaks on that.  Now I have 2 planned snacks each day and figure their nutritional value into my whole day's food.

 I love my carbs....but I what I really love it the CRUNCH!!!!  So I went to a local health food store and found some high fiber crackers that me the crunch I want, but dont wreck the hard work!!  Dr. Cracker Seedlander crackers actually have like 6 grams of protien and they are delicious!   Good luck controling the carb lust!!!

Kat

Amen sister.  Last night I made a great meaty chili and some garlic sourdough for my family.  I ended up leaving the chili and eating the bread for dinner instead.

Not good.

 garlic sourdough?! that sounds wonderful

Ok, while I get what folks mean when they say "carbs are not our friend" (meaning processed carbs, I would hope), we need to change or lingo here.

And to illustrate why, let me offer this analogy.

Some women are bad drivers, but does it not **** you off, as a women, when a man says "Damn women drivers!" Even though you KNOW they probably only mean the bad ones, it's the mentality.

So...getting back to carbs. You all know there are ones that are beneficial to our weight loss process and ones that are not. You also know when it comes to cravings, we probably go for the not-so-great ones. This is not any sort of chemical or physical reaction so much as it is a learned habit. You've built whole mental processes to liking and preferring those foods.

And the only way to change that, I'm afraid, is to change it. The only way to replace one habitual routine is by creating another. That's not easy. Nor is it particularly fun. When you want a potato chip, eating an apple slice almost seems laughable.

What I suggest for others (and what I've had to do myself several times) is this:

Start by doing a one-to-one replacement. That is to say if you like chips, get some Kay's Natural protein chips instead. Or some other replacement that is very similar in taste and texture to what you originally craved but that has much better nutrition.

Then slowly start integrating different options in there. Maybe a few days you do the apple slices instead of the protein chips or soy crisps.

Then seek to balance it out so that you sometimes have one, sometimes have the other, but eventually your brain will become satisfied with either because you have taught it that this is the way you are willing to satisfy carb cravings.

As with anything, Rome wasn't built in a day. New behavior isn't learned in a day or a year or even two years sometimes. But we work at it and we get better.

Nik, very well said... I always get something from your posts every single time.  Thanks!

Very, very well said. 

It's the posts like this that make us all love you Nik!! I'll be 2 years out next month, and you always speak truths that hold me accountable and teach me something important.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

PAULA -- I see from your ticker that you're almost at goal! Good job! Congrats! Now may I ask please: Is this attraction to carbs a recent change? If there have been no recent changes to your food habits, then I say don't worry, and good luck with the last 20 pounds! But if you HAVE noticed recent changes, then that's a whole 'nother story, and please elaborate so we can help you better!

KAT -- Have you tried soy chips? Nice and crispy, and lots of protein! My supermarket has one brand in the potato chips aisle, and another brand in the health food aisle.