The FastDay Forum

Izzy, ANY carbs?

Excuse the curiosity but when I am on steroids they tell me to avoid excess white carbs, sugar and salt but they make sure to tell me to not avoid fresh fruit, veggies, wholewheat pasta, grains and pulses.

Ah, so you do pretty much what I was told, but you avoid pulses and grains as well. Whatever works for you and keeps you healthy, is definitely the best plan!!!

TML13 - I wrote a reply to your question about whether or not I was really addicted to carbs, and it disappeared when I tried to submit it.

I'll try to remember what I wrote!

Several years ago, I virtually lived on sugary foods, and hardly ever bothered with anything healthy.

Eventually, I realised how stupid this was, and cut out sugar totally. I didn't do it gradually, and was really shaking within a couple of hours.

It took 7 weeks for the cravings to stop. Even now, if I eat chocolate, cake etc., it sets everything off again, and I just can't stop!

For this reason, I don't buy anything with sugar in any more.

WOW!
I used to be addicted to Coke and went cold feet to stop it but now I drink it from time to time with no problem.

[wildmissus]

Thanks for your replies everyone. You've made me realise that I've been drinking a lot more diet drinks recently and I just wonder if that is making me want more sugary stuff especially as this phase has only been the last couple of weeks.

Wildmissus, I've been told to try and not eat aspartame unless I add a little sugar in my drink/food because if we eat/drink something sweet our body is prepared for sugar and if there's no sugar in our stomach it starts looking for it.
To be honest, when I first heard it I thought "hhhhmmmmmmm" but then my cousin lost 20 pounds by quitting diet cola and I thought "WTF"?
And then it hit me that without realising, when I'm on a diet, I never drink Diet Coke because it makes me more hungry so... there ya go!

Forgot to say, no loss after yesterday's fast but no gain either. I decided to repeat the same routine next week.
Two days attack, one fast day, one non-fast day, one fast day, weekend!

Good luck TML13! Sounds like a plan. I'm trying to do more protein and exercise but have considered fasting 4 days instead of 3...Not sure yet. Weight loss is happening but slowly. This weekend is a 3 day weekend so I'm going to try to work out a LOT which I don't do as much during the workweek.

Thanks for all the great comments everyone. Very informative. I don't believe aspartame is the "enemy" for those of us who can tolerate it, but am now convinced to cut back on diet sodas, esp on fast days. I'll let you know if I see any results...

Well done TML13 and good luck for this week!!

Gosh, this thread is an eye opener. Like a lot of you I was carb addicted, still prefer them but this regime has certainly tamed the sugar beast in me to quite a marked degree. I can still get rid of a family sized bar of chocolate, no wait, make that a Eurosized bar of chocolate faster than the speed of light, whoosh, gone, now you see it, now you don't. They say that the hand can move faster than the eye can see, well, in my case, the MOUTH can move faster than the eye can see and if I liked plastic or tinfoil I would not even stop to unwrap the beast!

Miffy, you seem to be having a harder time than most and I would love to be able to tell you how to get to where you want to be but everyone else has given you such brilliant advice that there is nothing that I can add except, we are all rooting for you so please stick with it.

Ballerina x

Hi Miffy and Wildmissus,

Sorry you're having such a bumpy time, my tuppenny suggestion for getting-off-a-plateau: go 'raw' for a couple of weeks, i.e. you can eat *anything* that you like as long as it has not been processed and / or cooked! If you want rice or pulses you'll need to sprout them etc; dairy is off the menu (though lots of people make an exception for yoghurt); and many allow the odd seed or nut; cold pressed oils are fine, of course. I promise you, you will have a seriously hard time overeating, and any carbohydrates you do take in will be 'good' ones.

Leslie Kenton's Raw Food Bible was the definitive guide for this some years ago - I did 'raw' for about six months and it was delicious, energising, revitalising and magic.

Downsides are :food preparation and eating times (you need to eat an awfy lot of raw fruit and veggies to get to a 1500 TDEE); organic veggies are recommended but horribly more expensive; a sturdy food processor and a juicer are pretty essential.

If (when!) I next get stuck, this is certainly what I'll try to get unstuck... Good luck.

Oooh, and for those hooked on diet juice/gunk, Bottle Green cordials added to fizzy water are great alternatives, albeit not totally calorie free. 20ml of ginger & lemongrass added to 2 litres of fizzy is really refreshing and only 60cals for the whole 2 litres; use less for just a hint of flavour and less calories...

My favourite *calorie free* (yay!) addition for fizzy water is the ground seeds of two or three green cardamom pods (I have a salt/pepper mill dedicated to such a purpose!).

I hope soon to try making some spice tinctures for adding to fizzy water - I'll report back on progress!

Hmmm thats set me off! I think I have the remains of a bottle of their elderflower thats lovely in fizzy water. Will give the cardamom a try and would be interested in your experiment with tinctures. I used to make my own infused oils and tinctures but haven't done any for a couple of years. I lost a lot of my herb plants in the wet weather and had to replace them.

I have wondered in the past what truth there is in the theory about sweeteners triggering insulin production but opinions seem to vary and research on sweeteners seems to belong to either the sweetener producers or the sugar manufacturers so its hardly unbiased!

Thank you all very much for your comments and wishes! I will continue updating this thread, hopefully with my downwards progress.

Ballerina, if we lived closer I'd challenge you to see who can do it faster, LOL! I did once eat a bit of aluminum foil and my dad has eaten paper. I guess I got some pretty greedy genes!

Now, the final is in 65 minutes and the pizzas will be here in 50. Canny wait!!!

Forgot to add... Stevia is a sweetener that is treated like sugar by the stomach so perhaps it is the best solution.