Confessions of a carb queen

[morningstar]

Hey guys,

I need your thoughts here. I am a vegetarian carb queen- specifically, all kinds of breads (except sweeter breads) are my huge downfall for any nutritional planning I do. I actually prefer healthier breads with whole grains, but a great white bread will go down the gullet too. I can eat a whole loaf at a time, no problem. I generally put healthy things on bread, like hummus, hardboiled eggs, low fat tzatziki, sometimes natural peanut butter, but the sheer quantity of bread that I am more than happy to eat is a problem. I simply crave bread and I have since I was a little kid.

I can take or leave alcohol, not really into fruit, can ignore sweets most of the time, hate pasta with a burning passion, don't crave fats, etc., but breads do me in every time. My diet is generally healthy- 5 small meals a day (unless I decide to eat that loaf of bread!), eating every 3-4 hours, the right kinds of fats, lots of veggies, lean proteins, very few sweets, that kind of thing. I currently follow BFFM mostly, but the bread thing is getting in the way of my following it or any other plan comprehensively.

So how do I reach my nutrition and body composition goals given this issue? I was considering the South Beach diet, but any plan that deliberately limits the only foods I crave seems destined for me to fail. I eat a large percentage of my calories as protein, but that doesn't seem to affect my bread cravings at all. Being a vegetarian, the Mediterranean diet is pretty much out as I don't eat fish.

If anyone has any suggestions as to how to control my bread cravings, or at least find a nutrition plan that accomodates the cravings without derailing my goals, that would be great!!!

On a completely different topic, isn't it weird how Nickelback's songs all sound exactly the same?

 

[LauraMax]

I don't know if there's any diet where you won't have cravings. My ex hubby calls diets "food intake modification programs." A little crazy sounding & not as easy to say as "diet," but his point was that diets are kind of a temporary thing, but eating right for weight loss & health should be a lifestyle.

Carbs are not my friend--I blow up like a balloon when I eat them. I stay away from bread as much as I can, but I'm always craving it. And pizza. And pasta.

I can't give you much advice, other than to tell you something you probably already know--you have to give yourself a cheat day, so when you get that craving you can say to yourself "can't wait til Saturday (or whenever) to eat that!" Something to look forward to.

On a related note, OMG, YOU HATE PASTA???????? Girl, do you live below the Mason Dixon line or something?

 

[morningstar]

Weird, right? For some reason, I have hated pasta since I was about 9 years old. I mean, I HATE pasta- I have nightmares about eating it and still haven't forgiven a boss that served it to me at a dinner at her house about 10 years ago (she knew that I had a phobia about it and still served it, knowing that I wouldn't say anything and would eat it, just because she was my boss and we had issues). Don't like noodles, or any other pasta-esque foods either.

I do consider how I eat to be a nutrition plan rather than a diet, but the South Beach and Mediterranean diets call themselves that, so I referred to them as such.

 

[Peaceful Rainbow]

I'm no help either, I'm a vegan carb queen myself. But, I don't limit mine to bread and I do like pasta. I've been on a pancake kick. I was actually raw for a little over two years with no problem, but once I went back to eating cooked vegan I hopped right back on the cooked carb horse.

I just heard about this book - "Thrive : the vegan nutrition guide to optimal performance in sports and life" by Brendan Brazier and I've got it on hold at the library and I'll be picking it up this Saturday. I'll post a review after I read it.

 

[ldy_solana]

i LOVE potatoes. i can make a meal out of them. just top a nice bake potatoe with loads of veggies and cheese MMMMMM i am now having scalloped potatoes with califlower,broccoli and baby carrots mixed in.

sweet potatoes ARE a main dish at thanksgiving!

although not a carb i also crave cheese and lots of it,except that crap in a can or the american slices".

kassia

 

[Janis]

Potatoes are my thing too.

Never really liked pasta or pizza or bread.

My dh, the popcorn pusher, is my challenge at the moment. He makes it every night, and every night I say I am not eating any, and every night I am practically licking the bowl clean. And every morning I am kicking myself. And gee - running in a fasted state is no longer an issue - I am pretty well glycogen primed for a fasting run.

Ages ago, when I was reading up on food allergies, one of the 'symptoms' listed was craving for the allergic food. What happens when you go off of bread?

 

[jansherman]

Here's a link to an article for carb lovers. It might make you feel a little better about your bread "addiction." My only advice is to make yourself limt the amount you eat, or tell yourself you can have as much as you want 2 hours before your workout and 1 hour afterward. After that - no more. You may have to just keep it out of the house. You can do it!

http://figureathlete.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/most_recent/choose_your_diet_lose_your_fat

 

[syzygy314]

Is there something you like more than bread that is healthy that you could sub in it's place? Maybe, if you could find a food that you would prefer, you could slowly start replacing the bread (maybe one serving a week) until you have whittled the bread intake down and don't miss it anymore.

Don't know if that's possible (finding something you like BETTER than your food addiction), but I thought it might be an idea to try!

Good luck!

Tricia

 

[toughYrun]

I'm an omnivorous carb queen and bread is also my downfall. I swear I could eat a whole loaf of warm buttered toast in 1/2 of a day. Any kind of soft, fresh bread doesn't stand a chance around me. And my daughter's discarded pizza crust? Mine, mine, mine!!!

These days, as I try to drop some poundage, I just don't allow myself to eat bread except on a weekly cheat day, as Laura mentioned above. I've lost 10 lbs avoiding the foods I crave 6 out of 7 days.

In between those days, when I want a sandwhich I just take all the stuff I would normaly put between two slices of bread and wrap it up in a huge lettuce leaf. The first time DH saw me do that he was like, WTH???

I know how difficult it is to resist.

 

[RapidBreath]

Sounds like an essential fatty acid deficiency. Do you take fish oil? Or borage oil or evening primrose oil? Even upping the intake of olive oil will help.

 

[morningstar]

Sounds like an essential fatty acid deficiency. Do you take fish oil? Or borage oil or evening primrose oil? Even upping the intake of olive oil will help.

I get quite a lot of Omega 3s through flax seed and eggs that came from chickens that eat a lot of flax seed, but I know there's more than one kind of Omega 3s, and maybe I'm not getting enough of all of the different kinds???

 

[Afreet]

I get quite a lot of Omega 3s through flax seed and eggs that came from chickens that eat a lot of flax seed, but I know there's more than one kind of Omega 3s, and maybe I'm not getting enough of all of the different kinds???

Walnuts? There are also vegan DHA supplements you can obtain from places like veganessentials.com and the like.

But I have found that supplementation makes no difference, really, in my desire to devour every slice of bread, cookie, and especially cake that crosses my path! I think it's just our general human genetic drive that makes us crave these things. So it's normal, but you can totally manage it.

I like the La Tortilla Factory low carb tortillas (or Trader Joe's reduced carb tortillas). Mind you, I'm not on a low-carb diet, but these substitutes slash a lot of calories and carbs that don't have a lot of nutrtional value. I find that a wrap in a tortilla (or even on a giant collard leaf or lettuce leaf) is totally satisfying and I don't miss the bread too much. Hummus, spinach, sprouts, olives, tomatoes and cukes in a wrap is AWESOME - and you save 100-200 calories by skipping the bread. I also love TLTs (tempeh "bacon", lettuce and tomato with vegan mayo...mmmmm) in a low-carb wrap.

For me, I just have to avoid bringing the refined carbs home with me. As long as they don't end up in my house (or in my car - I once ate half a challah on my way to my parents' house! ), the cravings come and go, but are manageable. And my cravings are practically their own people. Mobsters, in fact. With henchmen! Burly henchmen who WANT CUPCAKES NOW.

 

[jonahnah]

Are you still doing 90-120 min. of exercise daily? If so, I think your body wants carb energy desperately and is sending you craving signals. Why don't you eat fruit? If you aren't getting 2-3 fruit servings/day, your body is lacking a lot of phytonutrients and vitamins. You may be eating bread when your body wants fruit so you're compounding the cycle by not giving it what it needs.

Finally, like the above poster said, don't buy it. You can't eat what's not there.

BTW, I LOVE pasta, pizza and just discovered yukon gold potatoes which totally rock!

 

[morningstar]

Are you still doing 90-120 min. of exercise daily?

I do still exercise a lot daily- it changes all the time, but lately mostly sprint intervals, long walks, circuits with cardio or straight strength training. So, different levels of intensity, but in general, lots of movement throughout the day. Of course, yesterday I only did two long walks and ate a loaf of EPI bakery whole grain multi-grain bread, which is only the best bread in the whole freakin' world, if anyone's asking!

The only time I eat fruit is in my protein shakes: I most often use chocolate whey protein isolate, fat-free cottage cheese, berries, ground flax seed and nutmeg or cinnamon to make my shakes.