PROCESSED FOOD WITHDRAWALS???

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amanda12485

Guest
I recently decided to go to clean eating and am wondering if your body goes through withdrawals from the bad food you were used to eating. I seem to have horrible cravings for that bad food now. I am usually good for about 3 days eating clean then I just get these horrible cravings. Has anyone else experienced this? what did you do?
 
I generally don't eat processed foods but I also would not call my diet "clean" (mostly because of my own personal dislike of that term). Anyway I pretty much cook from scratch, only buy things with ingredients I would use if I were making it at home, so no HFS, partially hydrogenated oils, things I can't pronounce etc. Having said that sometimes I just want to eat something unhealthy for the fun factor. Usually the closest thing to that I would have in the house is dark chocolate and that just doesn't cut it. Most time the craving just goes away (as cravings tend to do) because the effort it would take to go to a store or restaurant to indulge is just too much and since I don't have anything on hand, well.. But sometimes I do indulge. I usually plan it out, for instance I WILL get a Sprinkles cupcake on my birthday this month and if we go on a road trip I do research into any possible pie places that need checking out. Small indulgences here and there won't sabotage your diet. Just like anything else planning helps. And you don't have to eat a whole bag of chips or box of cookies, a small treat goes a long way to curb cravings.
 
Yes, I know what you're talking aobut. I went clean about 3 months ago, and it's still hard at times with cravings. Not so much for processed foods, but for sweets! What helps me - and this is kind of weird, but it works - is having a glass of water with greens (I use Vitamineral Greens). It's a powder you mix into water and it has all kinds of healthy greens in it. It's raw and vegan.
Also, I came up with a "compromise" for myself as far as sweets go: I got rid of everything in the house except some dark chocolate covered almonds that I treat myself to when I really have a sweet tooth. I figure it's not all that bad.
In your case, you could just try to phase out the bad processed foods slowly, instead of all of a sudden. That might help...So instead of eating clean 3 days and then eating bad one day, you could just eat 50% clean for a week, then 75% clean for the next week, and so on. That might make it easier and help with the "relapses".
Best of luck! Hang in there, it's so worth it.
Eva
 
Yes, you can definitely go through withdrawals - and not just cravings, but physical symptoms like headaches, etc. depending on what your favorite vices were. But they will pass in a few months, and when you get to the clean side, that stuff will turn your stomach.
 
There are definitely things in processed foods that seem to have addictive qualities. And according to some, manufacturers purposely add ingredients that have this effect.

One thing I would recommend is having a green smoothie in the morning. I began doing this in March, as a way of "clearing up my tastebuds" and I find it really helped me stay away from the not-as-good food I was getting into.

They work best in a high-powered blender, like a Vitamix or Blendtec, but a regular blender could work (just remove the steps and chop the greens up a bit before blending so the blender doesn't have to do as much work:

Here are two to try:

I frozen banana
1-2 Tbsp lemon juice
2-5 leaves kale (start with the smaller amount, then as you get used to it, add more kale) (you can also use romaine lettuce, parsley, spinach, etc.)

You can also try:
one apple
1-2 Tbsp lemon
2-5 leaves kale

I actually started having cravings for green smoothies instead of for chips and snacky foods.

Here's a thread with MANY more green smoothie ideas:
http://thecathenation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=264957&highlight=green+smoothies
 
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I agree that it will pass. The more I try to eat healthy the more I get used to it and soon the junk food I used to like starts to make me feel ill thinking about it. And if I do splurge I often feel grose or sick afterwards. It starts to not even taste like real food anymore. I also agree healthy treats can curb cravings or I get something rather small like mentioned above (a cupcake) and that will get rid of it for me. Better than eating half a cake. I try not to have much of that in the house either or I might give in to eating them and not stop when I should.
 
GNC sells a powder mix called maximum greens and another that is a red color. they are by supreme foods, would these be like a green smoothie or could to use.
 
amanda12485 said:
GNC sells a powder mix called maximum greens and another that is a red color. they are by supreme foods, would these be like a green smoothie or could to use.
Click to expand...

Skip the powders and stick with real food smoothies. The powders are just another form of "processed".
 
Yes I've been there. IMO, it's best for most people not to go cold turkey right off the bat, take baby steps instead. I'm sure there are lots of people who go cold turkey and are fine but I couldn't do it. I started by just cutting down on things, then started switching to more "clean" foods gradually. I still give myself a "cheat" day once a week so if I'm craving something I know I can have some. Otherwise that leads to binging, at least for me.
 
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