Struggle

[Spiderman99]

My counselor and doctor told me I need to limit my sweets. For a while I was doing great with eating healthy but I have been slacking lately. Any advice?

[Activity2004 Administrator]

Welcome to the Healthy Eating group, Spiderman99 .😀👍🌈

Thank you for introducing yourself to everyone. Please feel free to continue posting and commenting anytime, ask questions, take a look at the Topics/Events/Pinned Posts/Polls sections for ideas and suggestions. Also, please have a look at the other member’s postings.

Has your doctor suggested that you change your diet/exercise routine? Did they say anything about eating a low carb high protein or low carb high fat diet plan?

[Spiderman99 in reply to Activity2004]

I have a lot of dietary restrictions. I need to eat more fruit and veggies, whole grains and wheat. I am trying to make healthier sweet alternatives.

[TheAwfulToad in reply to Spiderman99]

Why do you need to eat these things? Veggies are good, of course, but there's no obvious reason why humans need to eat more fruit or wheat (apart from the economic benefits that it confers on our highly profitable wheat industry, of course).

What are your dietary restrictions? Humans are pretty flexible creatures, so it should be possible to work around your allergies (or whatever) and still eat healthily.

[Spiderman99 in reply to TheAwfulToad]

I have hypoglycemia, lactose intolerant and acid reflux. And I am picky: if something smells funny or has a strange texture then I don't want to eat it. The meat I eat is chicken, fish and steak. I am finding out more of what I can eat. There are a lot of things that make my stomach hurt too.

[TheAwfulToad in reply to Spiderman99]

Ah, OK. Honestly, I don't see a problem with chicken/fish/steak as long as you add plenty of veg on the side. There are sooo many good ways to cook vegetables, and if you experiment a bit there must surely be some recipes that you'll like.

Just make sure that your meals contain some oils and/or meat fat - with limited sugar and starch, your body needs it for fuel. This could explain why you've been "slacking" lately; it could just be hunger.

[Spiderman99 in reply to TheAwfulToad]

Okay, thank you so much.

[Zest]

Hi Spiderman99

Welcome to the Healthy eating forum. I hope you enjoy participating here, and I'm glad you've got support from your counsellor and your doctor. Maybe look back at what was beneficial during the time you were doing great with eating healthily, and hold onto those things. Maybe you're aware of reasons why you've been slacking lately, and can work specifically on those things?

Have a look around the forum, and see what interests you. I hope you have a great week, and that things improve for you, so you can get back to doing great again with healthy eating.

Best of luck, and we're cheering you on.

Zest

[Spiderman99 in reply to Zest]

Thank you. I do better when I make my own food.

[MrsRabbit83]

Hi Spiderman

I think you need to ask yourself why you're slacking and what your goals are.

I'm not sure if everyone on this group is on the weight management group 🤔 but I'm on Tier 3.

I have something called Binge Eating Disorder and basically I eat my emotions in secret, well I used to, I've started being honest about it now and it's really helped (people are more supportive than I ever imagined). Since joining I've read up on the emotional and mindful eating on the Ovia app and on Health Unlocked and that's helped and I've started doing CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy) to unlearn this behaviour which is self taught - slowly getting there.

The other thing I did was sign up with a personal trainer and she is THE BEST thing that I've ever done! She keeps me motivated. Physically and mentally I feel so much better for it and I'm 2st down now.

However, I still have lapses. I get anxiety and it's especially bad with covid at the moment. Then the sugar cravings hit 🤦‍♀️

Soooooo, my tips are:

1. Are you stopping sweets completely? One thing I've come to notice is most healthy people still enjoy the odd sweets or chocolate BUT they are sensible with the portions. I am a veggie with a weakness for Percy Pig 🐖 . I have a bag that I give to my fiance and I have a treat day on a Monday and he gives me 4 sweets. This way I'm not depriving myself so I'm not obsessing over them, which leads to binges. All about moderation.

2. Everytime you go to snack think are you hungry or bored? A good way to check is the mindful eating tips. Who knew chewing your food properly works lol. Seriously, you feel fuller with mindful eating. If you are bored, find something else you enjoy.

3. Ask yourself with every sweet treat, will this get me closer to reaching my goals or take me further from them. I ask myself this everytime I want a snack - I even stuck a note on the fridge door.

4. If you have a sweet tooth, which I do, make some swaps. My friend is a slimming world leader and she told me to try frozen grapes. You wash them, leave them slightly damp, cover them in sugar free jelly crystals and pop them in the freezer. Honestly, if you are a fan of the Percy Pigs these really hit the spot! I also swapped ice-cream for sorbe.

I hope you manage to take back control. You got this! Good luck 👍

[Spiderman99 in reply to MrsRabbit83]

Thank you MrsRabbit83, I've been trying to write down my goals. I am going to try to hide the sweets from myself or limit to 1 or 2 a day. I am going to try to make some healthier versions of my favorite sweets. I am using Pinterest a lot.

[MrsRabbit83 in reply to Spiderman99]

I think having them sensibly instead of cutting them right out will help you build a healthier relationship with sweets, you just to be strong and not cave in to the binge! It's hard but tell people around you who can help.

[Spiderman99 in reply to MrsRabbit83]

Thank you!

[Hidden]

That's a tricky one!

I do a couple things that have helped ME - if they seem useful, try them.

1) I make sure not to buy them - harder than it sounds, though covid isolation has made it easier as I only shop 2x month now, rather than drop into grab stuff any old time.

2) I found a free diet logger (sparkpeople.com) that allows you to log your food. I know that sounds awful, but I was able to reduce carbohydrates and sweets by setting it up to log nutrients and adding "simple sugars".

3) I have a friend who is fighting diabetes who has interesting recipes (quinoa, veggies) and we share tips and try out each other's recipes sometimes. I made a chicken broth with veggies that turned out okay; he told me about making oatmeal with a hint of apple juice to liven it up, so it inspires us to at least try things.

OH 4) My doctor gave me a prescription called "Nystatin" for 2 weeks. It targets yeast in the gut but no other probiotics. The trick is to see if it helps, then go off it, and see if you start craving sugar again. It worked, then I started craving sugar again, so she gave me a supplement called "Berberine" which works quite well. My MD retrained as a naturopath so I get the best of all worlds. It's amazing how much I don't crave sugar or even extra calories.

Sounds like you already know how to make it work, it's just hard to get back on track sometimes!

[Spiderman99 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you. Those sound helpful.

[Hidden]

Use what works, don't feel you HAVE to do any of them if it's a bad fit. Good luck!