UKB - that sounds really good about the longer you go without a blowout the less you want to do it - funny how that seems to be the opposite of AL - the longer we go the without the more we want to do it ! Anyway I am really glad that you are finding it easier to do .... I know that you have an iron will so have every faith in you !

I like the tools that you are using - i.e. about how rubbish you will feel afterwards - I think I might try and use that when I drink next if I have more than 2 !!

Hugs, Maggie x

U.k. Blonde,

I admire your strength and your self awareness. I understand the struggle you are enduring, and it sounds like you are on top things.

Keep up the good work,

Jaba

UKBlonde, have you ever thought about doing a whole30? http://whole30.com/ Going 30 days without sugar of any kind and having to read every label and think about everything you put in your mouth, really changes the way you think about food. I did it for 45 days and it was not easy, but totally worth it.

I have done food tracking if that's what you mean, for a whole 12 months. It made some of my eating habits worse, although it did help with one issue.

What you don't know is that I'm already heavily involved in a sport to a level which requires knowing food and nutritional information inside out. Majority of my food is weighed/portioned/worked out and is what is known as single ingredient foods, bar a few splashes of sauces.

Now I'm more settled the part that wants to go crazy is much less so, the part that sees food as fuel is growing very big.

Ah but that wasn't my experience. Sure I felt that if I drank after a long period AF (more than a few days), that it would momentarily bring relief, however for me it then set off the usual cycle days of remorse, depression, further craving to get through, all over again which could then set me off again. Towards the end I also had physical symptoms of shakes/sickness to get through and it didn't improve until I got on TSM.

If I binge on chocolate about 4 days later I have a horrendous sugar low, go a bit wierd. So that's another thing I tell myself, if I can get through today then I won't have one of those lurking. Yesterday driving home I did wonder, am I using One Day At a Time and yes I think I am.

Speaking to a few who went AF without meds, they have also said that after a year or two their cravings just went away, sure they might get a sudden "Oh wouldn't a glass of wine be nice" moment, but it's not crippling or overwhelming, and most of the time they aren't thinking of alcohol. That has been my exact experience. I just got used to not thinking about it.

It's like chocolate, if you don't have it for a while you do forget the taste, have a few squares and the desire returns. I had periods in the past were I did cut it out and that was so true.

Isn't it interesting how we are all so different? I know when my brother quit smoking after our mother died of emphysema, which was almost 30 years ago now, he said it took him something like 15 YEARS before he did not want a cigarette every single day. Now that sucks.

UKB, I am glad you are in a good place!! 12 months of food tracking; incredible. I cannot imagine that but I do admire it!!

XOXo Newlife

A whole30 is not just food tracking. It is eliminating processed food, sugar, and a few other things like dairy and wheat. Basically, it is a very strict paleo diet. A lot of people who are into sugar find that it really helps eliminate cravings for sweet foods.

Deena, I am sure that would be wonderful, although craving sweets is not a problem that I have. (Grateful!!) But my rule breaking soul would find that agonizing. I don't crave sweets and eat almost no sugar or processed foods, but if starting tomorrow you were to tell me that I could not have any more I would be thinking about them and craving them 24/7. I hate it but that is how I am wired. I did do a 21 day food cleanse about two years ago though: no AL at all, and following a very strict diet given to me by my doctor. It was hard but I did it; dropped a few pounds and felt fantastic. For some reason today just thinking of doing it again, which I have thought about many times since, scares the you know what out of me and I just cannot imagine how I ever did it in the first place. Weird, I know. Newlife

Yes I saw that there are other rules.

Here's what I currently eat and have been aiming to eat for the last few years;

Oats
Rice
Potatoes
Banana (1 per day)
Apple or orange (3-4 each week) (fruit is only eaten around training time)

Plain, skinless chicken
Eggs (whole & whites)
White fish
Mackeral/Salmon
Tuna
Lean steak
Whey powder shake

Green beans
Brocolli
Cauliflower
Occasionally mixed veg (peas, sweetcorn, carrots)
Tomato, mixed peppers + onion mix cooked down in a pan without fat

Plain, natural nuts such as almonds or brazils.

Smidge of mustard/sauce.


No milk in coffee and tea (herbal caffeine free), no added fats in the cooking.

Ok guess I could remove oats and rice, but I think you'll agree that that is a pretty simple diet. . It's what I aim for when not bingeing, and the type of foods I was eating whilst doing the tracking. This week I have had a small sliver of wedding cake (sponge with bit of icing).

Last week when I had an 'overeat' I ate plain nuts, slice of bread with olive oil spread, an apple and a full size piece of wedding cake.

UKB, you definitely have a whole foods diet, which is what I aim for on a daily basis. I try to eat what is in season around here and include a lot of greens in my diet. I buy my meats from a local farm and local fish. I also try to get a good supply of healthy fats such as avocado, coconut oil, etc. Since you are not eating a lot of fruit or sugar, I doubt that is feeding your chocolate cravings.

I wonder why you need to break rules, newlife, Deena asked as she stroked her Sigmund Freud beard. That would make it difficult to follow a plan such as a whole30.