Hi everyone!

After 1 day of induction - I got all philosophical.
I've been binging on carbs probably all my life. Food was a way for me to forget my troubles, to get through the day.
Trying to be Low Carb in my living has brought up the question - what now ?

So I ask you all.

What do you do to get through the day without carb binging ?

Dave,
The key is to get through the first 3 weeks.........then the craving will decrease. At the place I work, suppliers of ours send over doughnuts pretty much every day. That crap used to kill me I wanted them so bad. Now I can walk up, look in the box to see what kinds of doughnuts are in there...........and just walk past it

So in short...........seldom get tempted by anything

Interesting question Dave, I guess a lot of us have used food to cope with stress, which is how come we are where we are.

Just trying to think what I do now.

Main one is 'count my blessings'. Sounds really old and grannyish, but I can always get to 10 and I'm always smiling before I do.

Try to picture my small place in the universe and my even smaller problems - gets most things back into perspective.

Try to remember inboxes will always have things in, even when I die, so don't stress trying to empty it - it'll still be there tomorrow.

Look out of the window or go for a quick walk - I'm lucky, I have a good view from my office and I can get outside legitimately, as the buildings in three bits, so I go and 'see someone'.

And I do still use food, its just now its almond muffins or brazil nuts, not doughnuts. Hey, old habits die hard!

That provoked some deep thinking - nice one Dave.

Take care, Jay

One thing that really helps me when I want to binge on carbs is to jump on my computer and surf anything low carb. I come here and read posts that I haven't read before, I look for other websites that have support and read the posts, I even look at the sites that sell low carb food. All of this really keeps me inspired. When I look at new recipes, it helps me to know that I can have a low carb treat and it will not affect my weight loss.

Right now I am on an exercise kick. Now, I haven't even started the exercise part (ordered tapes), but I have been poring over different Pilates and Leslie Sansone websites, just getting so excited to start! Due to spinal problems, I have waited to start any type of exercise until I felt my back would do ok with it - now it's time!

I made a firm commitment to myself and stuck to it...

...I figured it was only two weeks and I was worth giving myself a two week chance.

As Shark points out, by the end of two weeks I was on a roll and after about 3 weeks I had no interest in extra carbs or sugars.

You just have to get past Induction. But don't think of Induction as endurance. It's a great time to get serious and get your sh** together (and sort out your supplements and such).

Donald

Dave: The first two weeks are the hardest to get through, it was for me. First, I had to get into cooking more and washing more dishes, pots and pans. If only I could find someone else to wash all those dishes I don't mind the cooking.
1. Set your mind that sugar is poison to your body
2. Keep a good supply of legal foods close at hand in a cooler if necessary. At first you'll eat more food than you think you need to fill full and satified but after awhile you'll be full on less food naturally.
What worked for me is to take each day as it comes, although I planned my meals for the week I still eat what I feel like eating at each meal. I made up my mind to look at sugary foods like poison, I put it in MY MIND that I will die if I start to eat anything with sugar in it. I put it in my mind that my doctor told me that I was going to die or be very sick in the hospital if I don't stop eating sugar. Why would I wait for my doctor to say something like that to me when I know that is what could really happen if I don't change my life of eating sugar and high carb foods and no exercising. It's a mind set.
You must take a few deep breaths, sit or lie back and think what is more important to your well being at this moment. I have been reading your posts for some time and I feel you are a young person with a lot of things going for you and at the same time a lot of things on your mind. Sometimes we as humans have to rid our minds of unnecessay baggage to feel just a bit better mind wise. For me it is soo overwhelming to think of all the weight I have to lose so I just work on my weight loss one day at a time. I have read many posts on reasons and ways to stick to this low carb way of life. I have my major reasons is to be healthy and live to see myself with great-grandbabies. Make a list for yourself, reasons and maybe some ways YOU can make it work for YOU. I'll be looking forward toward your sucess.

I really know how you feel. I am sending you positive energy and keeping you in my thoughts! The first two weeks were hard hard for me. I work from home so I had gotten really used to snacking on whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it. The first two weeks were tough for me. But after that, sure enough, the cravings for carbs and sugars dissapated. Right now I am struggling with getting aspartane products out of my diet and I haven't managed to do that yet. Reading the forum helps me the most when I feel weak. Knowing that other people are struggling and overcoming these urges helps me a lot. And keep writing! Cindi