Hi everyone. Im sitting here, completely stressed and depressed. It seems as if everyday I start low carb, thinking that "this will be the day I stick to it!!!" but evening hours or even just afternoon hours come and BOOM it hits me. I end up binging on everything I can. I try not to keep high sugar things in the house since my hubby was just diagnosed as being diabetic, but I find other things and eat in excess.

I think about it and when I do, I come to realize that food makes me feel better. My husband and I own and opperate a small basement waterproofing company and we have 2 girls both under the age of 5. With dealing with the guys and with the girls, plus bills that are unpaid, and trucks that break down but cant be repaired because we dont have the extra cash because we cant make any cash because the trucks are down, with buying pipe and stone and diapers.....I feel Im in an endless circle. No matter how hard you try, we keep digging ourself down deeper. And with a Inlaw family that lives up the street and put their noses in our business so much that I have thought about leaving my hubby, it all ads up. Im telling you, the only thing that helps me cope is eating until I am full, which means stuffed. HONESTLY, I never ever feel just "satisfied"....i have to eat until I am stuffed. Literally. I dont think my brain has that sensor.
My mom is always telling me to get my thyroid checked because she and my grandmother are hypothyroid, and I will, soon.

But....back to my addiction to food. I just cant help but use it, and abuse it. What can I do. Now, dont say counseling....dont have the time or money, PLUS I am too embarrased to even tell my husband because you know what he would say? "Suck it up get over it and stop complaining" because he is just that way. Totally non supportive emotionally.

I think I am going to buy a crossword book (which I find tedious and annoying) and make myself do a FULL crossword (which I can never do) before I am allowed to binge. Maybe that will help.
any advice for this poor soul??

Kristie
175then/185now/140

Kristie, so many of us can relate to what you are saying. Food was my friend and my enemy. I ate when I hurt and I ate to hurt people. The hardest part is getting through the initial withdrawals. This lasted about a week for me.
My suggestion is to make it through a day no matter what. Even if you eat a ton of food, just make sure it is induction food. Read the Atkins book, stay posting on this site, read other self help books instead of counselling, and visualize yourself in a bubble. In your bubble you are in control of who you let in. YOU are in control of how you react to people and situations. Your weight is at a reasonable amount and you can stop the bingeing. YOU are more powerful than the food. You need to get your life in order not only for yourself, but for your hubby and your precious children. Tell yourself that (in a positive tone) when you want to binge. That can be your purpose to help you get started. Tell yourself that you deserve the best and stop the self sabatoge...YOU ARE WORTH IT! You can do it. One day, one meal, on hour at a time, you can do it! Keep us posted on your success!

I know exactly how you feel. I have been in a sugar trap for many years, probably since i was about 13, even though I really did not develop a weight problem until my 20s. It is a physical and psychological addiction and it is usually inherited. It is not your fault. I am reading a book called
"Why Can't I Stop Eating?" by Debbie Danowski and Pedro Lazaro, M.D.
It is helping me understand what is going on with me and for the first time I have at least some direction as to why I am doing what I am doing. I have done very well the last few days with very few carbs and I am feeling a tremendous lift from it.

However, the book cautions you that since this is an addiction, you will go through withdrawals, physical and emotional, including cravings, anger, depression, etc. It is just like withdrawing from a drug. To us carbohydrate/sugar addicts, sugar is to our bodies just like alcohol is to an alcholic, minus the fermentation. And even though it doesn't make us drunk, it does affect our brains, causing depression and sometimes anxiety.

Please consider looking for this book. I found it in the addiction section, not the diet section. It is hard to admit you have an "addiction." It was for me. So you are already ahead of the game by recognizing that.

I too had lots of days that I intended to go low carb and did not succeed. What is helping me is a shake called KetoSlim and adding flax oil to that, eating nuts, and using Stevia to sweeten my tea. I am also allowing myself one large caffeine-free diet coke a day which I plan to eventually give up because I hate using artificial sweeteners. Give yourself a break. Sometimes if you have been heavily dependent on carbs, your body is not equipped - physically - to handle an almost total drop of carbs all of a sudden. Eat vegetables, like green beans, tomatoes, artichokes, non-starchy stuff, and give yourself some treats. This is also unorthodox as far as the Atkin's plan goes, but if you must have carbs, there is a cereal called Uncle Sams that has 10 grams of fiber per serving. A small amount of that in the beginning of your transition to a low carb diet is, in my opinion, not Atkin's, a good idea. I am just going by personal experience.

I hope you will stay motivated and try some of the things I have suggested. I am also really being helped by eating nuts and using flax oil once a day. Please don't give up - just try to find what works for you and your body and give your body what it needs to be healthy and feel good!

I've been thinking about this post for a while; hope you are still reading the boards. Sometimes people post a cry for help and then disappear.

The whole problem with eating high carb is that it's pretty impossible TO feel "satisfied," despite the awareness that one has had "enough." In my case, at least, I now understand that the insulin rushes in, blood sugar startsd dropping, and that's the signal to eat more, not stop, and if I'm lucky I can eat enough to get just a little bit ahead and keep at it until my stomach is groaning. This is not a winning situtation.

Food is NOT helping you cope. Food is making you foggy enough to not care. This is not coping, and it's not effective action. I am amazed at how much more useful to myself I can be now that I'm not fogged every afternoon and every evening. Even if all I do is a crossword puzzle, I am at the very least relaxing cleanly, so I am more fresh the next morning. I have better ideas, too, and I am more able to act on them. Just realized last night that refinancing my mortgage was a solution to some of my financial problems; why did this not occur to me before LC?

Anyway: emotions drive the first bite; insulin drives the rest. Period. I found it helpful to move my binges to LC foods--for me it was cheese and pork rinds. I have since had to let them go because they caused me to stall (too many calories), but I couldn't have done that the first month. Letting go of the carbs was enough of a transition, and a benefit. My head is clear; I can think.

the more I learn about this WOE, the more I discover that virtually ALL of my eating problems are triggered by something physiological rather than emotional. It's fashionable to blame ourselves. It's just not effective. I've made more progress in two months of LC, learning to identify binge trigger foods (who ever would have thought that green peppers could be a problem?!?) than I have in 30 years of therapy, diet books, journaling, all that other head-stuff.

Hope you can make it through the first couple of days, because it really is different over here.

Kristie
I hope you are still here because I might have the solution for you. It sounds as if you're a carbohydrate addict (CA). There is a test for it on a ticky at the top of the CAD/CALP forum here. If you are then CAD/CALP is the WOL for you, it will solve your insulin problem and control your insulin/appetite. There's a thread there called CAD/CALP overview that explains it.

Know that it's not you but rather that you have a faulty insulin regulator and that putting carbohydrates in your mouth more than once a day be they cake or veggies will set you off. No wonder there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it!!!

I hope you give CAD a try. You are under so much stress otherwise that it would be great if you could be relieved of this one. Good Luck!!!

Food is such a drug, I am now realizing this....I get sooo high off carbs too....This WOL is really helping me and my cravings are slowly going away...Hang in there you will be better off in the long run

I'll put in a plug for a spiritual approach to rounding out the self-treatment of your problem. Overeaters Anonymous, modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous, has helped me and a lot of others like me. It's not the total solution, but it gives me a framework for dealing with the emotional, spiritual, and mental components of problems that led me to seek comfort in food to begin with. Plus, it's another support network.

Thank you Everyone for your replys. Although my life hasnt gotten easier, my addiction to food has. I honestly havent had ice cream in nearly 2 weeks, although I DID have some cake last night for my daughters 5th birthday. But, since i didnt have any carbs at all, all day....that had to be better than having carbs all day AND cake.

ZULEIKAA.....I took the test and think that CAD might work for me. Is there anywhere I can get some info with out buying the book? My hubby keeps a really tight leash on me when it comes to $.

CS_Carver....I agree (Anyway: emotions drive the first bite; insulin drives the rest.)

Changling......I am going to try to find that book, thanks!

PinkCaddy.....if Only I could actually seal myself off in a bubble for some "me time", everything would be so much easier. But you are right....I defiently lack self control in the food area!


Thank you all for the info....and advice. Obviously I have alot on my plate (not food wise) to deal with...time to sort things and take some action.

Kristie

Jeli
If you're interested in CAD why don't you go to the CAD/CALP forum and read back about three pages worth. It will answer a lot of questions you might have. There's also a cheat sheet and a stall list that you can print out and post where needed and carry with you. The cheat sheet has the rules and foods of the program and the stall list has things that can cause problems.

If CAD is for you, and you adhere to it strictly, will be the easiest program you've ever been on. And you get to eat whatever you want, in proportion, once a day. In addition, with your insulin under control, you'll feel how a "normal" person does about food and stop obsessing.

Good luck!!!

Kristie,
You can always get the books from the library. My husband and I read so much that we would broke from the cost of buying new books. When I need a refresher, I just check the book out again. We also renew them online so you can keep them for a month without having to go back to the library.
Good Luck!