So far on Atkins I've been eating simple foods (I don't enjoy cooking or experiementing). I love cheesecake and was reading the different recipes on the dessert forum. Some of them sounded delicious, others made them and said they were great too.

As I was reading though, I realized that if I made one of those cheesecakes, and if it was delicious, that I would probably binge and eat the entire thing, lo carb or not.

What does that mean as far as my eating and my body type? I've been reading all the different books and never quite understand that whole insulin reaction process, carb addictions, etc.

I know that I'm not safe around a "so-called" safe lo-carb dessert at this time. Is this going to eventually backfire and send me on a carb binging feast? And how do we get to the point where we can safely eat something again? Maybe it's just a point of control. I drank that Margarita the other night, just one small one (lots of carbs though), but I didn't want a second, nor did I want sweets.

It's just that I don't understand why the thought of the lo-carb pumpkin cheesecake has made me want it enough to know I'd probaby eat it all.

Yea, I'm rambling....it's just that the realization is starting that this is a long road ahead of me, and temptations will always be there.

Ah, yes, the portion control issue!

I don't understand the workings of the diet well enough to understand the portion control issue completely - although if you check those low carb dessert recipes, you'll see that if you eat the whole thing, it's going to add up to a fair number of carbs.

But I confront the same problem. There's a great recipe for chocolate mousse, virtually all whipping cream and just a little unsweetened cocoa and Splenda, that I love.

Since I live alone, I just slash the recipe in thirds and make it up that way. Instead of six servings, I end up with two. I put each in its own little bowl, and have two nights worth of mousse. MUCH easier to control myself that way, and even if I were to go hog-wild and eat them both in one night, which so far I've managed to avoid, I would end up with only two servings, not six.

You might try this approach with the cheesecakes as well and cook them in little souffle bowls.

I have trouble with portion control too sometimes. Like Bassetlove, I tend to divied the servings of things that I might do this to into smaller portions - desert cups are good regulators.

I've read an account from a woman on another forum that she uses smaller plats and bowls to help with portion control. It seems to be more phsycologically full filling. You've eaten the "whole" thing, but it still wasn't as much as it could have been. I beleive she allowed herself as many bowls as she felt she needed, but because there was a logical break between bowls, that it was less likely for her to binge and eat the whole thing.

I've been a binge eater for a very long time. I'd start off having, say, a couple of pieces of toast and eventually eat an entire loaf of bread, 2 toasted slices at a time, with lots of butter. AND, by about the 6th slice I would want it to be cinamon toast, so I would put butter plus cinamon plus a lttle sugar on it. And then a couple of slices later I would say the hell with the cinamon, and just put on butter and a ton of sugar, and then run it back into the toaster oven so the sugar melts and carmalizes a little. And there goes a whole loaf of bread, no problem.

Sweets were the same way. Whole bags of chocolate chips. Whole bags of cookies. Half a cake, one little, lady-like slice at a time on a pretty china plate.

I've been doing Atkins since 10/27/2002, and have lost 11 pounds. I felt crappy during induction--headaches, joint pain, really miserable. So now I'm at 25-28 carbs per day, and feeling much better physically. I am truly sticking to this eating plan, especially avoiding white sugar and wheat flour. And my cravings really have gone away. I did not think that could ever happen for me. My weight loss slowed at the 199-200 barrier. I stayed the course, and within 2 weeks I dropped down to 195.2.

Here's what I'm finding out about binges for me: it has nothing to do with portion control, plate size, or strength of hunger, though these can all be extremely useful tools and habits. It has to do with ingredients. I made Karen's low-carb cheesecake, and we still have 1/4 of it in the house! I eat a slice, it tastes good, sometimes I have a second slice, sometimes not, and I do not CRAVE more. There's no sugar in it, just Splenda.

Bread: I've purchased Cheeters white bread, cinamon-raisin bread, and sesame bagels. I was a little afraid to try them, because I was worried that just the act of eating bread would cause me to binge. But it HASN'T. Again, it's the ingredients, I believe. The bread is very low carbs, and I'm eating it as sandwiches (ham, turkey, cheese, and mayo) or as toast along with eggs, bacon, coffee, and water. I truly do not crave more of it in that uncontrollable, horrible way that sugar and white flour make me crave more.

I also make hot chocolate with heavy cream, boiling water, cocoa powder, and Splenda. One cup satisfies me. I'm going to look at other low-carb chocolate recipes for something to munch rather than sip. I tried the low-carb commercial bars--various brands--and they stimulated cravings so badly I though I was going insane. I ate 8 of them one night. Just sat there and ate them 'til they were gone. I don't buy them any more. I think it is probably the malitol, but I'm not sure and don't want to experiment to find out.

So the point of this long rambling post is this: I am not afraid of low-carb sweets, provided I know EXACTLY what is in them. I have eaten them, and they do not start the physical/mental cravings for me. The other point is that of gratitude: I am so incredibly grateful to have found a way to eat that doesn't make me insane.

Ann at Howcross Castle

Annette:

I am also a person who will binge on any sweet in the house.

I make a choc mousse but I only make one portion at a time. Also, I have come to depend on the sugar free Jello for that must-have late night snack. I usually put a spoonful of sour cream on it.

That's why I only buy the bars one at a time. If I have more around I will eat them.

The fact is, for me, if I don't control it I will lose it!

Katie

I make the Danish Cheese Pastry for breakfast which i think is similar to the low carb cheesecake. I don't make it in a large pie pan. Instead, i make it in a glass pyrex loaf pan. I cut it in 3 big pieces and wrap each one in tin foil. this way i don't have too many servings.

Lisa

i always use a loaf pan for my recipes instead of a large pyrex cake/pie pan to cut down on the servings. which eventually promotes portion control!!

I thank everyone for their honesty here. It's hard to do.

I binge too, but on legal foods (and not carby foods).

I'll binge on chicken, meat or eggs - eat WAY too much - or on spinach and mayo with ham or just eat too much of a lowcarb excellent (and not too many carbs either) meal - it's always on protein/fat or legal veggies...so I'm really GOOD, but I'm not really all that good when it comes to portion control. I'll bargain and tell myself, well at least it wasn't oreos or at least I'm still under 30 carbs or whatever - but I still feel like I got out of control.

Usually happens when I find myself too low in fat content earlier in the day or early in a meal. Up the fat just a bit (I can't eat tons of fat) and the urge to binge (on legal treats or legal main foods) just stops.

Fat is the food of fullness. Eat some (not tons) with protein at the beginning of any meal and snack or before you start cooking up your legal treats...by the time they are ready to be devoured (eat the whole thing) I betcha you'll only want a piece...I keep tuna and mayo mixed in the fridge. A scoop usually stops that crazy "gotta eat it all" feeling - that might come when I start cooking or eating my next meal. Insulin contol...it's all about your blood sugar. Steady as we go.

well - that's how it works for me. Still, I overdoes on protein all the time bigtime and worry and wonder how it is affecting my health/kidneys etc...it has not increased my weight however or stalled me.

N

Ann, your post hit true with me. I'd make toast and also end up with tons by the time I was done (you're right, cinnamon toast no less).

Actually I'm starting to play with testing myself. When I'm feeling in control, I'll experiment. Today I ate my first Advantage Bar and enjoyed it emmensly.

Last night I had the teeniest tiniest smidge of a Wendy's Frosty, just to feel it in my mouth. It tasted good at first then it left my mouth feeling really slimmy and had an awful aftertaste. Same thing with a tiny bite of cake donut the other day (it was slimmy).

I'm beginning to wonder about this slimmy texture in food???

I'll probably wait till AFTER the holidays and start to try some of the special treats. As much as possible, I plan on avoiding things during the holiday season.

I'm not sure about the portion control issue either. I seem to being doing quite well eating till satisfied. Binging is a totally different thing.

I checked out your Fit Day journal and was so impressed.
I was inspired by the simplicity of your food choices: simple, clean, and truly lo carb. When I compare your food choices to mine, I can learn from you. I thought the LC plan meant buying the bars and eating 1-2 a day plus regular food. It didn't work so well. Then I thought LC plan meant buying the chocolate substitute bars and eating 1-2 a day plus regular food. It didn't work so well either. Now, I am thinking it means more like your simple food plan. Thank you.

Ok, here's something else you can try. Go ahead and make whatever yummy low-carb dessert you want and eat nothing but that ALL day long until you've had *more* than what you wanted. After that it won't be so special. I find that works for me if I've got a craving that won't be satisfied until I'm sated. BTW, the sugar-free (sugar alcohol) chocolates are GREAT!!! But I find that if I nibble on them, rather than pop the whole piece the 'suggested serving size' is usually enough. (I especially like the Russell Stover Truffles)

That's funny, kjturner, and you are right that it's better to binge on something "better" than "worse." So far I'm in control, but sometimes feel the slight lingering of desire in the background.

And smilin, my meals are simple because I detest cooking and have 3 kids who don't like fancy meals either. They are most happy with plain meat, a plain veggie, and plain rice or noodles for dinner. None of them enjoy tacos, can be picky about spaghetti, and heaven forbid I feed them a casserole

At the same time, my meals becoming boring because of it, and I plan to start trying some dishes after the new year.

I think even bites of Wendy's and cake would start up those old sugar cravings for me. Hope it worked out ok?

Even sugar-free jello. My food has to be stuff I don't have to limit myself with or I won't stay on this. Maybe because this is so new to me. But if I can't handle peanut butter, I can't handle anything sweet either. Hope the Frosty didn't hurt you - it sounds like you have a lot more strength in avoiding binging than I do.


Gail

Oh the taste of sweet! I went three months without a single sweetner and one day I had a diet soda and blew all that work to h...!
I think my carb addiction just lurks in the back ground, waiting.. waiting...

to keep my treat binges from happening, I now limit my sweetners to three in the whole day. Any more and by by will power!
I guess, we all have our limits don't we

Just so no one freaks out here...the taste of a frosty was less than a 1/4 teaspoon, and the taste of donut would have fit in 1/2 t. I'm not trying to tempt fate. I just wanted to see how I felt about the taste, and I found out they weren't that good. Probably because they aren't good foods to start with.

I probably would haven't tried this with a delicious homemade tollhouse cookie though...lol