I was reading a thread about "cheating" last night, and it made me think about how I view high carb treats. First of all, I try not to use the word cheat when referring to eating something that is not on my usual menu. To me, it's not a cheat, it's a choice. And low carb is not a temporary diet for me; it’s a way of life. To believe that I will never, in the next (hopefully) 60 years or so, have any high-carb foods would be naïve on my part. (YMMV, of course; this is one of those areas we each have to navigate with caution.)

I have clarified and formalized my thinking about this issue into a set of personal rules. I haven’t been low-carbing very long compared to some of you (though I’ve learned a lot from this forum), so these rules may evolve over time. For now, though, here they are.

1. I will not be a slave to the crave. I will not eat a high carb food in response to a craving. That way, I think, lies madness.
2. Corollary to rule 1: My first response to a craving will be to eat a high-fat, moderate protein snack. My second response will be to eat a low-carb version of whatever it is I want.
3. I will plan my indulgences. I will calculate their cost coolly and logically in the light of day, to determine each time if it is worth it to me.
4. If I have a bad reaction (cravings, feeling sick) to a food once, it is on probation. Twice, it is suspended until I am at a different stage of this WOL. Thrice, it is gone for good.
5. I will eat something with plenty of healthy fats and protein before indulging to mitigate the effects of a high-carb food on my blood sugar.
6. I will eat no more than one regular size serving of the food.
7. I will only eat a treat if I really want it. I will not let others’ guilt cause me to eat something I know I shouldn’t, and if it doesn’t taste good to me, I won’t finish it.
8. If I screw up, I will not use it as an excuse for a free-for-all.

You know, I never had carb cravings after the first four days or so. I guess I was eating low fat and high carb for so long (20 years?) that I pigged out on acceptable foods and rarely craved carbs. I could even sit there and think about yummy chocolate-- I used to eat all of my Hallowe'en candy in a night-- and I would not crave it.

If I can suggest:

We need to listen to our stomachs, not our mouths.

For the first few days of Atkins, my mouth watered for anything and everything... I would not be surprised if my mouth watered at a car commercial on TV! Ignore it! It is lying to you! Listen to your stomach, or your head if you get headaches like me when you're hungry!

Good luck!

Mare

Yeah, I've been pretty lucky that way too ... no cravings. Sometimes, though, I want something because I know it tastes good; I just want to be careful that my "no cravings" continues. I agree with you; the vast majority of the time we should listen only to our stomachs when determining whether to eat.

And high-fat food does feel SO decadent still, doesn't it?

If you read more cheat, confession, refeed etc threads + journals of people who felt from the wagon during holidays you will see that the biggest problems with #6, #8.
I do believe in self-discipline, but sometimes a little outside help to fight the temptation could be good.

My recommendation. If you want one portion "dream" cake. Buy ONE portion "dream" cake, and eat it at home. The temptation is too much if you try to eat only one portion "dream" cake on a wedding, on a birthday party, on a huge holiday dinner with relatives.

Learn to say NO. I know, it is hard. I was raised in a sugar free family. I simply do not like sweet. I remember the astonished faces when I first said NO for a birhtday cake. It caused a 10 minutes turmoil, but then everything was ok. Or my 100% abstinent son was ridiculed for a couple of times for not drinking alcohol, but then it became old news.

Actually a polite, but determined NO can help you a lot. Very soon the news would spread: this guy does not eat "dream" cake, and your friends will not offer "dream" cake on the following parties:-))

Good luck:-)))

Well, I recently fell off the wagon so to speak...gave into eating off plan bcs after 4 hrs of driving, I arrived at my parents' house with my 4 yo son, only to find no low carb options in their house (my parents must not eat!!) No one was home at the time and instead of getting back into the car, and going to the store, I started eating Chips Ahoy (I don't even like them that much!) Then I remembered what my sister told me about eating off plan....if you're going to do it, keep it short, but make it good (she's maintained her weight on Atkins for 6 months now). So when my parents arrived, I went to the store, stocked up on low carb foods, and bought Oreos and ben & Jerry's...ate the whole pint, and more cookies than I shoudl have.

And, you know what? Oreos and Ben and Jerry's had always been my favorite "treat" before going on this diet...but they realy did nothing for me. I ate them bcs I thought I should get them out of my system so to speak, but they did nothing for me. I am relieved bcs I feel like I no longer have this devil on my shoulder. Thankfully, I went back to plan the next day and am back in ketosis. Good lesson learned though!

I am getting away from thinking of food as "good" or "bad". Some foods are better for us.......but nothing is bad in moderation. I don't like the words "cheat" and "legal". Legal is a WW term but many low-carbers still use it. To me, it is all about choices, and I want to make the best choices possible each day. The food is not the problem, the behavior is. I am trying to think of food as fuel and not as recreation!

Orchid

FrecklFluf


I agree, good article, I see so many people 'generalizing' about shouldnt take this sweetener, or that sweetener =1gcarb!. Come on .... I use software and weigh my foods, but I realise that at best is only going to be 90% accurate.

My point is, too many people are feeling that they are cheating if they have 1oz of peanuts on the Induction, or more than 2oz hard cheese. Balloon juice! ONE CANNOT generalize like this. ATKINS states that so long as you remain in ketosis you HAVE to be burning fats for energy, period. I had plenty of hard cheese on Induction & lost 11 lbs. Have only lost 1 lb in last 5 days, but that is not a problem, just makes me more determined to stick with it. weight loss is expected to settle to 1 or 2lbs/week.

I am going for a chinese meal this Saturday, will probably kick me out of ketosis for 24hrs or 36hrs, but I know by next Monday strips will be changing color again! And I am looking forward to the meal with my partner.

Like you say, is SO naive to say you never 'cheat'. 'Cheat' can = treat! I personally think that it is unhealthy NOT to have a break/treat, at least one meal per month, or even week, where you have something that really kicks the taste buds for you. To say that one will never 'cheat' or break the so called 'rules' for the rest of their lives, is heading for disaster.


Just my opinions, you can be too rigid about this all, trust me, I have been there!!

good rules #7 is one of mine! 1 bite and if its not all it needs to be throw it out!

Great rules. They're pretty much the same as mine. I try to avoid eating S.H.It (spontaneous high-carb items ). Planning ahead, OTOH, is sane. Having a strategy to deal with the consequences of eating S.H.It is a good idea, too, like going for a walk to help burn off the excess sugar.

I have to agree with this. Every few months I often want 4 to 6 peices of sushi. I cannot see living my life without it. The same goes with good quality dark chocolate. Every now and then I need a little bit. I think the trick here is it is okay to have it...think of it as a treat, use portion *control* and move on.

Ya know, I was just thinking something like this the other day when I read a threa about planned cheats. I feel the same was as the OP. I plan when I am going to eat something that may throw me out of Ketosis, in fact every few weeks I allow myself to eat things I normally would not on this way of eating. But I am happy with my progress, and if it slows down, I know what to watch out for. But I know personally that I would NEVER make it so long without endulging every now and again. I like not looking at it as a "cheat" we are not taking a test, we are doing something that we feel is good for us, IMO. Whos to tell you your not doing it right, it's all a personal choice.
Great set of "rules"

I agree with previous posters, great set of rules. I found it very refreshing to read this post. A lot of people tend to "binge-cheat" and tear themselves up over it instead of using portion control. Life is going to throw you curveballs. You don't have to indulge every time you are faced with temptation but I doubt that it is possible for anyone to go through life as the Saint of LC, never again letting an "unacceptable" food pass their lips.

As long as we can recognize that we're all human and all share the desire to be healthy and happy!

Thanks for the great post.

I do allow myself to indulge now and then. It's to prove that the goodie didn't leave the planet. I have not deprived myself of anything. No need to feel regrets. Mainly tho, I stick to the woe that works for me and as time goes by, I have less desire to indulge in things I used to find addictive. Also, I feel it is important for those first starting to give it a real good go, a clean induction, so the body can change to the healthy way of eating. After I had been lcing for 2 months, Krispy Kreme came to our area and I had never had one of their donuts. Sure were hearing all about how great they were! So my dh and I decided to have one. Yes, it was yummy, but then a few months later we decided to have another one and it didn't do a thing for me. Now I can drive by a Krispy Kreme store and not even feel tempted. But if I was still curious about it, I think it would be a temptation everytime I saw one of them. --Gail

This is why the Atkins plan has four stages. I happen to be in Pre-Maint right now. I had a bit of a setback which I found out was SO normal and went back to Induction levels to learn how to control cravings again. The Atkins website has a lot of good articles to help you through all stages. By the time you get to Maintenance, high-carb foods are fine in moderation, including pizza, french fries, etc.

Good article here: How to do Lifetime Maintenance Correctly

I think those are a pretty good set of guidelines. They're similar in feel to the ones my DH and I set up when we changed our lifestyle.

1. There will be no poor choices in our home. (This one solves so many other issues!)
2. Never leave the house without nuts and water.
3. You can eat anything you want, any time you want it when out, but you may not bring HC items into the house.
4. On serious vacations all bets are off, but remember that HC exacts a health penalty!
5. Serious vacations will be followed by at least one week of induction.

That's our guidelines boiled down.

Having recently had an indulgence (I don't like cheat either. I did it with my eyes open according to a plan) and suffered a number of unfortunate side effects, I can say that making good choices while out gets easier and easier. Most things don't taste nearly as good as I remember. Or they only taste that good for the first 2-3 bites. I'm fortunate in that I don't have a problem stopping after 2-3 bites, but I've been working on that much longer than I've been low carbing, so I've definitely worked up to it.