Can I ever have a cookie again?

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-08-2003
Can I ever have a cookie again?
6
Tue, 01-20-2004 - 9:24am
I'm on day two, and doing great! But as stupid as this sounds, my biggest concern going into this was, and is, will I ever be able to eat "bad carbs" again? I could eat an entire loaf of french bread with real butter. I have SUCH a sweet tooth and love desserts. Will I ever be able to have a piece of chocolate cake or cheesecake? Frankly, the realistic truth is that I WILL inevitably have to eat some of these things. Is there any way to do it without gaining weight back???

Mary Jane

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-06-2004
Tue, 01-20-2004 - 10:18am
Hi Mary Jane

I'm no vet - I'm only on day 9 of phase I. But here are my 2cents and I'm sure some of the ladies who know better will chime in.

1. Your cravings for bad carbs should subside after a few more days. That's the point of Phase I - it's meant to be a detox phase. Your body will learn that it can live without the bad carbs and will stop craving them.

2. Once you're on phase II and especially on phase III, it's ok to have a bad carb as a treat - you're only human afterall and SBD recognizes that. So as long as you keep the treat small and jump right back on to SBD life style you'll be ok. You might have to go back to phase I for a day or two. Just make sure that it's one small treat - maybe a few bites of cheesecake or one small meal. Keep the rest of that day and the following days SBD-friendly

Personal experience - this past weekend I went to a couple of get togethers. There was cake and there was ice cream and all sorts of other stuff. I didn't even look at it twice. I made sure to eat a good dinner beforehand of course, to make sure that I wouldn't eat all that stuff just because I'm hungry. The trick is to eat every few hours so that you're not hungry when someone/something tempts you and to always have good snacks on hand for emergencies.

I had to have a little more will power to withstand alcohol - but not because I was craving it of course, but because it was so much a part of that particular party. But I held strong on that too!

Anna

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-21-2003
Tue, 01-20-2004 - 12:02pm

Hi Mary Jane (great name by the way) and welcome.


Yes, in the future you will be able to eat some bad carbs but I wouldn't do it all the time and I don't.

MelMel
Avatar for imthebigsister
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 01-20-2004 - 12:07pm
Hi, Mary Jane - I love your question! I asked the same one many times in Phase I. Guess what? This WOE is basically all about healthy eating, but it's also about learning enough to make wise decisions when it comes to "picking your poison". Yes, you can have a cookie again, even two - just not the whole box at one sitting. And not a big portion of sweets every day, or else you'll be undoing all the good you did in Phase I and end up back where you started. I won't say you'll never feel the urge to eat sweets again, or that some large stressor won't set you off on a sweet binge down the road, but after Phase I is done, you might find that you don't crave the sweets the way you do now or did before you started, and that one cookie or one treat every three or four days will satisfy you, or that you can turn to other food choices to get you past the stress. And if you go overboard with the not-so-healthy choice, you can always return to the Phase I or Phase II eating modes until you get back on track.

Just take it a day at a time. Keep repeating to yourself that Phase I is only 2 weeks' long, and Phase II has a huge amount of variety in it to keep you going to your goal. If you really want to succeed on this program and with this WOE for a lifetime, you'll do it! Keep checking back here for info, ideas, opinions, etc - you'll find a lot of help.

Pep talk over - good luck!

Donna

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-10-2003
Tue, 01-20-2004 - 2:41pm
Hi Mary Jane,

I was one of the biggest carbo junkies on the planet!! I could eat a whole loaf of garlic bread *and* do a serious job on a plate of pasta, to boot!

I absolutely refuse to give up any food forever. When I first came here in August, someone had said "I refuse to live the rest of my life without ever having..." Basically, fill in the blank. That one statement has had a huge impact on me. I was already getting to a place where I could finally have a healthy attitude about my diet, and give up that all or nothing, "dieting" mentality. That statement cinched it for me.

Give phase I a full-fledged effort. I promise you that the better you do on phase I, the easier phase II will be for you. Just get through it by saying "it's just for two weeks." That was my mantra, and is still the best advice I have for anyone doing phase I. Stick to that food list, and repeat the mantra.

For me, after a couple weeks of phase II, I was able to have what I call "indulgences"... eating something from the "foods to avoid or eat rarely" list. BTW, I refuse to call that "cheating". This is my life, now. I'm not "on a diet". But anyway, I have found, to my surprise, that I can occasionally indulge and not get out of control. But it's like the others here have said. You pick and choose your treats. You will get to a point where you can have a couple of cookies, or some Italian bread, etc. The great thing is that you really do stop craving the stuff. I hadn't craved anything for months. I even indulged a lot around the holidays, but still didn't find myself craving, though I have noticed that for the past couple of weeks, I have had some cravings here and there. I really think that it is winter depression (I live in Connecticut.) I have always tended to crave carbs during this time of the year. Anyway, this is the worst time of the year for me, but I'm still doing just fine. I know you will, too, if you just stick with it strictly for the good month to even six weeks that it can take to change the way your body, including your taste buds!!, process food.

All the best to you...

Jill K.

phase II

(228,190,145)

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Registered: 12-19-2002
Tue, 01-20-2004 - 2:53pm

Hi Mary Jane,

Avatar for shandc
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Tue, 01-20-2004 - 5:12pm
Mary Jane,

The number one thing I've learned from this diet is to listen to my body. I believe that the point of Phase 1 is to get you in touch with how your body reacts to different foods, and that as you progress you can learn what works and what doesn't for you.

For example, I've learned that when my roomies want to order in and have pizza and beer for dinner I don't have to sit there all by my lonesome with a salad and water. I'll have a piece or two, and a beer or two, and not worry about it. Same with Mom's chocolate chip cookies, the occasional French fries and bacon cheeseburger, pancakes, and garlic bread (not all in one meal, of course!).

OTOH, I can't eat spaghetti anymore. Not sure why, but spaghetti sauce suddenly sends my stomach into the Olympic gymnastics competition. Same with York Peppermint Patties, old man mints (those white ones with the colored jelly centers), potato chips, and that sweet kettle corn popcorn.

As you can see, I've done a lot of experimenting with this. My other guideline for myself is that I don't go back a phase unless it's absolutely necessary. Last week, I went back to P1 for awhile, but it had more to do with my own attitude toward my body and where I am now than any feeling that I had "failed" in the phase I was in. I don't think that I'll go the full two weeks on P1 this time around, because I feel my attitude getting back to where I wanted it to be, so it probably won't be necessary.

The upshot: eat the cookie if you really want it. If you're not sure you want it, chew a piece of gum and tell yourself you'll have one if you still want it by the time the flavor's gone, or after you drink a big glass of water. You'll feel better, and you'll stick with it longer if you avoid the "cheating" mentality of things.

Shan