Grain addict?

[Mayflowers]

Hi,
I had broken my ankle 2 weeks ago and now I'm home for the summer from work. I decided to streamline my diet so I won't show so much of a weight gain when I get the cast off in August. I'm giving up the evils one at a time.

I gave up grains. I'm actually having withdrawal symptoms! :jawDrop: It's been over a week and I'm still craving anything with wheat in it. Bread, donuts. (I NEVER crave donuts) This is so weird.
Anyone have this problem? Even though I like legumes I don't crave them if I stop eating them, well except peanut butter. :o

Thanks! :D

[LisaS]

sorry to hear about your break - in a cast till August ! Ow! I broke my ankle last spring (tri-malleolar) and only wore a cast for a week - but I had screws & a plate installed and was just non-weight bearing for 6 weeks - the hardware was my cast and I just wore a soft boot. 2 months in a true cast would be really annoying -

anyway on grains - sorry I can't relate - but I don't crave them unless I smell them (e.g. fresh bread baking) - so I try to avoid that. However, I do indulge in lc tortillas and am experimenting with lc baking so I'm not as purist as you are. who knows what I might crave if I cut it all out.

good on you for trying to hold the fort while off your foot - the only encouragement I can offer is that I didn't gain while I was out of commission last year - and can't for the life of me explain why - cuz I certainly was less active -

[laughingW]

Yes, I've had grain withdrawals. It's truly physical. In PPLP they talk about the addictive properties of grain (a little).

MUCH nicer to live without that!!!

Connie

[Mitra]

I can identify with that. I had pizza fantasies for months. I promised myself a pizza for my birthday (and I started PP just after my birthday, so that was a long time to wait) and eventually the cravings subsided. For a long time, it wasn't as strong as a craving, but I would often think about bread or pizza. I don't know that I had any particular way to deal with it, other than having other things available to eat. I seem to remember getting through a lot of almond butter! It just gradually faded away, but I have the feeling it's one of those addictions that could come back if I encouraged it.

[realruth]

Try this little recipe

Rye style bread (posted under bowl muffins in the recipe section)

2 tb flaxseed ground
1 tb melted butter
1 egg
1/4 tsp baking powder

beat egg well in
Microwave for 2 mins ( I used a plastic 3.5 container)
made two thin slices when cut horozontally at about 10p and 3ecc for the whole thing.
Great as a toasted sandwhich. Nice as a regular sandwhich

[Mayflowers]

Thanks for your help! I broke my ankle in 3 places, requiring surgery with a plate and 3 screws also. My son left a ball on the stairs... and in the middle of the night :eek: ....It could have been worse..... How's your ankle now Lisa? Did you regain full use?

I get my staples out Monday and a new cast. wow. :peeved: She said no weight bearing for 4 weeks. total time will be 10-11 weeks. I want a boot.. Hopping around with a walker is sooo tiring. Hope I burn lots of calories ;)

Thanks for the recipe but I can't tolerate flax. Makes me nauseous.
Guess I'll have to bite the bullet until the cravings stop. I did read that about the addictiveness of grains. The reason I stopped now was because I noticed my inflammation around my ankle was much worse on days I ate grains. :confused:

[LisaS]

boy - can I relate to hopping with the walker!!! I stepped on a dog bone (a galileo) and while spraining the left ankle managed to fall and break the right one in 3 places ! So I couldn't crutch because of the *good* one being sprained. I had lots of pitting edema - and it didn't really go away until about 3 weeks into physical therapy. Do you get the evil gremlins at night who turn the blowtorch on your toes? That goes away too :)
.

my surgeon said to me last year "if you were a pro athlete I'd say you were out for the season but you'll be back next year - its not a career ending injury" - and that was pretty much true. darn near full use is back. [go to therapy - go to therapy]
at my weight, though I could run before I broke it - it now gets "upset" for a few days if I run more than a few hundred yards - so I walk, walk with a weighted pack and use the elliptical. When I'm down another 25lbs I think running will be OK. The numbness/hypersensitivity/nerve issues are much better - not 100% gone, but much better. I did lose a lot of my ability to hold an arch on that foot - though getting better - so orthotics help as do exercises. did I mention you should go to therapy and do your exercises?

[Mayflowers]

Wow Lisa. How did you get around with a sprain on one and a broken other ankle? I hop from the living room to the kitchen and I'm exhausted! I have about 25 pounds to lose and I was doing real well. I bought a Total Gym XL and I was working out on it 2-3 times a week for about 3 months before I fell and I was also walking at work. I wasn't completely out of shape and I know if I hadn't been working out on the TG, I'd be a real mess, plus I take a lot of vitamins. I really love the TG.

I know about physical therapy, I had both of my hips replaced in 2004. At the same time. It's really important. I don't have that sensation on my toes but under the cast on the top of my foot and in the incision area, I get this wicked "pins and needles" sensation flowing across there. It's quite uncomfortable at times. Right now I have a cold pack on it and it seems worse. Last night I got an itch under the cast and I thought I was going to die if I couldn't scratch it. I put the cold pack on and it went away. Thank the Gods for ice packs. :o

[LisaS]

itching can be low-level pain - take your pain meds. burning/pins and needles can be your nerves talking to themselves (firing for no reason) because they have no other stimulation right now. You could try roughly rubbing or squeezing your toes (if you can reach them) - if your cast was off I'd say rub your foot with a rough washcloth just to stimulate sensations. You can also try stimulating the skin on your knee or thigh - rough rubbing, squeezing, slapping - if you get the nerves to send up lots of real signals the noise from the foot will get drowned out. just like if you whack your arm - you naturally rub the spot to send a stronger but less noxious signal.

I used the walker sort of like this: place walker ahead, do the last part of a dip movement so all weight is on hands and wonky good foot is off ground too, swing foot forward and put weight on it. repeat. Great for the pecs. but it was exhausting to get from bedroom to living room at first. I had to use a (rented) wheelchair from house to car and back. But after about 3 weeks I could walker from house to car much better.

[Mayflowers]

Hey Lisa, you know alot about pain. Are you a PT?
I have a rolling walker so I try to be careful. I already fell the other day and I was trying not to land on my cast but I landed on my hip replacement. Oh, so much better. :mad: My hip has been sore for 3 days. I have a carpet so I don't think I did anything bad. I hope. I was taking MSM for pain and Motrin. I can't take percocet or anything with tylenol in it because it bothers my liver. I'll probably pop a motrin, but they upset my stomach.

[lowcarbgirl]

Hang in there!!! In time the cravings deminish and hopefully go away. About the hardest thing that I gave up was cigerettes and I thought on some days that I would go nuts. But I didn't and the cravings went away little by little.

Hope you are feeling better soon and that the pain isn't too bad.

hugs,
Willow

[Mayflowers]

Thanks Willow. Did it take from 1998 till now to lose the weight if you don't mind my asking?

I hear ya' about quitting smoking I quit smoking 19 years ago, cold turkey. I had a pack and a half a day habit. The tightness in the chest is really hard to put up with at first.

[cmcole]

I'm pretty sure in one of the Paleo Newsletters I found on the Web that it talks about grain addictions, too.

I can so relate. There are times I think I'm over it, and then I'll grab a piece of bread and just smell it and fight the compulsion to just cram it in my mouth.

This morning, because I didn't sleep well, and felt like crud, I had one of those "I don't care about anything - I'm just going to grab whatever and eat it". Thankfully, I overcame that, and had a "normal" breakfast.

I'm not sure if I "cure" my addiction by making flax bread/scones, or if I am just subsitituing one for another.

[Mayflowers]

So you mean to tell me that you still have grain cravings and you've been on plan since 2003? Lord, I'm going to have to use some self discipline. Well the donut and bread cravings stopped. It gets hard when you see it on tv. I'm a captive audience right now with my broken ankle. cripe. One evil at a time. But acutally the truth is right there in front of us. Look at the preditors. Lean, thin. Look at the herbavores who eat grains like pigs, cows. They're bloated and fat.

I bet the vegetarians who are thin, don't eat a lot of grains. They probably eat mostly vegetables, dairy like cheese, soy, and eggs.

I don't remember the Eades talking about being addicted to grains and the chemical in them. Which book is it in? I have all of them. They were the first to notice low carb as to have potassium supplements to help exhaustion. Atkins just said to increase the carbs a little.

I'm worried about my weight when the cast comes off. I hope I don't gain. :(

[lowcarbgirl]

Thanks Willow. Did it take from 1998 till now to lose the weight if you don't mind my asking?


I lost the first 20 pounds in the first 3 weeks (just under). It took about 4 months for the next 40 pounds to come off and about another 6 months for the last 20. So it was about a year. I did exercise a lot though and I think that helped a lot as well (I'm also very muscular pretty much up there with the men and I think that needs to be considered as well).

Hugs,
Willow

[cmcole]

So you mean to tell me that you still have grain cravings and you've been on plan since 2003?

Maybe it's because I'm the only one in the house who follows a low carb plan, and the items are here continually, or maybe it's because that's my "addiction". I never was a sweets person, but could make a whole meal out of bread products, practically (that would include pasta, too).

I can even overdo it on the "legal" muffins and things that I sometimes make, which is why I've tried to limit them recently, because I can get carried away and eat many of them in one sitting.

Strange, however, if I do ever give in and grab a piece of bread (doesn't seem to matter if it's white or whole wheat), one bite is sufficient for me to realize that I don't really want it, and I give it to the dogs.

[lowcarbgirl]

Strange, however, if I do ever give in and grab a piece of bread (doesn't seem to matter if it's white or whole wheat), one bite is sufficient for me to realize that I don't really want it, and I give it to the dogs.

I don't think it's strange at all. You really have lost your taste for it and sometimes it takes biting into it to realize that. I myself find this when I am tempted by what used to be a favorite food and one bite I'm like....ew what did I ever see in that. Your taste buds have changed.

Hugs,
Willow