Physical cravings - thoughts needed

[therisingsun09]

Some of you may know that I have been trying (and succeeding) to lose weight. My process has been become more aware and to learn about myself. I've made a lot of leaps but I have a new issue to tackle.

I've gradually realised that I'm afflicted with what I would consider a physical craving, I don't know if it's normal or not. I'm not fobbing off my weight problem on this, it's only one obstacle in my way.

I know what it feels like to be hungry. I even know the specific sensations of when my body says when it needs certain kinds of nutrients. It's not the same as that. The sensation is this feeling from those two things (glands?) at the back of my mouth on either side. The things that when you put something really sweet and delicious in your mouth give off a nice sensation. Sorry I know nothing about the body, help me out here! I'll just refer to them as my glands from here on in.

When the sensation happens my glands start feeling this way permanently, like when you can smell really good food and can't wait for it, my mouth is telling my brain I need to eat, my glands are going apeshit, and I start chewing my teeth and biting my tongue a bit to fend off the sensation. It's like when you have an itch, the way it aggravates you if you don't scratch it.

The only way to relieve it is to eat a certain amount, or else certain types of foods, I'm not sure if it's the type or the amount.

Today I ate healthily enough, muesli, slice of toast then a few hours later banana & about 30g bombay mix, . It was around then I started getting it. Ate a sandwich, no dice. Went home and ate my dinner (boiled bacon & potato). My stomach was full but I still had this sensation in my mouth. About an hour ago I ate because I couldn't stand it any more, toasted cheese sandwich on white bread and a bowl of cornflakes did the trick as usual.

(I know my diet sucks and this was a relatively good day! )

I can't be sure but I think this is brought on by refined sugar. I deliberately avoided it today as I eat too much of it. I've been reading all the new studies about sugar addiction occurring in rats.

I'm not sure what to do about it though, so I need your thoughts as to what it is. Is it normal to feel this way? Is it just my imbalanced diet that's causing it? Is it just my weak will giving in? How do I overcome it?

[sepiagal]

Originally Posted by therisingsun09

Went home and ate my dinner (boiled bacon & potato).

Do you boil bacon or the potato? I never heard of boiled bacon.

Why not find a way to have a small treat. If you deprieve yourself you may break down at some point. Of course portion control is the key. Eating a small amount of sugar can easily lead to eating more sugar because of reactive hypoglycemia.

I have frozen or refrigerated cookie dough for baking a cookie or two when I have a sweet tooth craving. The time it takes to bake more cookies discourages me to eat more than I first bake. A box of cookies might be gone the first time I open them.

There are other desserts that are frozen and have to be prepared or thawed.

Some people say fruit is what your body craves when it wants sugar. I love fresh pineapple. If I cut up a pineapple I save some in the fridge for the next day. So that is two days of cravings taken care of. I think fruit that you really enjoy might be better than just any kind of fruit for satisfying your sweet tooth.

You can make a healthy snack like yogurt with fresh fruit a regular part of your diet. The right combo of protein and fat with some sugar may not cause an insulin spike.

Don't fight the urge; just think proactively of the best way to deal it them.

[StephanieShine]

If any food can make this feeling go away while you are eating then probably not a craving for a certain nutrient.

Try looking around on biology/anatomy sites and see if you can pinpoint the muscle/gland causing the feeling.

[dice]

Try drinking tons of water (3 Litres a day is my usual)
Have a blood test and see if you have any zinc, iodine, iron or B vitamin deficiencies. (all of those affect energy/metabolism)

Have a half-glass of wine.
Apple cider vinegar.
5-HTP is a good supplement for seratonin regulation (if you're prone to depressive bouts, I sometimes have S.A.D. so I'm on it)

And what works the best for me: eat the food I'm trying to forget about and eliminate from my diet while watching Saw or Se7en. Did it while eating oatmeal cookies, and I can't look at them without thinking about so many gory gory gory scenes. NLP association.

Plus remember - most of this 'itch i can't scratch" is all in your head. If you can ease yourself away from that thought pattern, you'll have no problems. Your will isn't weak - weak wills don't exist - only dormant ones.

Good luck!