To wheat or not to wheat?

[Leah]

Why can't I avoid wheat? My willpower is terrible. I try to have a day that I incorporate a small amount of wheat and by the end of the week I end up eating more than I know I should. Any suggestions?

[goodbyeharrison]

Currently I am struggling with that too on my days where I eat sweets. I eat very minimal sugar normally and when I do, I eat too much gelato, or chocolate or whatever candy I have. I end up with extreme highs and lows of sugar crashes and feel disgusting. Almost like I'm drunk on sugar where I'm disoriented or sweaty. Seriously. And the amount of sugar I consume used to be normal for me, now I can't handle it.

I don't know about you but I compulsively eat and binge eat. Once I start eating something where i have to shove it in my mouth (popcorn, plantain chips, candy) there is no stopping until I'm sick or it's gone. The shoving is a huge trigger for me. So my thinking is either no cheat days. Ill stick with my healthy desserts and that will be It; minimal sugar and i dont feel guilty or like crap when i eat it. win for me. Im going to try this starting monday. im going to see how it goes, if i cant hold out, not a big deal. OR my other option is i can only purchase sweets in small individual serving sizes. I wont purchase a thing of ice cream or a bag of plantain chips or any chocolate that isn't a small portion. It has to be limited.

You could try making it difficult to get to. So don't buy large quantities of it at home. If you live with wheat eaters, you can try moving it out of your sight. It's amazing how moving it out of sight helps.

Or the days you eat it, make sure you aren't at home. If you are out, there will be a fixed amount you eat. If bread is an issue, try to avoid places where bread is served as an appetizer or ask the server to either a) not bring it or only bring a small amount.

Point is, if it's hard for you to control how much you eat, make it hard for you to get.

[Vintage]

So I would start with one small but really clear step. Saying "I'm going to eat less ________" leaves a lot of room for you to have just a little bit more and then things snowball. So maybe you could say absolutely no pasta, but everything else is fair game. Or you could make one meal a day absolutely gluten free to start with, so you just say there won't be any gluten during breakfast, but you're not going to worry about lunch and dinner yet.

 

I've had major problems with binge-eating in the past, particularly when it comes to starchy stuff like pasta and bread. So I had to find some effective ways to avoid that out of control feeling. A lot of people find it works to just tell themselves that they can't have such-and-stuff, it isn't an option. But having someone (even myself) say I can't have something tends to make me want it even more. Now I always phrase things in my head as"I could order a pizza if I want, but I choose not to." So I acknowledge to myself that I have the option, then I make a different choice. The bonus to this is that it highlights the "go me" feelings when I make good choices. And if I decide to eat something that isn't a healthy choice, I own that in my head, too. It was my decision to make, I made it, time to move on. I try never to say to myself that I couldn't help it, because that "I'm powerless" feeling was so incredibly toxic for me. Even if I felt out of control at the time, I don't let my inner monologue go in that direction.

 

But that's just me, you could be totally different.

[Leah]

Thanks guys, think I may have to go cold turkey on this one. Tried the one meal a week tactic and it just makes me want more then I feel really bad, sick and bloated for eating it! If I go a couple weeks without then have a small portion, I would call it a win, then try it increase the time between wheat products before absolutely none

[JakeJoh10]

Going cold turkey is the best way to go. I know that for me, a little wheat leads to a lot, so stopping completely was the only solution.

 

It's difficult, wheat is addictive.

 

Jake

[Waldo]

Why are you trying to not eat wheat?

[notanartmajor]

I agree with Waldo.

[catspaw]

Why are you trying to not eat wheat?

 

I think this is an important question too.

 

If you're trying to avoid wheat because you have an allergy, then that should be your incentive for avoiding wheat.  You have to want to stop suffering from the effects of wheat more than you want whatever pastry has wheat in it.

 

If you're trying to avoid wheat, say, because you want to avoid carbs, then, again, the effects of a low carb diet (satiety, etc.) need to be stronger than your desire to eat wheat.

 

Whatever your reason, you have to want it.

 

If you're avoiding wheat for shits and giggles, then no wonder you want the pastry more.