Did you get some kind of rush from eating carbs, especially sugar?

[Misnagid]

I was thinking about this today. There's an element that's gone from eating and I wonder if it's the blood sugar spike that comes from eating something sweet. Drinking herbal tea with erythritol in it, the tea is sweet but there's no "umph" afterwards IYKWIM -- it's like waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's sort of like drinking what tastes like an alcoholic beverage and then... nothing. No physiological hook that reinforces the behavior.

No wonder that sugar is so darned addictive. That reaction must be enough to compensate for the next part of the equation which is the release of insulin that makes you feel like you've been hit by a ton of bricks.

[Kellen]

I think I know what you are talking about... and for me, at the beginning of the plan, there was a sense of emptiness, not in the sense of fullness, but like coming home and finding nobody there, or when your pet is at the vet, maybe absence is the better word. The absence of carbs. Potato go bye bye.

What I have now, is the unique experience of not being hungry all the time...and I mean all the time. It's a body peace, that is very interesting and very different. Different from the 'comfort' that a bowl of what I used to call "happy squishy saucy food" like any pasta dish, or mashed taters&gravy.

Additionally, now, when it is time to eat, IT IS TIME TO EAT! and there's a voraciousness; a sense of psysiological urgency that I get, that settles down after a few bites... I do get a little cross, and just wanna get the food on the table and eat. Now. Do not ask me for anything until I eat. Now.

Oh.. I got a SUPER rush this morning, smelling the cookies my daughter made for her club's booth at open house. I lifted the foil, and I swear I felt high. The smell was so intense, so, so sugary... it was weird. It didn't really trigger me. It just made me think "No Wonder!"

[Brook]

Originally Posted by Kellen

I think I know what you are talking about... and for me, at the beginning of the plan, there was a sense of emptiness, not in the sense of fullness, but like coming home and finding nobody there, or when your pet is at the vet, maybe absence is the better word. The absence of carbs. Potato go bye bye.

What I have now, is the unique experience of not being hungry all the time...and I mean all the time. It's a body peace, that is very interesting and very different. Different from the 'comfort' that a bowl of what I used to call "happy squishy saucy food" like any pasta dish, or mashed taters&gravy.

Additionally, now, when it is time to eat, IT IS TIME TO EAT! and there's a voraciousness; a sense of psysiological urgency that I get, that settles down after a few bites... I do get a little cross, and just wanna get the food on the table and eat. Now. Do not ask me for anything until I eat. Now.

I absolutely love this description. Very eloquent. Spot on.

[LeahW]

Michael Pollan writes a great description of the human's natural desire for sweet food in The Omnivore's Dilemma. It's a great book!

[Neecy]

Originally Posted by Kellen

I think I know what you are talking about... and for me, at the beginning of the plan, there was a sense of emptiness, not in the sense of fullness, but like coming home and finding nobody there, or when your pet is at the vet, maybe absence is the better word. The absence of carbs. Potato go bye bye.

What I have now, is the unique experience of not being hungry all the time...and I mean all the time. It's a body peace, that is very interesting and very different. Different from the 'comfort' that a bowl of what I used to call "happy squishy saucy food" like any pasta dish, or mashed taters&gravy.

Additionally, now, when it is time to eat, IT IS TIME TO EAT! and there's a voraciousness; a sense of psysiological urgency that I get, that settles down after a few bites... I do get a little cross, and just wanna get the food on the table and eat. Now. Do not ask me for anything until I eat. Now.

This is such an awesome comment!!! I feel exactly the same way. In the evenings, from 6pm until I went to bed, I was constantly hungry, and would constantly snack. Chips, candy bars, ice -cream, cakes, whatever I could get my hands on, I never felt satisfied. I'd have dinner, but within 15 minutes I'd want something else. Its STRANGE not to be constantly eating, or constantly craving something salty then something sweet. Now my evening snack is usually a piece of sausage and a couple cheese-strings and that's enough! Amazes me.

You aren't kidding about the urgency you get when it finally is time to eat!!! But unlike how I previously would feel (literally weak and shaky) I just feel ravenously hungry, as soon as I have my food, I'm fine, but I'm like a tiger about to be fed when mealtimes come around.

[IrishSarahHB]

I think its psychological. You have been told for so long that yummy sugar is bad and makes you fat , so sugar free isnt yummy in your head. So when you eat sugar free stuff you think your missing out on something.