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All I can think of is raw celery or carrots since they provide the crunch, volume, are low calorie, and they will (eventually) stop me from eating (I physically cannot overeat them - by the time they fill me up, I haven't done too much caloric damage). For your suggestions, I'm not looking for anything that would provide a food reward (ex. nut butter or anything that actually tastes really good because that will drive me into a binge) or for anything to satiate hunger (protein or something super fatty) because it isn't hunger I'm combatting. Just the psychological desire to eat... Prepaleo my go to was 94% Fat free microwave popcorn... But now that that's out, I'm searching for alternatives.

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I wish I could fast or just break the cycle but I'm nursing still and it seems like I'm "head hungry" 24/7. I blame the fenugreek supplements and the need to produce large quantities of breastmilk... – Susan Mar 15 2012 at 0:24

13 Answers

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I view it like an alcoholic who wants a drink. 12-step, just say no, or whatever it takes to not eat and break the habit. Eat when you are hungry, not for recreation, or you'll be stuck with a bad habit. Take it from somebody who has been there, and occasionally goes back there. :-(

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Thanks for the reminder. I had some candy yesterday and immediately regretted it. The candy wasn't even good. – barefeet Mar 15 2012 at 9:15
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You say you're breastfeeding. Are you sure you're eating enough nutrient dense foods during the day? If you're not getting enough nutrients these adorable little parasites will start feeding off your reserves which can create cravings and "snackish" behavior. Check out the Weston Price foundation guide for pregnant and nursing mothers and see if you 're more or less Following this. Lots of offal, shellfish, or raw dairy (if you "do" dairy) seem to kill my need to snack. I'm still nursing my 15 month old quite a bit. That said, as his needs have reduced due to increased solids during the day, my appetite has decreased as well. Don't beat yourself up about eating. Breastfeeding is not a time you should be calorie restricting. You can get away with a lot more dietary shenanigans after you wean.

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Lol. Yes, my adorable little parasite indeed. I've been over-analyzing my dietary intake ever since she started solids. I went on a fairly low calorie diet for about a month and itseriously started to dry up my supply so I relaxed a bit and, lo and behold, milk increased! Who'd have thunk it? However, increasing my daily calories also increased my desire to continue eating. All. The. Time. So here we are. :) I have to worry about my weight bc I'm military and getting weighed in 4ish weeks. And I have a couple lbs to drop still. If I weren't in the Army, this wouldn't be so much of an issue... – Susan Mar 15 2012 at 12:28
Just wanted to add that when I first started paleo, when my son was around 2 months old, I went pretty low carb because that's all I knew to do. It started taking its toll a few months ago and I went back to eating moderate carbs (under 150) and I feel a LOT better. My cravings are down, I don't feel the need to snack between meals anymore, and after a long plateau I started losing again. I don't know if you're keto or not but in hindsight I would'nt have done that. – Aughra Mar 15 2012 at 12:33
Well you don't need to increase calories just really ultrafocus on not eating empty protein foods like chicken breasts or tilapia. Try to make sure you're getting enough red meat, especially offal and maybe add some bone in canned sardines, wild salmon, and try to grab some mussels or oysters once or twice a week. – Aughra Mar 15 2012 at 12:35
Yeah, after all of my tweaking I've gotten my diet on point. I'd say 85% of the protein I consume is grass fed beef, pastured eggs, and salmon. Aside from the random protein in the veggies and whatnot. I had a similar experience as you. I neglected to mention that I also upped my carbs (yay sweet potatoes!) when I increased my calories. So that probably helped my milk/energy situation. Nice to see I'm not the only breastfeeding mommy who has turned her diet into a bit of a personal science experiment. :) – Susan Mar 15 2012 at 12:40
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But are you only eating muscle meat? I can't stress how important organ meat/offal is. Especially liver. If you can't stand offal then shellfish is a good option. The reason I specifically mentioned canned salmon was that the bones in it are edible and full of absorb-able minerals. Sipping bone broth in lieu of a snack is a good way to feel full too. The warm liquid creates a full feeling and it's a good source of aminos and minerals. – Aughra Mar 15 2012 at 13:40
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Eat spinach as if it were a finger food: put it in a bowl, and eat the leaves one at a time. I love spinach, but this will do little damage and gets boring quick :)

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I love raw spinach when it's incorporated into meals, but the thought of this makes me nauseas. Hence, excellent advice. – Paleoette Mar 15 2012 at 18:40
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A leafy salad provides stomach-full signals and crunch, both of which help me to some degree.

Otherwise, I have only 2 things that consistently turn off cravings--sipping coffee (with about 1 tbsp of heavy cream and 1 tsp of honey per mug) or water kefir.

The 2 things are very different, but the end result is the same. By the time I finish my drink I have no more cravings and can wait as desired until later in the day or the next day.

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I second the coffee (for me decaff) with heavy cream – Wozza Mar 15 2012 at 6:12
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I'd agree with Michael that things got a lot easier once I didn't have snacks available to satisfy that urge. On the other hand, these days if I want to eat I eat - and figure it'll just be even longer until I'm hungry again.

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Yes a hot drink always works for me. I find lemongrass & ginger or peppermint works well as they make you feel calm & fill you up.

I actually use 1 teabag in the morning & just keep refilling my cup throughout the day as I like to boil the tap water I use.

Also lemon or lime in cold or hot water works well too.

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I eat pickles. Crunchy, salty, acidic, and eventually I just don't want to eat any more.

I've recently been trying a small spoonful of extra virgin coconut oil. Not for the satiety, but the texture seems to kinda breaks me out of the "must put more food in my mouth" cycle. Shrug. We'll see how it goes. If nothing else it's getting me a bit more quality fat in my day...

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I love me some pickles... But you're right, I don't think I could binge on them. And even if I did, I'd be limited to the jar and cucumbers are so low calorie it wouldn't matter. Thanks. – Susan Mar 15 2012 at 9:51
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5g L-glutamine and 200mcg Chromium are absolute crave killers for a lot of people, try it they may surprise you :)

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I worry about supplements like that while breastfeeding. If I don't want my munchkin to ingest something, I generally avoid it. – Susan Mar 15 2012 at 9:49
Erm your body has Both inside them right now :)As does your baby's. – badly_dubbed Mar 15 2012 at 10:38
Humph. Good to know. Guess I've got some google-fu to do today. Thanks. – Susan Mar 15 2012 at 12:29
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Coconut oil is a huge turn off for me. If I eat a spoonful, I am pretty much done. Butter, by itself, can do the same thing, though I like the good stuff a little better than coconut oil. Hard boiled eggs also seem to put me off eating for a while.

If you eat a lot of bulky, low calorie stuff, you will be training your stomach to be accustomed to a large volume of food. The day you cheat, it will be a large volume of high calorie food, and will wipe out everything you were hoping to gain by avoiding high calorie foods. Better to find something small, dense, nutritious foods that have a chance of triggering satiety quickly.

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+1... great advice here. Focusing on nutrient-dense food all of the time makes it much easier to handle these "some of the time" situations. – Paleoette Mar 15 2012 at 18:39
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I go for unshelled nuts and seeds... anything that I have to work to get into tends to make me forget that I wanted to eat anything in the first place... but I'm also fairly new to this and still learning that not everything I think is paleo really is...

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this would prolly be the last thing i go for when i want to mindless munch...id munch away a couple thousand calories lol – Mallory Mar 15 2012 at 1:20
What Mallory said. Nuts and seeds are my nemesis. The time it takes to de-shell them only increases my desire for them. Kindof like pistachios. Sure, some of them open easily, but it's those ones that are half closed that you really have to crack to get open that make me want to really go for them. But maybe that's just me... :) – Susan Mar 15 2012 at 12:33
lol, I didn't think of it that way... I'm one of those people that have unshelled pistachios on my desk that I couldn't open, so I drew faces on them and put them on the shelf... I've made some home made flavored sunflower seeds (or attempted to) and will sit there with the seed in my mouth just to spit it out once the flavor is gone without eating it... – Sara Ann Mar 15 2012 at 22:21
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I like to munch on some shredded coconut. I also dehydrate kale into kale chips so if i need something to crunch. That and a cup of tea or some iced coffee (if its hot out) usually does the trick

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Potatoes.

Since I've added more potatoes in the last 2 weeks, I've found it much easier to keep my total calories where I want them around 1700-1800 day. They really seem to fill me up and keep me that way in between meals. I even had one 1200-calorie day because I just wasn't hungry.

Here is a quote from Stephan Guyenet in his recent article Palatability, Satiety and Calorie Intake:

"Potatoes, sweet potatoes, meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, rice and beans are foods with a moderate level of palatability and energy density, and are consequently helpful for weight loss and maintenance."

And here is the study he references, which found boiled potatoes to have the highest score on the satiety index that was used to measure the satiety of 38 different foods. Interesting stuff.

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I agree with this. Since incorporating sweet potatoes PWO, I don't need to eat between that and lunch. But after lunch/before dinner is where I have issues. Probably because everyone else in our open office is snacking on Good smelling SAD crap. :/ maybe I'll bring another sweet potato to work... – Susan Mar 15 2012 at 14:43
Ah yes, the office junk food definitely makes it hard! – Invisible Caveman Mar 15 2012 at 14:44
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I know the urge. :) I used to chew gum to have something in my mouth, but I haven't found a paleo-gum yet. ;)

Another option could be a stick liquorice to chew on, but I'm not from the US (Holland), so I don't know if they sell it there. You cannot really eat it, but it gives a nice sweet flavour while chewing on it. A note: they always say on the package you shouldn't eat much of it if you have a high blood pressure, because it will let it rise a little bit. If you don't suffer from it, go ahead! Just don't chew on the all day long ;)

A last option I know which helps: drink a good cup of water or tea if you are hungry, it will fill you up and you will pee it out without adding calories to your diet.

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