I have celiac/IBS which I think will just get worse if I continue to tear my gut up with wheat so no to pizza. No to dairy also.

sometimes i need a treat once in a while, it feels good,

I did it 3 times--got extremely sick each time, not to mention really down on myself, and it worked perfectly as aversion therapy. I haven't had a twinge of desire to eat SAD since. It's now been about 2 months and I relish my primal menu every day.

I played bingo today and skipped the soda and snacks. It didn't bother me a bit, because everyone noticed how much weight I've lost. Good motivation to keep going!

The more I read, the less I can stand the thought of putting crap into my system. Do I have willpower of steel? Absolutely not. But I'm finding my desire for SAD foods is steadily diminishing the deeper into Paleo I go; it's great. But the sweet tooth is still a tough cookie to kill...

I've not been paleo for all that long, and am still trying to lose lots of weight (by making it fairly strictly VLC, although I'm less bothered by dairy) so haven't cheated much. But I will, there's no doubt, and either hot fresh pizza or crusty-soft baguette with butter and a good Brie will be the culprit. And you know what? Who cares! When you're reasonably happy with your weight, the odd night off is not going to hurt compared to the years of paleo health ahead.

At the moment, it's the occasional gin & tonic or a glass of red.

I'm probably going to say this a lot on here but "life gets in the way"! (Perhaps LGITW could become a paleo acronym?!) What's the point in living healthily if you're so obsessed with diet that it ruins every potential social occasion or joyful indulgence? A long, lean, miserable existence! I actually started paleo so I could make a few big changes but then loosen up about food, rather than anxiously deconstructing every mouthful. Nutritional neurosis seems to go against everything the paleo lifestyle embodies.

Yeah, I ate SAD for a week when my relationship broke up and also the week before I moved away from NYC so I could enjoy traditional NYC pizza, ice cream, and everything else :) I didn't eat anything processed though, so interestingly I didn't gain any weight at all.

But not being able to get carbs is not a good reason to eat SAD, since it's not that much effort to boil a sweet potato.

Never...I find absolutely zero interest in SAD foods. For me it is not a matter of will power, it just the thought of SAD food, the smell or taste just do nothing for me now. A bowel of mixed berries in heavy cream is almost too sweet for me now.

There are only two things I consider to be indisputably paleo: hunting and gathering, and eating meat. I had to restrict high glycemic carbs to control my blood sugar, but I didn't ban them out of my diet. I just ate less of them.

That's why I would not eat a whole pizza. It's not healthy. Not because of the carbs but because it's too much. I can stuff myself with salmon, but one piece of pizza is all I'm good for.

I go out to eat about once a month and eat things like typical salad dressing and pizza. If it is one meal, I don't have to pay for it too much.

I'm pretty strict Paleo, and naturally, it's going to be low in carbs because it's a lot of effort to find Paleo carbs

...I beg to differ. I never got the memo that Paleo is naturally Low Carb. Regarding effort - they don't sell potatoes, sweet potatoes, fruit, etc where you live?

If/when I have a SAD cheat, it is because pizza, ice cream, beer are pretty fucking desirable and rewarding. But trying to polish that turd as a carb re-feed is absurd. Call a spade a spade.

Most importantly, don't be too hard on yourself if you do cheat (unless you have a serious metabolic issue that is exacerbated by cheats). You're a neolithic human, flaws and all, trying to walk the straight and narrow to the extent possible. Good luck!

when I eat SAD, I get SAD- so it's not worth it for me

There is some middle ground between low-carb and SAD.

I eat SAD occasionally, but it has nothing to do with carbs. I just like going out to dinner and not worrying too much about what I’m eating. Other than a few bites of desert, I don’t really eat any more carbs than I normally do. Just more omega-6 and alcohol. I normally eat more Archevore style, so I have fair amount of rice in my diet already.

Actually, finding good sources of carbs is pretty easy -- most fruit; root vegetables like sweet potato, yuca, taro, carrots, beets, and even white potatoes for the folk who don't have a problem with nightshades; some folks will mention rice, which I don't use, but it is a grass seed, so shrugs.

I'll also occasionally eat a pizza -- Chebe crust (which is made of cassava flour/yuca flour, because I am gluten-free out of necessity, and because chebe, also known as pao de caejo, is amazing stuff). But even when it's grainless, it's still 'treat' food, because as good as I can make it, it's still out of balance for what my body needs.

The thing is, the occasional trip into processed foods probably won't hurt if you're relatively healthy, but since I'm old, and NOT completely healthy (ok, not even CLOSE to completely healthy, between the MS and immune system issues) I'd be pretty careful about trying to justify it for myself, because that becomes a sort of slippery slope for me -- truthfully, it's kinda challenging to choose to eat away from the mainstream track food in our culture has taken -- but it really does make a difference... so while I may stray occasionally, I've learned that it's in my best interests to really pay attention to what I'm putting in my body, and really weigh out whether a jaunt into SADland is where I want to go.

Yup. I'm unintentionally VLC (meat, eggs, some veggies) during the week and depending on who I hang with on the weekends get really SAD.

My old obese brain loves carbs. But the kinds of medium to high carb foods that got me to obesity and messed with my hypoglycemia are no longer a part of my life. They do not help me get and stay healthy.