Is my Body Telling Me Something?

[brioswald]

So, I'm about 4 weeks into stage two, and cruising along fairly nicely.  I have a few vices (coffee being the main one), but overall, I stick with paleo friendly foods.  My daily fasting I try not to take overly serious and don't go too hard on myself if I feel the need to have a handful of sunflower seeds or a couple of carrot sticks to get through the day.  However, I am having this one issue that leads me to my question; I have a big family with lots of children and consequently MANY family events that involve celebrating with cake. In the four weeks I've been on stage 2, I've attended at least two birthday parties per week, and the rest of my family is definitely NOT paleo--the typical menu consists of pizza, hot dogs, chips of all different flavors and grains, potato salad, macaroni salad, soft pretzels followed by cake and ice cream.  So, I partake minimally, but still go definitely off-diet.

After all that intro, here is my actual question: I still suffer from hunger pangs during the days when I am trying valiantly to stick to my diet.  is this because my body is not completely fat adapted due to not going cold turkey on the refined carbs?

Thanks.
Brian

[Jana]

Try feast on more food with some extra butter or other fat for a couple of days and you'll see where you  are with the pangs. Perhaps you are just hungry.

From your celebrations menu perhaps a potato salad, some paleo people actually argue potato as paleo. I've also seen rice chips in the store and if they have it here you probably have much better selection where you live. Ice cream does have sugar, the creamy ones less than the sorbet ones. Plus the creamy ice creams have lots of milk fat. And sugar, in healthy amounts and forms is good for you. Brain functions primarily on sugar, each day you need 150 g of glucose just to support brain functioning. As paleo you ingest the necessary amount with fruits and some vegetables. Bring some fruit with you to the parties, and have it together with the ice cream. By adjusting a bit they'll know that you don't eat everything and they might buy apples next time just for you but taking a selection of the offered food you won't come across as prude or worse, offending the hosts.
Gentle persuasion and lots of explaining generally works for me.

[MrChris]

Brian, as I'm sitting here at work, I have to admit...the food at the outings sounds kinda good...! lol  I'm working on week #3 and doing fairly well, but the cravings are still getting to me.  I'm doing my best to get through them, but I hope they ease up at some point...
I haven't weighed myself in the past 10 days, but at the 2 week mark, I was down 11 pounds and it seems to be going pretty good.  I've definitely noticed my body telling me things!  Most of them are good, such as energy and things like that, but the cravings are driving me nuts, since I never used to really crave that much...

[houmax]

For inspiration...
http://www.archevore.com/panu-weblog/2010/1/13/smoking-candy-cigarettes.html

...I used to be a social cake eater. It's bad at work as there's about 2 birthdays a week seems like in our office. No wonder most of them are fat. Plus the bosses bring in donuts, coffee cakes or kalochis pretty often. Sometimes you just gotta say "No thanks"

And for a laugh...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOrMyi2m_4E

[MrChris]

Great link Houmax, it was pretty amusing! lol

[brioswald]

Mrchris, I am on my last 5-7 pounds, depending on what day I weigh myself, and this is where every thing I eat seems to "count." Generally, I feel pretty good, but there are moments that I'm tempted to dive face first into a bucket of buttery popcorn (my true weakness), and I find myself thinking a lot more about cookies than I used to.  I'm gutting through it most days, but I confess to Houmax that I am candy cigarette corporate enabler when it comes to the party atmosphere.  Like the guy says, I don't feel like explaining to my nagging mother, sisters and brothers why I am not eating their "food."

Thankfully, most of the cakes are not store bought, so there is at least that.  My strategy lately has been to eat  few bites and then get distracted by a child who needs help with something.

[MrChris]

Way to go brio, it's good to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Remember though, weight can fluctuate 2-4 pounds a day and that's normal.  The scale isn't the end all-be all here.
I haven't had much of a sweet tooth in years, until starting this diet and the past few weeks, I'm craving things like never before.  It's weird!  I guess it's just natural, but I find it annoying! lol  People refer to "cheating" and eating cake and things, but everything is ok in moderation.  Weight comes down to a simple math problem, when you break it down barney style.  If you're adding more than subtracting, you gain and if you're subtracting more than you're adding, you lose.  If you eat some cake or your weakness of buttery popcorn, just do a little extra to offset the numbers and keep things in balance.
That's my 2 cents...!