How the heck do I find the willpower to give up bread?

[PlatinumEdition]

You would think that at 52 and of reasonable intelligence I would be able to do this easily but alas this has become such an issue for me right now.

I have been struggling with my digestive health for decades but over the last 6 years it's been dreadful and just getting worse.

I have already removed several foods from my diet as I know they are triggers (not had dairy for over 20 years for example) and I follow a very boring low fodmap diet, only drink water and read the back of every label in case of trigger ingredients.

I am not a coeliac but both my gastroenterologist and my dietitian have advised that I also remove all wheat/gluten products (including sourdough) from my diet for a while to see if it would reduce my daily gut issues. They both say many of their patients see improvement in their problems once they give these up.

I have had no issue removing other trigger foods from my diet in the past but I am absolutely addicted to bread products. I have tried and tried but I just can not find the willpower to do so. I have trialled all of the GF breads available and dislike them immensely, they either have a weird after-taste which coats my mouth, or a nasty texture or have ingredients in them which further upset my gut. I do not find them a pleasure in any sense of the word.

I just can not let go of wheat, I have tried and tried and failed miserably each time. I suppose if I lived alone I could just simply not buy it but I have a dh and two teens who love their bread products so can not deny them the pleasure.

I think it may be because I have had to give up so many other trigger foods in the past that there isn't many pleasurable foods left, I can't eat nice cheese or any diary, eggs are my nemesis, beef upsets me as does chicken, sugary foods, fatty foods and many nuts, legumes, fruits and veg. Bread was my one little piece of food joy left in my life lol.

I am desperate to feel well again within my gut and believe me when I say I have tried everything to help other than giving up wheat and gluten,. You would have thought the potential to feel better would be enough to encourage me but I fall off the wagon within days of trying, I genuinely feel addicted.

How can I break this addiction?

If I stop eating bread, I stop binge eating.
Have tried this so many times, lost a lot of weight, only to pile it back again the second any kind of bread passes my lips!
I have now gone cold turkey, keep it in a cupboard I never use so I don't have to see it or smell it.
I also have a substitite food reward, which for me is one square of 90% cocoa dark chocolate a day.
I sympathise.

@WafferThinMint meet your sister.

I’m a carb addict so I have to abstain from high carb foods, including potatoes, that trigger an insatiable urge to have more.

I treat myself like the addict I am and abstain completely. You wouldn’t ask an alcoholic to try to moderate their intake. Treat this the same way.

The first few days are tough but once I am off carbs it’s much easier. Food noise is gone and I am not spending vast energy trying not to eat xyz. I only eat meat, veg, dairy and eggs.

Moderation is impossible for me, abstaining gives me peace.

Yes carbs for me too, they give me so much pleasure and I only really ever crave carbs. I've tried going cold turkey but fall off the wagon within days.

What are you actually eating if you cut out all these foods?

are you sure it’s not additives in ultra processed foods that are causing you the problems?

I cook everything from scratch.

So (due to my bread addiction) breakfast is toast and low fodmap levels of peanut or almond butter, tomato and avocado. Lunch usually turkey or salmon salad (sometimes homemade soup) and dinner is often low fodmap veg, potatoes (regular or sweet potato), turkey mince or steak, white fish or salmon, gammon. I snack on crackers, oat cakes (occasionally) and my beloved bread and occasionally almonds and walnuts. Very few upf.

Oh I feel very sorry for you! Have you tried home made gf bread products? Maybe flatbreads or things like seeded crackers, if you can’t find a way to make bread nice? I’d like to reduce carbs too but have never tried as like you I can’t imagine how I’d do it whilst feeding the family.

I picked this one up in tkmax amd made it for coeliac dd it was lovely

Look at this product that I found on google.com share.google/dXqAsDq1YOHtLo8QB

List all the things you could eat instead of toast for breakfast. Treat it like a project! Research all the other things that you could possibly - there is a world of breakfasts for you to try. Then face it like a fun challenge!

There will be something (guaranteed) which will replace your toast that you will love equally. Focus on how much better you feel while trying these different foods. 🙂

I did this and lost loads of weight. But mainly because I hate GF bread, cakes etc so just avoided anything like that entirely. But potatoes were the only other carb that I liked and you can't have those three times a day!

I guess try and find a recipe for a good GF bread?

I do make gf flatbreads which are tolerable but every gf bread I've made has been a disaster and waste of expensive ingredients.

I do have some almond flour and keep meaning to make some crackers.

Oh lovely, I'll try that, thanks.

I have done this with my dietitian. I also have arfid (should have mentioned this in my op), food in general is not a pleasure for me. I really struggle with alternatives tbh.

I feel your pain. Before you give up on GF bread completely this is the absolute best tasting/texture of GF bread available.

It freezes brilliantly so we bulk buy and defrost as needed.

I really do need to find a decent gf bread. I'm the same with potatoes too, love them and anything starchy.

Shop GF bread is mostly disgusting, isn’t it? And so expensive. I even tried the one from Gail’s which is £5 and it was only tolerable.
I find the Genius seeded gf loaf is best, and warburtons gf white pittas are surprisingly ok. Schar crostini are quite nice particularly with butter and jam or nutella.

Other than that I mostly eat oat cakes.

I hope you can find one that suits your stomach. If you're not intolerant to it though it seems unnecessarily restrictive.

Nigella does lovely GF lemon polenta cake. I made that the other day it was amazing.

I can’t eat bread. I just don’t buy it. If anyone in the house wants some they have to get it themselves and Hide it. Evil stuff!
I will treat myself to a teeny loaf of Jason’s sour dough occasionally

It might not be the bread, perhaps it could be a yeast intolerance.

I found out I had coeliac at age 26. I grieved my full diet. I tried for a couple of months to sneak bread in. I realised it wasn’t worth it. I haven’t eaten normal bread in over a decade. I think once you get to a couple of months no bread then it just gets easier. A year onwards you just don’t even think about it it.

its a bit like how I imagine people who go teetotal feel. The further you get away from it the less you need or crave or remember it

I like all the schar ones, but I only eat them toasted.

I would eat the GF M and S sliced white loaf. It's better toasted. The fruity oat biscuits are good too.

Hello sisters.

No carbs means no craving, no bloating, no pain.

It's taken a long time.

It must be hard if you love bread. I have absolutely no dietary issues with bread, but I don’t like it. So I very rarely eat it.

I did used to love chocolate and imagined I always would. When we had children, I stopped buying it, and before long, I no longer craved it. It’s years since I have eaten it. I’m sure the same could be done with bread.

I’ve just given up bread age 58 and dairy plus a coupe of other dietary triggers. I now have overnight oats for breakfast oats, berries, banana, raisins, dash of oat milk. No yoghurt obvs. Then lunch is maybe tuna salad with jacket instead of bread. Dinner is sth with rice/pots/sweet pots/roasted veg and I’m also ok with pasta. For snacks I have a lot of corn cakes - like rice cakes but much nicer. It was hard at first as I love buttery toast. I never thought I could live without bread. I just dont buy bread now so I’m not tempted.

What about subbing wheat bread with potato bread, it's gorgeous. You can use almond flour to bind. Bit of work involved, but worth it. I think you can buy the mix in certain places and online but that would probably be made with gluten.

www.christinascucina.com/irish-potato-bread-irish-potato-cakes-or-farls/