fibro sufferers, help me beat the sugar/carb cravings.

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I was diagnosed about a month ago and have been researching as much as i can. Found an article about fibro weight gain and it explains why my weight rocketed after the birth of ds. I think i have had mild fibro since my teens but the birth seemed to have triggered it into severe fibro.
i put on about 40lbs in 3 months after the birth and have spent 4 years trying to lose it and never succeding because of the severe cravings to boost my energy. Diets only seem to stop the weight going up.

So, after all that waffle, what do you do to beat the cravings or what healthy things do you snack on?

Are you on a wheat free diet? I don't (as far as I know!) have fibromyalgia, but had increasing pain over the past 15 years or so (random, gut and joint) which got a lot better, but didn't go away when I went on a low carb diet (which of course included sharply reducing the amount of wheat I was eating).

This year, I have cut wheat out totally, and the headaches, gut pain, random pains, joint pains have all stopped.

Do you think that would be worth a try (you may feel quite unwell for about 3 days, as you withdraw from the wheat, I warn you!).

With a low carb diet, you won't get cravings... unless you are eating too much carb, craving it means your blood sugar is spiking too much (making you hungry when it drops again).

Eat biggish meals with plenty of fat (yes really!), and protein and no carbs except what is in your (non starchy) veg (eat lots!), a few berry fruits and nuts, you won't feel the need to snack often, and a hand full of tree nuts or fresh coconut or a couple of squares of dark (80% or more) chocolate will do.
You WILL lose weight on this, and it won't feel like a diet, IMVHO and E.

There are low carb/paleo threads on here with lots of info.

This free blog has lots of info, ideas and a lot of science, if you want to look more deeply into how and why this way of eating works for a lot of people.

www.dietdoctor.com/

I think I may have seen some stuff about fibro on there somewhere.

I've tried low carb but with 2 young kids to feed too i found it impossible to cook meals they would eat, I'm far too tired and foggy headed to think of loads of meals and cook two separate meals as well. About 90% of my meal planner is carby.

I can easily limit my pasta/potato etc portions when i cook a meal it's the snacking I'm finding hard, I'll come in from the school run, which is walked, and feel on the verge of collapse and can easily gobble 2 or 3 bags of crisps or half a packet of biccys, I'm attacking the cupboards like an addict looking for a hit.
I need carb/sugar free snack ideas as i just can't think(thanks fibro fog!) Nuts? Seeds? That's all i can think of

I have 3 teens, a DH and a toddler - cooking wheat free/low carb can be easy with some planning, and you don't need to cook different things.

Errr yes, you are an addict looking for a hit (of sugar/carb), been there, done that! You are craving that stuff because your blood sugar is haywire - you don't NEED them, it's your body trying to keep things level by constantly eating them (I know that very well from my own experience). IME, you will feel a lot better if you stop eating it (after 3 days of withdrawal headaches and feeling a bit sh**).

Have a wee read of that blog I linked, I think you will recognise a lot of peoples experience stories as being very similar to yours (ours).

I think roasts and slow cooking are great staples of the low carb diet, easy to make wheat free (Kallo wheat/gluten free stock cubes are great in moderation), and slow cooking is FAST - very short prep time and then you just forget about it for 2 or 3 hours (ie shove in oven before going on the school run).
I try to do 3 dinners at a time (big oven), so for example 30min prep time I can make roast chicken with veg (in lidded roasting tin), pot-roast a brisket with veg and casserole a pork dish with veg - all cheapish, good family grub, I might throw in a few baby potatoes or stuff the chicken with rice, as the teens and toddler want a bit more carbs than DH and I... all the kids and DH will eat it too, they don't feel like they are missing out on anything.

Do you have a big freezer? Batch cooking is your friend - saves time money and effort - I am self confessed lazy and disorganised but batch-cooked for toddler DS4 as I could spend a couple of hours (which I hated, tbh!) cooking and then I had his dinners for a month sorted...

and snacks, you honestly won't need to snack the way you do now (and yes, I could do entire pack of cake/crisps etc in my time!

When I do snack

• handful of nuts (natural, almond, walnut, macadamia etc, NOT peanuts, they are not nuts, they are pulses).

Olives - about 10 or 12. About 30 or 40grams of meat (leftovers, or a couple of slices of ham) coffee with double cream.

SCOTCH can I ask why coffee with cream, not milk?

Cream (double, 40% fat or more)- is low carb, high nutrient, very filling, does not spike blood sugar and is a naturally occurring animal fat (all good things if you are following lc/hf or paleo diet - ok, not strictly paleo but heavy cream and butter are "acceptable" to many paleo dieters as it is natural animal fat). And it tastes fantastic.

Milk - is high in lactose (a sugar), naturally occuring growth hormones, casins, causes blood sugar to spike, can cause hormonal issues.

Thank you