March 1... fear of cravings

Hi, my date is March 1... It took one week (they didnt send the paper work to claims department - I called to check, that put them on the ball) when they faxed it to the insurance company, it only took one night for me to be approved. I am getting a bit scared now. I am a sweets freak. How do you guys deal with the cravings? I am on the high protein for the next two weeks until the surgery... Does this help? I dont know what to ask but I want all the answers. I'm getting REALLY NERVOUS

Take a deep breath. Don't be nervous. mmmmmm.. Ok . that is about it for my knowledge on this one. Cravings can be tough. Concentrate on your high protein thing, and just do this one day at a time. Don't think about what you have to do for the REST of your life, you just have to do it today!!! Hugs, Mo

Welcome to the March board! My surgery is also 3/1--that makes us sisters of sorts. The protein will help you heal faster and will fill in nutritional gaps that happen with the shock of surgery. The sweet cravings will take care of themselves. Try to eliminate them as much as possible during these last few days just to make it easier on yourself. Tips to get in more protein: Add 1 or more protein shakes to your daily diet. Make sure you get enough meat, eggs and dairy products. Mix some non-fat dry milk into anything that it is compatible with to fortify the foods. Every little bit of protein helps. Start reading labels and writing down your protein. You need 60-100 gms of protein per day. We can get through this together. Read this board--you will get lots of ideas about what to do and what to take and will also realize that your nerves are quite normal! We March 1-ers have taken the name canaries. There is a post on 2/15 that explains that. Welcome to the Flock of Canaries!! Joy "Canary" (3/1)

Sarah - I did Atkins for years and years, so I can say from experience the low(er) carb high protein diets will help quell those cravings tremendously. The kicker is that you can still get triggered by certain things. For some it's diet soda, for others it's gum, mints or other sweet substitutes. I always ate the low carb goodies and although I hated to admit it, I did get cravings from them. It was like my body never got it out of my system. As for protein shakes, I'm going to post a new thread on that - I have a good alternative for those who hate them. Dina

Hi ya, Sarah! Welcome to the Marchers! Wow! You got your approval quick! That's great...there's a lot who it took LIFETIMES to get approved. Glad that part went fast for ya! It's normal to be nervous. Everyone's going thru it. Seems like it hits everyone in waves. Nothing to worry about tho. Just get it out of your system and get on with getting on! We're all here when those nerves start flaring up. We'll talk ya down and get ya steadied again! There are a lot of "fake sweets" out there now. I'm not a sweet freak (never did like candy or chocolate...yeah, I'm a freak...), but my friends who do Atkins say they're pretty yummy. Carb Solutions is one of 'em...like fake chocolate candy bars but with a pretty good dose of protein, too! My nutritionist said to beware of "sugar alcohol" tho, sez it'll give you really bad diarrhea and stuff. But they ARE out there when you get a hankering for them. As for the high protein, yes, it WILL help, and there's many ways to get it. There's a zillion "shakes" and drinks out there. I happen to like many of them, so they're not a problem to me, but others think they taste like sludge. My nutritionist insists we use something post-op called "BENEPROTEIN" (you can only get it at www.walgreens.com) - it's a tasteless, odorless powdery-kind of thing you add to anything (drinks, food, yogurt...whatever), and each scoop is ~7 grams of protein. It's GREAT, you don't even know you're using it! I'm sloppin' a scoop into everything at this point. Joy(ful C) Cook uses something that sounds similar called "Unjury" and I THINK you get it at www.unjury.com (help me out here, Joyful C, if I'm wrong...). Anyway, these kinds of products are wonderful 'cuz you don't even REALIZE you're using 'em. I was skeptical 'bout the Beneprotein...'til I tried it. Then I turned around and ordered more for post-op. But you NEED the protein: it'll maintain your muscle tone, help greatly in your healing process, and when we hit that hair-loss stage, will lessen the blow. As Martha Stewart would say, "It's a good thing!" (I can't stand that woman! ). Anyhoo, hope that helps ya out a bit. Hang around...we've got many more areas to explore! ALSO...go back a page in these posts and check out the post from Joy Cook about "ALL MARCH 1ST DATES READ THIS!" It'll explain why you're considered a "Canary" along with the other March 1st dates! Kimmer Queen of the Niners, Instigator to all Marchers, High Priestess of Giggles Zero-minus-20 and counting!