coping with cravings

In case anyone was wondering, having RNY (or any other  WLS) does not mean you will never have cravings for unhealthy food again.  I've noticed I don't have strong cravings very often anymore, and I think that's because I've just gotten used to eating healthy foods and also because I finally figured out that if I don't give in to cravings they will eventually go away... but I still get them sometimes.  Tonight, I was craving ice cream.

And not just any ice cream.  GOOD ice cream.  Like a blizzard with Heath bar bits in it, or Ben and Jerry's cherry garcia, something like that.  Which I will not even attempt to eat because I am sure I would dump on it.  I mean, I could eat two or three bites of it, but that would just make me want more.  It would leave me feeling unsatisfied.  

My partner suggested going to the store and buying some no sugar added ice cream sandwiches, or no sugar added vanilla ice cream and sugar free chocolate syrup.  I like those things, but compared to a blizzard with Heath bar bits, well, they just wouldn't  measure up.  I was starting to get cranky about it.  It was certainly the strongest craving I've had for something in a long time.  I wanted ice cream and was mad that I couldn't have it.

My partner hadn't eaten dinner yet and he wanted to go to Wendy's.  I went along and ended up getting a baked sweet potato (did you know Wendy's now has baked sweet potatoes?).  Obviously, it did not taste anything like a blizzard with Health bar bits.  But it was good.  And it filled me up.  On the way home, it occurred to me that I was no longer craving ice cream.

Once again, I proved to myself that cravings will pass, even if I don't give in to them.  Which is not to say I never give in to them.  Depending on what I am craving, sometimes I do.  But I don't have to.

when i get the cravings for things, i usually grab a bit of trail mix i keep on hand..i doctor it up with extra almonds, chashews, but this mixture has raisins in it..and i have found that they really do keep the sweet cravings away....i also add in some of the dried craisines in my trail mix..but its loaded with lots of different kinds of nuts and then i doctor it up...i keep this in my purse at all times for then my sugar levels drop and i am out and about...much easier to take along then a yogurt...
now i just need to get off the nuts...i have been finding myself taking a few too many now...so will have to put them harder to get to..haha...
debby

 Being full sure helps. Even a lowly sweet potato can defeat the spectre of a pecan pie blizzard or (insert your monster craving here).

Wendy's sweat potatoes .............. here I come!

Sugar free chocolate syrup taste like ...........I can't say it..............****

Good post. I don't have a huge sweet tooth, but I CRAVE chocolate about ten days before my period. And tonight, it's a strong one. Fortunately, I have a bag of Hershey's sugar free dark miniatures in my pantry. Three of those, and I feel mischieviously indulgent, and the cravings are gone.

...which is good news, because a coworker at the YMCA bought me a HUGE bag of M&Ms to say thank you for covering two of her classes. And they're sitting downstairs in my workshop, calling sexily to me. But after my sugar free Hersheys, I don't want them.

Most of my cravings are gone, but every now and then, a few of them creep in. Right now, I'm dying for a bowl of thick, homemade spaghetti. Not sure how I'm going to battle that one. I asked my mom if she'd make me her famous spaghetti for my birthday, so I'll probably have a few forkfuls and call it good.

And I don't think there is anything wrong with giving in to cravings sometimes, especially in a "healthy" way, like three sugar free Hershey kisses.  But it's also good to know I don't have to give in to them.  It's my choice.  And if I choose not to give in, they will still go away and I'll survive.

 Yeah, good point.  I'm always looking for "healthy" ways to give into cravings, but there's a lot to be said for the fact that you don't have to ive into them at all, and they will, in fact, go away. It's sort of like Nik's "Hunger is not an emergency" post. Just because a person's feeling a craving doesn't mean they have to feed it right away--or at all. 

Yesterday was Mother's day and since I was cooking for the family, which doesn't seem fair but it happens, I made homemade ice cream. It had half Splenda, skimmed milk, with a little half n half, and whipped cream, plus eggs and vanilla. I had a small yogurt cup for me but I couldn't eat the whole thing. I've found in all incidences like this, that I get to have a little but am satisfied really fast. AND it doesn't happen often. I rarely have cravings anyway.

I tend to think about it as ask myself if it is that important.

 Thanks for posting Kelly!

I had absolutely no cravings until I hit about 6 months post op.  They are definitely a scary feeling.  I try not to give in but if I do it is always in moderation.  I also started to chew more gum.  I like to buy the sugar free chocolate mint or the sugar free key lime pie.  In a strange way they also help to satiate any cravings I get.

Also- good to know about the baked sweet potato at Wendy's AND sugar free Hershey kisses.