Peanut Butter Addiction- Breaking it now!

So, I have been bingeing on peanut butter every night for like, the past two weeks, and I am so happy, because today I finally did something about it! I asked the other people living in my house to please hide it from me and only get it out when I want to put it on my half of an English Muffin in the morning, when I only put on 1/2 tbs. I'm so proud...I didn't even think about bingeing on it tonight :) YAY

hey thats definitely a good approach, but have you tried eating almond butter? i used to have major pb binges, and could not give pb up completely, so i tried maranatha almond butter- its soo good! peanuts are extremely high on the glycemic index scale, and so they induce cravings, whereas almond butter is lower, healthier, and does not make most people crave, but is rather more satisfying than pb. its worked for me, so maybe it would work for you too.

I might have to try almond butter myself. Why does the PB beckon me so from the cabinet? 

Hahaha I also love the PB and often include it in my binges... The funny thing is that I barely ever used to touch the stuff before dieting. Weird.

Original Post by elise_m:

Hahaha I also love the PB and often include it in my binges... The funny thing is that I barely ever used to touch the stuff before dieting. Weird.

 lol i am the exact same way, i never touched peanut butter butter much in my life, id average 1 pb and J sandwich like ever 2 months. My dad was the only one in the house who liked it. When he passed there was actually an un opened jar which must have been sitting there for god knows how long and i just threw it away.

After starting my diet i one day made lunch for my nephew he wanted a PB sandwich and after making it i licked the knife out just by accident and i was hooked ever since. I had a 2 week binge of PB and once i finished the jar i proimise not to look in the pb section at the grocery store. Not sure if i can try that almond butter..sounds like another disaster waiting to happen. I can quit cold turkey. I have no problems cutting out ice cream, chocolate, fried foods...but my 2 weaknesses are peanut butter and cheetos...not combined of course :-)

Have you tried PB2? Bell plantation (www.bellplantation.com) makes a powdered peanut butter that is only 54 cals per 2 tablespoons. Its powder, so it's a LOT harder to binge on. You have to physically make it with water.

Less cals, harder to binge. This is the only PB I will let in my home! :)

I'm a 'put PB on my waffles' kinda gal.

I'm the same way!!! I never used to even like peanut butter that much. I think my addiction started once I ate a pb & j sandwhich too. Now this past week, I've been waking up in the middle of the night getting a spoon full of peanut butter. I thought I was going crazy! I crave almonds, and nuts in general and I never used to even touch a nut. I just had peanut butter yesterday on crackers and the fact that I liked it was crazy because in my past you couldn't pay me to eat that. I don't understand why I'm so addicted to peanut butter but I am! I'm trying to ween myself off of it as well. I even went to buy light bread a few weeks ago to cut back on the calories of having a pb & j all the time.

can anyone explain why allot of us (who probably never touched pb till we started dieting) suddenly have a super craving for PB? I thought i was on a protein crave since im lifting so much weight and my muscles are growing (gained 9lbs of lean muscle mass in 6 weeks yaaaaaay me!)

i might try that powdered pb, might make me want it less since id have to make it.

i think someone needs to place a jar of skippy in front of me and take my hand and slap it with a ruler repeating "bad peanut butter...bad"

The reason you are wanting to eat peanut butter is because you are dieting. When people are determined to lose weight, their survival instinct stands between them and their goal. The whole diet lifestyle is based on trying to eat less food than you want. When you try to keep from gaining weight by undereating, your survival instinct kicks in; it intensifies your appetite, producing cravings for fatty foods (such as peanut butter, cakes, sweets) to prevent starvation. You can blame your cravings on emotions or some other psychological reason, but you are wrong. The reason for any type of bingeing, whether it be peanut butter, cookies, or chocolate, is because you are undereating, and your body knows it, even if you do not. You may think you are eating healthy otherwise, but eating under 2100 calories a day signals potential starvation to the body. When you eat under that amount, metabolism slows, and sooner or later you'll start the crazy binge cycle that you can't figure out for the life of you. Dieters don't crave broccoli & celery. Your body's top survival priority in a restricted food environment is fat storage, for "famine protection." Start eating good food, whenever you are hungry, then stop when full. Your body will begin to get the idea that there's no more famines, and you won't feel compelled to binge. Simple & true.

According to this site we are not undereating. Undereating would be only eating 1200 calories per day. I can't speak for anyone else but I'm no where near that. I usually eat around 1600-2000 a day and I still crave pb. So what's up with that?

 

 

you cannot say eating less then 2100 is undereating. for instance, someone who is smaller would have to work out hard to have their daily burn equal that amount. i only burn 1700 cals if i am not active. i normally burn about 1900 so if i ate 2100 i would be gaining weight.

cravings are very emotional among many other things. body asking for fat and so on. if you balance you food and get plenty of healthy fats, your cravings are curbed almost completly.

getting ahold of emotional binges is hard. when i struggle with them i try to look back and see what was lacking from my diet. if i am dieting or just my basic diet, there had to be a lack of fiber, protien or fat.

and so you know, i crave baby tomatos, carrots and celery like nobodys buisness. but those are things i tend to eat allot cause they are good for me and a great snack once you add in some protien, so :P

i somehow left out my point on paragraph 3.

if your eating isnt balanced it throws your emotions through hoops-there for leading to a binge or over endulgance.

eating 7 almonds twice a day will help keep your blood sugar at sane levels. that helps a ton too!

i often find chugging some water helps allot. then i am too full even if my mind is telling me to eat it. if i am actually hungry, i would rationally plan out my meal, not eat it strait out of a jar. that is how i know it isnt really hunger, I want to dive in head first. And i have MANY MANY times. we all have. :)

stef