Carb-Aholics
 

Hello and welcome to C.A!

My name is MHibdon and I'm a carbaholic. I am addicted to consuming carbohydrates in the worst possible fashion and am here to rely upon my fellow carb lovers for their advice and tricks to keep from giving into the cravings!

I'd love to hear your stories and advice so let's hear it! Don't be shy, accepting that you have a problem is the first step to fixing it!

Hello fellow Carb-Aholic!

I have a great love for pizza, and the way I've found to get around this without falling for a family stuffed crust margarita is to make Pizza Toast. :D
Basically, brown 2 slices of brown/wholemeal bread on one side. The turn over and put on a thin layer of Tomato puree, and some lower-fat cheese (sparingly).
I also add some red onion or spring onion, a sprinkle of mixed herb and some quartered cherry tomatoes.
Gorgeous! And you won't feel anywhere near as guilty afterward! :D

(If anyone knows how to make chocolate brownies less evil, please let me know!!! :p)

That is a fabulous recipe! I'm totally going to try it tonight! Though how on earth can you be sparing with your cheese?!

I think if you can ever find a weight watcher recipe book they have a brownie option. I remember my aunt made these to-die-for pumpkin cupcakes that were only around 50 calories each! I'll call her and post the recipe as soon as possible!~

They featured these brownies on Losing It with Jillian last night but I haven't tried them...but you know if it's her recipe, it's got to be good for you!

Losing It With Jillian - NBC Site

I also had a bag of whole wheat flour that had a link to recipes, but I dumped the flour in a container and don't have the bag. Try Googling Gold Medal whole wheat flour and see if it comes up.

Love the pizza idea...I usually use whole wheat pitas and use low fat cheese; then I don't have to be quite as sparing :).

Hello, my name is Amy and I'm a carbaholic, I was born this way. I became aware of carbaholism about 5-6 years ago when our oldest was diagnosed with food allergies. I read an article on dealing with wheat/carbohydrate withdrawl that many people on the GF diet have to deal with, and essentially discovered that I'm a textbook carbaholic. On a list of 30 symptoms, I exhibit 28-29 of them - seriously. I felt like the author of that article knew me as well as my own mother, maybe even a little better...

I've been making pizza with slim buns, you just open them up, spread some pizza sauce on it, then some cheese. I try to use just an ounce of reduced fat cheese for 2 halves, which is about 1/4 cup shredded. Then top it with mushrooms, turkey pepperoni, bacon bits, peppers, etc etc, pop it under the broiler for like 1-2 minutes and ta-da, guiltless pizza. One of the ladies on the 100 pound thread uses portabella mushroom caps brushed with olive oil for the crust, but I haven't tried that yet, slimbuns are um cheaper. We call them "pizza buns" at our house. I've also used whole grain pita bread and whole wheat flour tortillas for the crust. But seriously, any thing sort of flat that can hold sauce and cheese (sauce optional) is fair game here in my kitchen.

My absolute worst temptations are ice cream, brownies, chocolate and Italian. So an entire culture of cuisine is on my "weakness" list. Wow, how sad is that? I also love Mexican food, but that's much easier to make healthy versions of. I make a darn good sanora omelet, which I serve with whole grain tortillas. Basically it's an egg white omelet stuffed with shredded chicken, salsa and rf cheese, then topped with a little more cheese and diced tomato. Sooooo yummy, well I gotta go there are eggs in the fridge calling to me.....

Not sure I'm a CA by textbook, but wanted to offer a few of my carb-reducing alternatives. I'm a fan of the chips and dip or salsa, so I've switched off the chips and use veggies. Salsa and celery and hummus with carrots (or cauliflower) are my favs.

I also tend to make chicken or tuna salad and add in a few beans for some fiber, but drop the bread or buns and just eat the mixture without any accompaying carbs.

I go for sweet potatoes when I need some carbs because I just think they're so delicious, and yes it means no brown sugar or marshmallows!

I don't have any specific carb that kills me... I just like them all. My favorite meals are steak and backed potato with french bread. :eek: So I have a lot of trouble eliminating the carbs as well. They just make meals so much better.

But I have found that if I make something very filling (like an egg white omelet with lots of turkey and ham) and just a have a slice of bread that you nibble on throughout the meal (as opposed to eating it more like a sandwich) it makes me feel like I'm getting a whole lot more carb than I actually am.

Oh, I love this thread and so want in on it. I'm a carboholic, too, and am slowly coming up with ways to not go so crazy on the bread and crackers (my weaknesses...well, a couple of them :)). As someone else mentioned, hummus has been so very helpful in eating less in general and definitely in eating less carbs. Pitas are good and not nearly as carb-heavy as the breads I used to eat. I also really like Wasa crackers - 'crisp bread' they call them, but they're really like multi-grain 'weird crackers,' as I call them. Anyway, they have a decent amount of fiber and 2 of em with hummus can satisfy my carb craving without causing a double-take at my pie chart at the end of the day.

The last time I went shopping for crispbread I found a brand called "Kavli". They are very thin, but tasty. I think a small box has like 20 crackers in it, they are close in size to the Wasa crackers and 3 whole Kavli crackers have 50 calories and they are whole grain!!! I bought a box of the "garlic" flavored and a box of "8 grain". I just finished the box of garlic, and they were surprisingly good with tuna salad and just about perfect with egg salad. Tomorrow morning I'll be breaking out the 8 grain, which I think have a few more calories each, like maybe 60 calories for 3 crackers. I found the Kavli while looking for Akmak crackers. I used to buy them when I was dieting in college, but I can't seem to find them anymore. Too bad cause they were super yummy.

Wannabefitgrl, I love love love sweet potatoes too. So much in fact that I grow them in my garden, how crazy is that? I "candy" mine with a tiny drizzle of maple syrup (the real stuff), and then I sprinkle the top with pecans and dried cranberries (or cherries). Supposedly maple syrup is better for you than white sugar. I don't really know if that's true or not, but my family makes maple syrup so I get mine pretty cheap.

*bowing head in shame* I, too, am a carboholic. I am here to read about ways to wean myself from carbs slowly. Don't get me started on my chocolate issue. Brownies, ice cream, Hershey w/Almond (dark chocolate) candy bar, etc., etc., etc.

There ain't no shame in being a carbaholic, you is what you is... The key is to be able to identify when carbs are controlling you and be able to nip it in the bud. I have really bad chocolate issues too, a genetic condition I think, which I got from my mother. She actually has a collection of t-shirts printed with rude rants about not having enough chocolate in her system, like "give me all your chocolate and nobody gets hurt" (complete with graphics of a 38-special), "can be bribed with chocolate", "the key to happiness is to start each day with a smile and a chocolate bar (smile optional)". You get the idea. To help with the chocolate issues I sometimes resort to eating chocolate protein bars. It curbs the cravings and boosts my proteins up. I also quite like Chocolate Special K, very nice breakfast or snack option for PMS.

LOL @ you and your mom. Too funny! I remember reading about chocolate being a vegetable. :D

To soothe my chocolate cravings (when I don't totally give in), I eat a granola bar. Quaker has the chewy chocolate chip ones and two new flavors: chocolate mint chip and chocolate swirl chip. They are only 90 calories each! My new best chocolate friend snacks! :D:D:D Nature Valley has a new variety of granola bars as well: Dark Chocolate - only 90 calories per bar. It's sooooooooo good, it's like eating a healthy candy bar. LOL!!!

I eat almost every brand of chocolate (and strawberry) cereal known to mankind. Chocolate Chex is great and I loved Chocolate (and Strawberry Blasted) Honeycomb, but Post stopped making them. Haters! I need to try chocolate Cheeries soon. I'm aware that I may have issues.

This is great timing. Yes, my name is Michelle and I am a carb-aholic.

I have been on a binge today. I am hoping to avoid carbs for dinner. I basically ate no actual meals, today. I snacked on these blueberry mini wheats that I love and have been avoiding and yes, I am sorry but I had quite a bit of crunch n munch. The only good "protein-ey" snack I had was a bunch of almonds. Ugh. I have been doing so well, lately, keeping my carbs around 30 to 40 and my proteins at around 30 or above and I just CRASHED and BURNED.

Tomorrow is another day. Oh and as for tips to keep the carbs lower, most have been mentioned. I have been eating tuna on spring mix lettuce with some asian ginger dressing. It tastes really good and is filling. It is VERY hard not to eat crackers with them. I always want that crunch along with my salad and I'm not talking about carrots. Cheese and hummus are such a delicacy to me, even without crackers but the calories add up FAST.

I must say ladies, that yesterday I had a carb-attack. I ended up unexpectedly driving all day with nothing in my car with me except for an adorable puppy named Stegosaurus and a few bananas. I was seriously considering cannibalism and salivating at the idea when I reached my destination! So I fell on pizza. v_V And not even one of y'all's tasty alternatives either!

Though I did get to try something there that peaked my interest because it satisfied my "After-dinner-must-have-chocolate-NOW" craving! It was something called Diana's Bananas or something similar and it was a frozen banana covered in dark chocolate. I'm not big on bananas, so it kept me from eating my friends out of house and home!

I love hummus but the shear amount of fat in it turns my stomach nowadays. Do you ladies know anything that would serve as a just-as-tasty alternative?

Oh my goodness 25Less, I totally understand! I've had strawberry cravings so badly lately that while ordering pizza for some friends I even put in the delivery instructions: "Fresh Strawberries = Great Tip"! Though today I just decided to try to satisfy my craving and picked up 3 containers of those wonderful berries~

Oh! One last thing! As far as chocolate goes: I've found that the Fifty-50 milk chocolate bars are not that bad for you because they are designed for diabetics. Though I feel you guys on the chocolate front, if it has chocolate on it, I will probably be tempted to want to put it in my mouth!

Hi my name is Rose and I am a carbaholic. I was doing really great... really really great. I have been exercising and basically avoiding my biggest weakness: SUGAR! I love sweets. I can't help it. I was born this way and my whole family loves sweets so I never stood a chance. If you ever attended one of our big family dinners growing up, you would see 25-30 Italians at a table loaded with carbs, then pouncing on the dessert at the end of the meal. I think I read somewhere that Italy is the carb capitol of the world. So really, what chance did I have?

Anyway, on Thursday it was my friend's birthday and I happen to sit next to a saboteur. One of my high school friends (although I love her dearly) is a very bad influence! She kept pouring rosé in my glass and once I was a little tipsy, bang! She hit me with a red velvet cupcake! She insisted I have one, I resisted at first and then lost the battle and caved in. Well I spent the whole day yesterday beating myself up for having had not one but 4 glasses of rosé and a red velvet cupcake.

Today I realize that I must practice what I preach. If one of you dear Fitday members came here to admit to such a trasgression, I would say, "Just put it behind you and move forward. All is not lost. The trick is getting back on track... yadda yadda yadda." So that is what I will do. What's done is done. I am putting my running shoes on now and going out for a run. Wish me luck, Everyone and thanks for sharing all of your stories of carbaholism. It does feel comforting to know I am not the only one tempted by those evil but delicious carbs. Why can't carrots be just as tempting?

I LOL'd at your post, Rose; I can just picture it! My husband's mom's Italian and holidays are always pasta, pasta, pasta!

You are right, though, you gotta move on. When you got up and logged in today, FitDay was completely blank, right? Brand new day; fill it with the good stuff ;). I love that blank slate in the mornings! You will do fine!

My biggest enemies are things like pretzels, crackers, and potatoes, as opposed to the sweet stuff...although part of our upcoming vacation involves a day at Hershey Park and the chocolate (and the smell) will be everywhere. Really should start thinking about a plan for that one...

My long term plan to stay on track once I reach goal weight is to treat my diet like a day job. M-F I'll be on plan, SS I'll be more relaxed about it. Well um, yesterday I was totally on track through lunch, water, workout, calories, everything. Then DH and I went out to dinner and got the 2 for $20 at Applebee's. Normally my DD and I get that and the whole family splits the appetizer, but the kids are with my folks this weekend, so DH and I split the platter o'buffalo wings. When I got home I found out that dish contains 1170 calories, which I ATE 1/2 of, right before I downed the 550 steak dinner, 2 raspberry ice teas and a pair of strawberry daiquiris. Caloric grand total about 1,500, for dinner alone! So maybe I'll have to change my long term plan to start Friday night, and carry through only until Sunday brunch, but by Sunday night I MUST back in the saddle. Geez. The worst part is that the steak dinner was entirely too salty, and I ate nearly the whole thing anyway. I sometimes feel like this diet business would be a whole lot easier if I could just get fitted with a muzzle. Just imagine how funny that infomercial would be. Order now and get a second custom muzzle in your choice of designer colors absolutely FREE, plus additional shipping, makes a great gift.

Where did you see a shirt like that? My mother would LOVE it!

You think? At least you're aware of the possibility, it took me years to see it in myself.

@mhibdon: You asked about a lower fat option for hummus...I made a great bean dip yesterday that basically consists of a can of black beans (about 15-16 oz) blended with a half a cup of salsa. I added a few green chilis to spice it up a little and some fresh squeezed limes for freshness, but it was so simple and tastes delicious. The problem with hummus is the tahini (sesame paste) put into it. You could try makin flavored hummus (like the roasted red pepper) without the tahini. Sometimes I forget to put it in and can't even notice the difference. Then it's just beans, garlic, red peppers, lemon juice, and some spices.

Likewise for the bean dip...the beans have lots of fiber and a little protein and salsa is very low calorie as well. It could probably be thickened with a little fat free cream cheese or sour cream if you want to make it creamier. I eat it with celery, or any other veggies I like and ditch the chips/crackers.

Hope that gives you an alternative!

Hummus
 

mhibdon,

I have a yummy hummus recipe (it's actually called Yummy Hummus in our cookbook) that I make for my hubby and I. We really enjoy it.

1 cup chickpeas
2 cloves fresh garlic
1 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp orange juice (fresh squeezed)
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp cumin
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tbsp fresh parsley (chopped)

Put all the ingredients in a blender or mini food processor and puree until smooth. (2 tbsp= 65 cal, 3.6g fat, 6.3g carb, and 1.9 g protein)

It makes a good amount so you'll have enough for the week.

Amber

Wow, you are wonderful to lose all that weight, you must be so proud and excited, keep on going, you'r nearly there!

Just adding my 'thumbs up' to the making your own hummus idea - my husband and I make it, and don't use tahini. I don't notice the difference in taste, and having it around has really saved me from some carb debacles. ;)

Chocolate Is A Vegetable Story
 

Chocolate is a Vegetable

Chocolate is derived from cocoa beans.

Bean = vegetable.

Sugar is derived from either sugar cane or sugar BEETS.

Both of them are plants, in the vegetable category.

Thus, chocolate is a vegetable.

To go one step further, chocolate candy bars also contain milk, which is dairy.

So candy bars are a health food!!!

Chocolate-covered raisins, cherries, orange slices and strawberries all count as fruit, so eat as many as you want.

Remember:"STRESSED" spelled backward is "DESSERTS".


Chocolate is a Vegetable

LOL, thanks for that, mom will LOVE IT. Maybe I'll have that printed on a t-shirt for her, better yet a box full of t-shirts, it's likely to be an instant favorite.

Glad you like it! I remind myself of this "fact" when I feel guilty about eating too many chocolate veggies. LOL!

I understand that a good pie chart percentage is about 40-40-20, but roughly how many grams of carbs do you think we should intake daily?

Hi A little late to this thread. My name is Maggie and I too am a carboholic. 61 years old so I have been at this a long time. I have been at this fit day deal for almost a year now. I have lost 18 pounds. Rolling my eyes. NOT giving up. Only 32 more to go.

Trying to understand this hummus. Do you cook it? Do you mash the black beans? Sorry for being so dense on this. I heard of it last week from a friend but she was very vague on it.

I did make up a delicious dinner even DH likes. But it envloves burger too. We do buy the lean and I drain any fat off I can.
Can each Black beans, kidney beans, corn( the carb no no) green chilies onions and some chili powder to taste. We like lots. Heat it up and very lightly sprinkle some cheese on it when dished up. Thats it. Do not suppose this qualifies as hummus??

Will check back as soon as I can tomorrow. Thanks

Maggie

missmaggieelizabeth - Hummus (Houmous) is an eastern food made from pureed Chick Peas, olive oil, lemon juice and a couple of other minor ingredients. Usually bought in a tub, great for dipping with carrot sticks and other raw vegetables. You can also have it spread on bread if you don't mind the extra carbs.

Missmaggieelizabeth, hummus is pretty much like chip dip, only it's healthier than your average tub of ranch dip, think "smooth bean dip" and you get the idea, most of the time it's served cold, but it's good hot as well. What you're making sounds very much like yummy chili. If you want to lighten it up even further, you might try switching the ground burger to ground turkey burger. My family can't tell the difference and turkey naturally has less fat and fewer calories than even the leanest ground beef. Although beef is cheaper for us, since my folks raise beef cattle.

Every "body" is different, so you have to sort of get in tune with your own. I try and keep my carb intake below 200, because when I do I lose pretty steadily. But if you're doing Atkins or South Beach, it's much lower than that, I want to say 30-40ish? And Atkins is all about "net" carbs, which I think means the carbs minus the dietary fiber or some such. I'm not on Atkins or SB, so my understanding is limited.

Thanks weightlossboo and almeeker for the information on the hummus. Going to see about making some up. Will also look for some turkey burger. Going to town today.

One thing on the carbs. I have not really been strict on not eating them other than staying away from cookies cakes candy basically useless sweets. When I do cut the goodies I loose the cravings for them. The breads and carb fruits do not seem to bother me or send me into tail spin eating.

After close to a year of this just being careful with what I eat the weight is coming off painfully slow but it is staying off. There does not seem to be any swings. The odd thing is last week I baked a pie for DH and had three tiny,three bite, slivers myself and actually lost two pounds in the week I did this. Makes a person go hummmmm???? not going to make a habit of this but it does give me encouragement to keep this up as the non diet I am on is working. Just so slow. So ok if I loose maybe 20 this year maybe another 20 next. Well there you go. Thanks Again.

Forgot to say congratulations on the great weight loss almeeker. That is amazing!!

Maggie

I do that too, I call it a "Brownie Bite", just a little taste to help keep me on track without a full out cheat. It's fortunate that you lose the taste for things you haven't had in a while. I now have trouble when I get near things I haven't had in months. Today the problem was cotton candy, once I got a taste it almost got ugly there for a few minutes.

Thanks for the thumbs up on my weight loss so far. That's especially nice to read after the day I've had. Geez, I ate so much for dinner I almost feel sick.

ok, that sounds much more reasonable. I was reading some things that were saying to keep it under 75 and that just seemed almost impossible if you still wanted to consume fruit (which I love). So I guess a decent goal is just between 150-200?

I have a lot of trouble believing that only consuming 30-40 grams of carbs is healthy... your body needs those carbs for a reason and besides that what are you replacing them with? I have a friend on a low carb diet and she eats ice cream, full fat bacon, etc which does not sound in any way healthy to me

Isn't our nutrition supposed to be all about balance anyways?

So there is this low carb asian noodle called Shiritaki. a 1/2 cup serving only has 20 cal and 2grams of carb. They're made out of tofu so they don't have any taste by themselves but they have a very rubbery texture.
You can find them in the refridgerated section at most health food stores.

I don't think I could eat them alot but once in a while they're not bad

Hey Ladies, I'm back! I've pretty much been on the road since Saturday, and I'm totally feeling it! Ugh!

Though I have a new puzzle for my fellow carb lovers: What do you pack for long road trips (12 hours+) so that you do not fall victim to the gas station munchies?

I've found that PopTarts are my one true weakness, despite whatever wholesome snack I might have in the car. T_T

mhibdon, we just finished a 10 hour trip and our snack bag had almonds, pumpkin seeds, Goldfish crackers, grapes, cheese sticks (in a cooler) and individual sized baggies of cereal. I used the Kashi GoLean that has 13 g. of protein per serving, hoping that would offset the carbs somewhat. I don't try to go as low on carbs as some, though; I do best at 50-55%, so others may have some better ideas.

Good luck! Just remember, if it's not in the car, you can't eat it :)!