The first week of the Atkins diet was very easy for me to do. The second week, however, has been a little bit more of a struggle. In addition to having times when I felt crabby for no good reason, I was starting to experience food cravings. If I was going to stick with this diet, I needed to find ways to fight those cravings.
One of my friends, who is also doing the Atkins diet, had a great suggestion. Make some variations to the food you can eat while on this diet, and this will prevent you from getting completely bored with it. Add chicken to your salad one day, and a different meat, (like steak or pork), to the next salad you eat. You can also switch some of the veggies. He told me about these little, bite sized, golden colored tomatoes that I have since tried, and greatly enjoy.
I wasn’t bored with the food yet. So, I was rather surprised when, in the second week of the diet, I started having food cravings. There have been very few times in my life that I have ever truly craved a particular type of food, (other than chocolate), so this was a new experience for me.
I wanted a burger. All of a sudden, I just wanted to sink my teeth into a delicious, sloppy, cheeseburger from Carl’s Jr., the fast food place my husband and I frequently go to. The Induction Phase of the Atkins diet, (where I am at), allows you to eat all kinds of meats. I also knew that I could have a slice of cheese, because the diet does allow for small amounts of cheese. The veggies on the burger, the lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onion, were all acceptable foods.
The problem was the bun. You cannot eat bread while doing Atkins. My solution was to go to Carl’s Jr., order a small cheeseburger, and remove the bun before I started eating. This felt entirely strange, and did cause some of the other people who were at the restaurant to look at me as though I were crazy. There were no plastic knives and forks sitting by the fountain drinks, so I sort of wrapped the burger in the lettuce, picked it up, and ate it that way. The craving went away.
Part of what made it a little easier for me to forego eating the bun was my recent discovery that I have a gluten allergy. I knew that the bun could make me sick. Illogically, later in the week, I found myself desperately wanting a chocolate chip cookie. This is one of my favorite foods, that I can no longer eat, unless I find some that are gluten-free.
I still wanted a cookie, though. There were no cookies in my house, which made it easier for me to resist the urge to turn into The Cookie Monster, and eat them all. Instead, I settled for an Atkins Advantage Chocolate Chip Granola Bar. I don’t really know if it has any gluten in it, but it did take away my craving for a chocolate chip cookie.
Image by Robert Banh on Flickr