Denverguy, Thank you for bringing up the very important topic of cravings here:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=60557
If the compliance is 95% of the time, that is pretty good. If it is three meals a day, for a week it is 21 meals. 5% deviance is only about one meal in a week. I understand for a beginner, both holidays and travelling are rough. Life is not just about eating this WOE; there are other important components too, including socializing. Eating crap to get high legally is part of the social norms. Not everyone is born an outlier.
I do know a friend who has no cravings, and I am jealous of him. I converted him to this WOE a few months ago. He has been doing well.
Overcoming cravings is my lifelong practice. For me, cravings can only be reduced, but are impossible to eliminate.
For me, the higher temperature in cooking, the more oil, salt and sugar added, the stronger and more intense the flavors are, the stronger the cravings are.
What reduces the cravings for me: time in practice. The longer I practice this WOE, the stronger I am. The longer I stay away from the addicting food items, the stronger I am also.
I used to have super strong cravings for oil and salt. Overtime cravings for oil is almost gone. It was easier to remove most of the oil --- stopping eating at restaurants, stopping buying oil-added outside food. It then became harder and took longer for me to stop using oil for cooking at home.
Reducing salt was much harder and took me much longer. Now I have nailed it. I know how much I eat it on an average day. I label how much added sodium, the first day I start with it, and the last day I end it.
I started to seriously practice MWL last year, really watching my weight for excellent heart health. So there are cravings for a lot of higher calorie McDougall starchy food items to work with. Inspired by JeffN, I have also started to journal everyday what I eat, how many grams, the triggers, and all the feelings involved. It was tedious and time consuming at the beginning. Now as the patterns repeat themselves, it is much faster, and I feel well-grounded. With the data in the journal, I can study my own cravings.
Not long ago, when I was in an addicted mode, I was thinking, how I wish I could eat nuts and seeds all day and nonstop! Eventually that passed, mostly. Then I got addicted to plain tofu, and was thinking the same, how I wish I could that all day long, nonstop! Later it changed to Chinese waxy corn (kernel 1.3 cal/g), which has a higher calorie density than regular sweet corn(kernel 0.86 cal/g), then to brown Basmati rice of 1.19cal/g, and to sweet potatoes of 0.86 cal/g.
The best way for my eating is to always eat greens or non-starchy veggies, along side with starchy plants. For example, when I eat 200g of sweet potatoes, I also eat 200g of greens or non-starchy veggies, together at the same time. I now eat lower calorie density starchy food items such as lotus roots of about 0.66 cal/g, Chinese/Japanese mountain yam of about 0.65 cal/g (I love its slimy, slippery, tender, soft quality when it is lightly steamed or microwaved).
Planning, reading books on overcoming cravings, getting spiritual has been a big help for me too!
Jim, you are totally right when you say about being under the right circumstances and being few and far between. We are not perfect. We make friends with ourselves, being gentle, patient and kind.
Viv, I understand that feeling. Even though I didn’t like certain commercial food items that much, I would have to eat it, and another one, if I am weak and do not practice enough resistance and discipline.
