Cravings . . . are gone.

I've gone Paleo for the last 4 weeks (off and on).  However, I just returned from vacation and have lost weight.  Even with eating out daily doses of decadent food, I've lost weight.  I won't reveal the number just yet, so as to ensure that it is all really happening.  

Before Paleo, by the end of everyday, all I ever wanted was a nice sugary latte with soy and a large cookie.  It was my comfort.  It truly enveloped me in a warm hug and made me feel calm and collected.  For about 2 weeks in November 2011, I ate it every day.  It was an addiction.  It was all consuming.  I was stuffing myself with gluten and sugar.  And it was calling me often; like crack or dope.  I knew that I needed to stop the binge.

In the last week, I made the choice to not eat any grains and occasionally partake in desserts that were grain free.  And there were times when I didn't eat the dessert, even when it was a flourless cake that was so decadent and divine that I could've died and gone to heaven.  

Do I miss it?  No.  Not really.  I never really liked pasta.  I am not a big bread fan, but I did like baking it.  I don't crave the saucer sized, toll house cookie.  I am fine living without the sugary latte with soy.  I feel better.  I have more energy.  I don't need it anymore.  It isn't calling my name.  And I am saving money in the end too.

I woke up this morning at 5:40 a.m. and did a short Tabata workout.  Tabata is interval training for 30 seconds each: Low Impact (30 sec) and High Impact (30 sec) for 2 repetitions and a 30 second rest in between sets; there were 4 sets of exercises.  I wrote up an interval training program: Low impact is my Kettlebells (around the body or bent over row) exercise for 30 seconds and High Impact (plyometrics, like jumping jacks or skaters) was 30 seconds, for example.  I did 4 exercises at 2 repetitions each.  It was about a 10 minute workout routine in total.  I then supplemented cardio with 10 minutes on spin bike.  That is all the time I had.  I felt great afterwards.  

I had a nice breakfast of two eggs cooked in bacon fat (yes, bacon fat) with pineapples as a side.  It sure beats having cereal with milk, or oatmeal with milk, or a bagel.  I then sauteed spinach in bacon fat with shallots and garlic, which was for lunch.  I had saved pieces of pork loin that I roasted last night.  I added green beans too.  For dessert, grapes; that is how I get the sweet.  After a long morning meeting, when I entered my office, I had an unexpected meeting.  I didn't get to snack on my yogurt.  I ate lunch much later than usual, but I wasn't hungry like I would've been on a conventional eating plan.  

For my afternoon snack, I had a yogurt with pumpkin and sunflower seeds, which will keep me full while I cook dinner for the 6 of us.  So while the cravings are gone, I am still working hard to make the choice to eat Paleo.  It is a struggle, but one that I'm willing to make.

On a side, benefit note, I realized last night, while reading a fitness magazine where the fitness model stopped eating gluten and no longer was on a steroid inhaler, that I've not used my steroid inhaler that I've used twice daily for the last 9 years in the last week since leaving for vacation.  I don't even know where I packed it.  I have not felt wheezy or short of breath in a couple of weeks.  I am thinking there is definitely a connection to gluten and my acute asthma.  Food for thought.

What do you do to combat cravings?