Canadian Politics Today

Certainly sugar and other carbs are addictive, the good news is the withdrawal symptoms only last a few days. The bad news is that you can pick up the habit again fairly easily.

To kick them, go on a very low carb diet. For the first few days make it very simple, and don't skip any meals. In fact you might want to add a meal just to help you cope. Keep the meals small, and focus on protein and green leafy vegetables. The portion of protein should be small (ie. one egg, small piece of lean chicken, white fish, etc.). If you want something on your green leafy vegetables then use a little bit of oil&vinegar and some herbs or pepper (ie. Italian dressing). Stick to this religiously for about a week. You will feel like **** for the first 3-4 days but then your body will adapt and most of the symptoms will go away. Yes you will still want other things, but at least you will not have the physical symptoms like headache, lack of energy, etc. that accompany those first few days. After the week is over it is time to start eating properly, lots of options there depending on how aggressive you want to lose weight or just maintain it but at least you can start enjoying some food again. Don't go into Dollarama, and if you find yourself on auto-pilot and going down that aisle then look for some alternatives like sunflower seeds, chestnuts, apricots, mangos, almonds (no not chocolate covered), etc. - note they are all still junk food, so don't go crazy with them, but they can be your substitute for candy, chips, etc. The two junk food items to keep around home I found helpful are almonds and grapes. Never have more than about 3-5 at a time, and don't keep going to them, but they will help when you really have that craving and break down.

Now the secret, don't tell anyone this because it is highly classified top secret. Physical activity, and a good nights sleep. Sitting in front of the television feeling hungry? Put on your jacket and go for a walk. Take the television (and laptop, cell phone, etc.) out of the bedroom. When you find yourself in front of the vending machine at work, turn around and walk up those 3 flight of stairs to accounting and talk to the cute new girl. You know when you are about to take a step backward, the point is as soon as you recognize it don't deny yourself but substitute something else for it. We keep hearing the stupid debate if exercise or diet is more important, the point is they work together and reinforce each other. Alone either one of them will doom you to failure. Neither one needs to be over the top (except for that first week of diet).

I agree however that salt is much easier to give up, and stay away from. When I was young, we alway had a salt shaker on the table and automatically put it on everything. When I moved out on my own I recognized that was a dumb habit and decided to try and avoid salt as much as possible (e.g. unsold butter, no added salt to most dishes, etc.). I didn't eliminate it because it is around in so many foods we eat, but whenever I had the choice I simply didn't select it. I found that there was more variety in food taste without salt masking it. There are only three food items that I generally add salt to: a little bit to any bread I bake (usually half what the recipe calls for), and then a course salt on top of pretzels (I only make them at home, and about once or maybe twice a year) and about half the time I cook a roast beef which itself is only once every 6 weeks or so.