What happens when you no longer need the IC diet...

[sacausa]

Ok, since finding medications that actually work for me.... I am no longer diet sensitive. Before, I was MAJORLY diet sensitive... I couldn't even drink regular water, only Evian... I couldn't eat or drink anything that was even mildly acidic for 3+ years....

Now for the last 6 months, I've been able to eat ANYTHING without any physical pain.... The problem is that I have been eating EVERYTHING in massive quantities and I don't know how to stop because I can't continue doing this. I have always loved spicy food, sour candy, and chocolate which I couldn't have for a couple of years... but the weight is piling on and rightly so! I mean last week I ate (the big size bags with like 5 servings in them each) a bag of sour patch kids, sour watermelons, and sour neon worms....... in 3 days! and then in the past week I've eaten 3 big bags of the Cape Cod Jalepeno cheese chips.......all by myself.... on Friday I had a footlong sub with cookies and soda. Everyday with lunch I have like 3 brownies (not exagerating!) and then I'm constantly eating chocolate.... I go through a bag of those bite size dove chocolate that you have to unwrap EVERY DAY!

How do I stop???????????? I don't even want to know how much weight I've gained in the past couple of weeks. It doesn't help that I'm at college and I don't have a roomate so there isn't really anyone to tell me (like my mom) that I should stop! Food has become my entertainment, and it's like I'm making up for years of following the IC diet and eating bland food.... (oh don't even get me started on how much condiments I put on my food which also piles it on).......

Oh, and I became a vegetarian in the mean time soooooooo that's no help! I originally became a vegetarian because meat (even organic) triggered IC flares for me but now I am disgusted by the taste/smell of meat because I haven't eaten it in 3yrs. When you stop eating meat, you also start questioning why you should eat it in the first place.

There should seriously be a study on how much weight you gain when you no longer need the IC diet.... it's like I've lost my healthy eating habits....

Oh, and I've gone from weighing 135lbs to 165lbs in the period from July to December. (In my picture I weigh like 160lbs)........ I know this isn't really fat, but I'm NOT eating healthy at all.... and I know my cholesterol is probably sky rocketing! I also really don't want to become a yo yo dieter!

Has any other ICers experienced this? Any suggestions on how to stop? I can't go on like this (and as I'm writing this I'm busy consuming an entire slab of cadbury chocolate after finishing all the dove chocolate)

aaaah (I'll probably be able to kiss my cavity free teeth goodbye fairly soon too!)

[ICNDonna]

I have never reached a point where I can eat anything; I have tried before, but those diet triggers are still there.

Donna

[vm]

I am able to eat anything and eat too much. LOL But I don't remember a big spike in weight once I could. However, I was about 33 or 34 (I'm 37 now) when I could start eating whatever I wanted again so I wasn't as young as you. In other words, I wasn't starting from my skinny out of high school and into college days.

It's hard to get the willpower to curb junky eating. I get it in fits and starts. Right now I am back in the mode of avoiding refined sugars and white flour, but it's hard to "make myself" get into that mode.

I am thrilled that you are able to eat anything you want again - that's fantastic!

[vm]

By the way, we weigh the same.

[ads]

Diet turned out not to be an IC issue for me, although, I did try 3 months of an extremely strict IC diet without cheating. There was great motivation to save my employment/job back then, so my strong motivation made it easy.

We have to learn to respect our body because we only get one. We can't trade them in like cars and other material items. Even poor eating can damage our bodies and push us towards disease.

Best wishes,
ads

[dmarie]

You GO Girl...

is all I can say. I know I would have the same problem if I ever reach the point that I can actually eat whatever I want. I bet you will soon have your fill (literally) and you will slow down.

Dawn

[sacausa]

yeah, I don't think I'm going to have that much chocolate again! I had the worst headache and sick feeling tonight! aaah, I really would like to see a study on though on IC recovery weight gain!

[littlebear]

It does sound like your body will sort itself out after it has had its fill--unless you think that this might be a side effect of one of your meds or related to a thyroid issue?

Congratulations on your remission, though!
Best wishes, little bear

[Janie Miranda]

Well, I have to admit, I went through the same thing you are going through. I was only on the IC diet for about a year then the meds, diet, etc, kicked in and I began to feel better and better. I then began adding foods back in and I began testing my limits in a Very unhealthy way. I think I have gained 60 lbs. For me, I think part of the problem is that my antihistamines make me hungrier but probably most of it is that I feel like I had better eat all of this good stuff while I can because I don't ever know when I'll go back to being on a really restricted diet. I guess it was a mixed blessing when I recently found out my cholesterol was sky high - now I am back to eating healthier foods and trying to eat them in moderation.

I guess what I'm saying by all this, is that I feel for you and understand what you are going through. I also hope you can get the eating tamed down a bit before you find yourself in my situation with a LOT of weight to lose and high cholesterol. Good luck to you, dear.

[slaston]

Maybe instead of thinking that, "Yay, I can have all this bad for me food now that tastes great!" You could think, "Now I can take good care of my body in a different way and really eat a wide variety of fruits (something I miss very much!) and vegetables and tofu (I think you mentioned being vegetarian, something I actually had to give up because tofu and soy have now become my arch-nemesis), etc, and be really creative!"

Here was the way I used to eat before I was diagnosed, which might be a helpful starting place for you:

Breakfast: Homemade fruit smoothies, sometimes tropical fruits with ice and orange juice, or berries with yogurt, basically an experiment every morning!
I also made oatmeal with various fruits added in along with spices and nuts.

Lunch: Huge salad with spinach, various lettuces, arugula, greens, fresh herbs, etc. with different combinations of vegetables, but always included a little tomato and tofu or 1/2 cup of beans on top (would end up being around 4 servings of veggies) with a vinaigrette

Snack: a piece of fruit with a piece of cheese or some peanut butter, depending

Dinner: Any veggies I wanted that I didn't eat with my salad would go into a stiry fry with tofu (unless I had put it on my salad) with a side of rice adding garlic and onion or various sauces, like spicy thai peanut sauce, or I would get creative and make something out of my really cool vegetarian cookbook.

Also, don't overdo it on the chocolate. I used to be able to eat dark chocolate (years before I was diagnosed), until I polished off an entire lb. bar of it. Ended up with the hugest head ache ever and a very bad hallucination. Mind you, my Dad also has sensitivity to chocolate, so my overdose probably just triggered it. For years I really haven't been able to eat dark chocolate, and even too much milk chocolate can get to me.

[mellusk]

I would just be afraid going on binges would bring my IC symptoms back. I can eat a wide variety of things too, but I try to avoid throwing too much together in one day because I don't know if combinations of things would cause a flare where the individual components might not.

I would keep plenty of healthy snacks on hands, like nuts, dried fruit,and granola bars, and instead of eating two or three big meals a day, I would have 4-6 smaller ones. I usually have a small bowl of cereal w/almond or rice milk in the morning for breakfast and a cup of tea. For my first little morning snack, I might have a granola bar or almond butter sandwhich with raisins, honey, and dried fruit. I'll have another peanut butter sandwich or smoothie in the afternoon, and then for dinner I'll have a full meal with some sort of carb like quinoa, rice, or pasta along with some kind of vegetables, and maybe a cheese of some sort. I might throw all of those together into a tortilla for my carb. Then, later, I'll have a small snack like a bit of cheese or a few pieces of white chocolate. I've been craving some mad chocolate lately that I've not been brave enough to try. Also, I count having a beer or two in the evenings as a snack. I don't know if you're legal for that yet, but if you are and can handle it, one pint of a thick stout beer like Guinness, a hefeweizen, belgian ale, or a porter is like one big snack for me and I usually don't want to drink or eat anything else after I have one.

+plus, stouts like Guinness have a lot of antioxidants in them like wine does, and don't forget about portion sizes for anything!

[sacausa]

Also, don't overdo it on the chocolate. I used to be able to eat dark chocolate (years before I was diagnosed), until I polished off an entire lb. bar of it. Ended up with the hugest head ache ever and a very bad hallucination. Mind you, my Dad also has sensitivity to chocolate, so my overdose probably just triggered it. For years I really haven't been able to eat dark chocolate, and even too much milk chocolate can get to me.

It's interesting you said that! I had the WORST migraine today from all that chocolate....... I definitely had too much!!!!! (not even headache medicine helped so I just drank a ton of water)

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions! I'll definitely try some of them. I guess it's hard too because I eat most meals in the dining hall which serves some really unhealthy but sinfully yummy food with deserts at every meal...... I just need to realize somehow that this isn't cool!

Oh, and about the antihistamine making someone's appetitite more intense..... I ran out of mine, and I was too lazy to go pick up my prescription this last week (a lot of laziness going around too), and it's like my hunger increased a lot thisi last week....... I picked up my antihistamine yesterday and took it last night... and today my hunger has decreased significantly.....

everything is just so WEIRD

[mellusk]

Some antihistamines can have mild stimulants in them that can also act like appetite suppressants, so maybe that's why you're not as hungry today. The same stuff can also be a diuretic and make you pee a lot, but it's been helping you out, so keep at it.

[sacausa]

I'm happy to report that I don't need massive amounts of sweets or spicy foods anymore.... I think my diet was majorly lacking protein.... ever since I've started eating egg white omelets for breakfast, more almonds, and dairy.... my cravings for sweets have majorly dissapeared (for the most part anyways! haha)