How do you stop the carb cravings??

I have fallen off the low carb wagon. I have been eating way too many starchy carbs and sweets. Now it seems like that is all I want to eat and I can't get enough. How do I stop these horrible cravings? I have heard of certain vitamin supplements that work, "fat bombs", etc. What really works? I need to get this under control asap!

Replies

Delicate

Dont eat them, that is pretty much it

it will take a few days to a week but your cravings will ease off, even avoid artificial sweeteners as they wont kill cravings.

thenance007

Unfortunately, I have experienced exactly what you are experiencing. It isn't psychological, it is physiological--your insulin is out of control. What I found worked was a couple of days of focusing on eating only protein and fat--as often as necessary and without regard to calories. I particularly focused on using coconut oil (I mix it 50-50 with almond butter and eat it by the tablespoon). It is easily useable by your body for energy without needing to be digested like most fats. Any "fat fast" will work--like cream cheese 6-8 times a day. I had been out of control for almost 2 weeks and had gained back 8 lbs. But doing the strict low carb thing took it all back off in 6 days--it was all bloat.

I find there is a fine line that if I cross it, I go out of control. For me that is somewhere around 25 grams of carbs per day. If I allow them to sneak up on me, I suddenly realize I'm off the wagon and craving everything I shouldn't have--and usually give in. After 3-1/2 months of this, however, the big "aha!" to me is that I CAN get back on the wagon and keep going--27 lbs. to date! And I MAKE myself log every calorie, even when it makes me cringe. When I'm back on the wagon, I look back at those logs and am in awe of just how out of control I was.

hookilau

:blushing: How do you get off that crazy carb train?...just get off :laugh:

No seriously, just cut them out, either slowly or cold turkey & the cravings will go away. :drinker:

Dragonwolf

Eat more fat. Seriously, for a few days, perhaps don't worry about your calories, just look to keep your carbs down (perhaps even lower than you normally would, depending on your usual limit), and eat whenever you feel hungry. Fat bombs often help, but really anything that doesn't put you over carbs and that has a good amount of fat (nuts, nut butters, avocado, meat, etc).

You can kind of think of it as your body throwing a temper tantrum because it's not getting the candy (carbs/sugar). There are two things you can do - feed it what it wants (spoiling it, and reinforcing the temper tantrum), or ignore the tantrum and feed it other things to fuel it (killing the tantrum).

Rei1988

yep just stop eating them & increase fat & protein.

sunflower92630

Just focus on eating healthy fats for a few days until your body eliminates your glucose stores and your blood sugar levels stabilize , you will 'reset' your insulin sensitivity. staying close to 0 carbs. (Eggs, bacon, bulletproof coffee, pork rinds, cream cheese full fat, BUTTER! :happy: , sugar free jello if you absolutely need something sweet, macadamia nuts, avocado, chicken WITH SKIN, sour cream, tuna, etc you get the point!) Try focusing on increasing your fat and getting away from the sugar/carbs/ YEs it is hard the first 1 -2 days but your body WILL switch over and you will notice you are not as hungry during the day , not hungry a few hours after you eat, and your cravings will go away.

IF you get really desperate you can try the "Fat Fast" for a few days althoug I will say this is hard! "
1,000 calories per day
- 90 percent of calories come from dietary fat
- Eat five 200-calories “meals” every 3-4 hours"
http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/fat-fast-for-a-few-days-to-induce-weight-loss/1189

Hope this helps! Good luck

RalfLott

Dragonwolf wrote: »

Eat more fat. Seriously, for a few days, perhaps don't worry about your calories, just look to keep your carbs down (perhaps even lower than you normally would, depending on your usual limit), and eat whenever you feel hungry. Fat bombs often help, but really anything that doesn't put you over carbs and that has a good amount of fat (nuts, nut butters, avocado, meat, etc).

You can kind of think of it as your body throwing a temper tantrum because it's not getting the candy (carbs/sugar). There are two things you can do - feed it what it wants (spoiling it, and reinforcing the temper tantrum), or ignore the tantrum and feed it other things to fuel it (killing the tantrum).

Timeless advice!

macchiatto

When I started keto, one thing that helped me when I was craving carbs (and the cravings could be veeery strong) was to start thinking about another food that was keto-friendly that I liked. Something very flavorful but (often) not sweet. For me, that might be a dill pickle, a slice of pepper jack cheese, a crustless skillet pizza, or whatever (might also be sugar-free Jello, coffee with heavy cream, one square of good quality dark chocolate, a spoonful of almond butter) ... and as I started to think about how good that would taste, I'd go ahead and eat and savor it. I found that my cravings gradually started to shift and I felt satisfied.

macchiatto

Also, if I have a day where I struggle with feeling super hungry or deprived, I would give myself permission to go over my calorie goal as long as I stayed within maintenance calories. That way I knew I might not be eating to lose that day, but not to gain.

(Now at maintenance I approach things a little differently but that's what helped me when I was trying to really find my groove.)

AlexandraCarlyle

Everything - whether it's psychological or physiological - has a choice.

You can choose what you do.

If your issue is indeed physiological - it was a decision to give in to carbs, you made, that put you there.
So even your physiological state was founded on you making a decision to go one way or the other.

Reverse that thinking.
Follow the great advice given to you above, because it's all good.
But bear in mind that whatever you do, you're doing because you decided to.

Nobody ever achieved great things without an element of sacrifice. Nobody ever said this WoE would be (initially) easy.

But the results make all the effort, worthwhile.
Focus on your goal, and choose wisely.

Good luck.

baconslave

macchiatto wrote: »

When I started keto, one thing that helped me when I was craving carbs (and the cravings could be veeery strong) was to start thinking about another food that was keto-friendly that I liked. Something very flavorful but (often) not sweet. For me, that might be a dill pickle, a slice of pepper jack cheese, a crustless skillet pizza, or whatever (might also be sugar-free Jello, coffee with heavy cream, one square of good quality dark chocolate, a spoonful of almond butter) ... and as I started to think about how good that would taste, I'd go ahead and eat and savor it. I found that my cravings gradually started to shift and I felt satisfied.

mmmmmm...pepper jack.

bdbchick

RalfLott wrote: »

Dragonwolf wrote: »

Eat more fat. Seriously, for a few days, perhaps don't worry about your calories, just look to keep your carbs down (perhaps even lower than you normally would, depending on your usual limit), and eat whenever you feel hungry. Fat bombs often help, but really anything that doesn't put you over carbs and that has a good amount of fat (nuts, nut butters, avocado, meat, etc).

You can kind of think of it as your body throwing a temper tantrum because it's not getting the candy (carbs/sugar). There are two things you can do - feed it what it wants (spoiling it, and reinforcing the temper tantrum), or ignore the tantrum and feed it other things to fuel it (killing the tantrum).

Timeless advice!

I love the idea of treating it as a temper tantrum. Will be using this as I am also having issues with cravings.

katstremmel1012

Sugar and flour are powerfully addictive! The craving when first removing these items from the diet can be overwhelming. That is when you reach out to your supportive friends and family. The cravings do really subside over a few weeks, so there is hope us! I removed sugar and carbs from diet about a year ago, but in the past month I gave in to just one marshmallow. Next thing I was craving pretzels, and ate them by the handful for the next few days. I then found myself craving marshmallows and ate nearly an entire bag in one sitting! That is when I admitted that I fell off the sugar free wagon! I am back on the wagon again, and here come the cravings, but I do know they will subside. This time around I am eliminating ALL artificial sweeteners as well, as they may have been responsible for my slip up-I never really did give my taste buds a "sweet" break!. Fat bombs for the no sweetener diet include a T of cashew butter, a celery stick with (natural peantut and salt only) peanut butter.

CraftHer

Thank you so much to the OP for this post and the replies. I was going to post the same question. I am slipping off the wagon and I need to get back on. When I started all this, the fear of my T2D being out of control and I just felt bad was my motivation. Now, my T2D is so much better and I feel better. The original motivation has been resolved and I'm slipping. I very much like the idea of treating cravings as temper tantrums. It is one of my pet peeves when kids get away with temper tantrums in public and turning that around to my cravings is really an eye opener.