For me, the cravings were for a couple of weeks (two, I'd say at the max). During that time, I would look at old pictures of what I used to be and put post it notes with inspirational quotes/pictures on them and that usually drove me to keep going with this. I knew it was going to be a struggle as it's a lifestyle change, not a fad diet.

Keep your chin up and working hard! You can do it! (:

I know it is hard but hang in there! Fight the cravings, have a small piece of fruit is better than pure sugar. The longer you eat clean the less the cravings.

Before transitioning to Paleo, I had completed my own detox eliminating all processed sugars and only allowed myself fruit when ONLY necessary (now I rarely eat fruit just not in the mood for it usually). I was so surprised at my will power as I would have 3-4 of those Kit Kat bars in one sitting prior (and that is not all I would have in a day). So my tips: Don't be too hard on yourself, dust yourself off and get back to it! Some people say to just eliminate sugar completely for the first month, but you know yourself and what will work for you. Keep fruit/berries in the house if you need to. You can do this!

Unfortunately today I went to my go-to drink that is grossly full of sugar and dairy. A Home made tall mug of cocoa, and it tasted incredibly too sweet and now i of course don't feel all that great now and i'm slightly ashamed that i did give in.

First off, congrats on the first 4 days! It's rough to detox from sugar. Secondly, when I read your note I saw that you learned something. It was way too sweet and now you don't feel too well. That's a huge step in learning that sugar is not your friend. So I call this a win!

It is hard...I cleaned up my diet in steps...so when I switched to a Primal footprint it was relatively easy for me.

Cravings are hard - especially if you are going at it cold turkey. I usually tell my friends who ask me for advice about switching thier diet over to try and do it in stages depending on what they currently eat...if you drink a decent amount of soda, eat a lot of processed type foods and then try and go BAM into something new your body and mind are going to revolt.

My suggestion to my friends is to take a month and slowly remove things like soda and processed type snacks and foods out of the diet...instead of reaching for chips, grab some carrot sticks or an apple, instead of a lean cusine meal try some grilled chicken breast and some veggies. I do encourage eating fruit to satisfy cravings...especially things like frozen blueberries or rasberries...

Once you get all that out for a good month then you can start to clean it up some more...

When I did a 30 day strict I did eat fruit but kept it to the lower sugar/carb fruits - like the berries - and only one serving a day. If you are watching your carbs/sugars keep in mind some of the paleo staples like sweet potatos have a lot of sugar/carbs - when I did my 30 day strict I cut them out completely...now I have them maybe 3 x's a month and only days I strength train

Hang in there it gets easier and your body will adjust - not to say you can never have sugar again but you won't have a craving for it and your desire for it will go down (for example I can have a bite of my kids ice cream and be just fine - one bite makes me happy - whereas before I would have a bite and want more and more and more)

I'm new to Paleo/Primal myself - I'm on day 3 today and was just having a serious sweets craving myself.

But reading this post helped me curb it. So THANK YOU everyone!

Your body is craving sugar because that is what it's used to burning and now it's not getting any. My suggestion is to replace that sugar craving with a fat craving. Try putting butter on all your veggies. Learn to cook with coconut milk or use the coconut cream for a "dessert". The more fat your body intakes, the quicker it will switch over to burning fat. At that point you won't even care about sugar. The fact that sweet stuff tasted sweeter than normal means your body was already starting to make the switch.

I'm glad to see you haven't given up after one mishap!
: )

Some great advice up there.

Nothing really to add except to say, congrats on the four days. Now if/when you're ready (and I see from your post that you are), dust yourself off and get back to it. (This reminds me a lot of when I quit smoking long ago...the first few attempts weren't so much failures as they were laying the groundwork for my eventual success. And even "failing", you're likely eating much healthier than most people around you.)

I have never really had a sweet tooth, but ever since starting this diet I crave more sweets. I guess I want them now that I know I can't have them. I'm Primal (not Paleo), so when the craving comes on, I'll have a couple squares of 72% cacao dark chocolate and a handful of raspberries. I also have a recipe for Paleo "Ice Cream" and a few other treats that I make occasionally.