Remind yourself of why you are going low carb. Make the reasons strong enough.

One of my mantras: "flour is filler"

Don't eat bagels, full stop. Just don't allow them to be an option for you.

I compare cutting carbage to climbing a mountain. It IS hard, you WILL feel kind of crappy while you're doing it, but if you keep that mountain top in view and remind yourself how accomplished you will feel when you summit, the view from the top is SO worth it. The longer you toy around w/ the crappy carbs, the longer it's going to take you to make that mountain top.

And once you scale the mountain, the rest of the ride is downhill from there...easy-peasey. :-)

I am also one who can't go slowly. The first 3 or 4 days sucked but I'm day 10 today and its much better. Haven't ate over 20 net carbs in 10 days. At this point I think if I ate a piece of bread or had a spoon full of sugar in my coffee, I'd go cometely back to how i was before so eliminating all of that junk is how it HAS to be.

I guess what each one of us are asking is.... How bad do you want what low carb will get you.... If you want it enough you will find a way to make it work. If you do not you will find excuses... I agree with going all in from the beginning. This killed my sweets craving the fastest. No hunger is a great inducement.

Think of all the foods you like that are not carbs. Eat a lot of those foods. Have you been on diets where you couldn't have much butter? What about mayo? You can have that now in abundance. I'm saying try to focus on the things you CAN enjoy instead of the things you can't. I'm still learning this, too, and that's what I'm trying to do. It's getting easier. I wasn't able to cut down to zero carbs immediately. I still can't do it even. But it does get easier. The more often you say no to the carbs, the easier it gets. If you find it too difficult to do zero carbs, maybe just try to do without the most obvious carbs at first - pasta, bread, cereal, sugary foods, and rice. Do that for a bit before actually starting to count carbs and the transition is a little easier. Many people complain of feeling flu like symptoms when they go very low carb but it's not so bad if you ease into it. At least it wasn't for me.

Dont forget that there are carbs in many popular veggies, which is fine. But if you have diabetes and/or you want to be on ketogenic diet, you have to take these into consideration.

You cut the cravings by cutting out the carbs. Seriously. I finally beat my cravings several weeks ago, but succumbed to a very small slice of gourmet carrot cake at Grandma's birthday party Saturday. I have been fighting cravings ever since. Five days! That one reintroduction triggered it all. Just commit to no carbs for two or three weeks--just will yourself not to--and you'll find those cravings disappearing.

One last thought: Artificial sweeteners trigger cravings for me, too, even though they're not technically carbs. Just a thought.

OP, at first its about how much you want to be low carb. After a few weeks it becomes normal. I find myself writing potatoes on my grocery list (for the rest of the family) and still coming home without them because they're just not on my radar anymore. I'm never sure how much bread we have and if someone doesn't remind me I won't even think to put sweets on the list. In the past a bag of Oreos had to be put in the cookie jar, by someone else, almost immediately. If I handled them I wanted one all. night. long. Now I can put them away without even wanting one at all. Hang in there, it gets easier. If you want to go slower at lowering the carbs, try keeping the carbs to veggies and dairy at first, maybe some berries. Don't worry about the number, just the type of carbs. Once you're adapted to that, then maybe check your numbers. Your mind and body both need time to adapt so be patient with yourself.

I did the opposite. I cut back the carbs, didn't cut them out. I started with allowing myself 75 carbs. Now, I rarely count them but I know I'm in the net 20-30 range most days. I no longer crave them. Even diet pop is now too sweet most days. I have 2 water bottles on my desk, and 3 more in my purse. 2 months ago, that would have never been the case! I have found that the more I eat of one food group (used to be carbs, now is protien), the more I crave it. I was a carb junkie. Did not think I could give up carbs EVER. And now, I rarely have any and the ones I do, I get from veggies and berries. Bread/pasta/potatoes/rice ect never happen anymore. I have found one sub for bread that I will have on rare occassion that I need (ie want) a wrap or tortilla. But that's it, and it is low carb.

I personally love this site for recipe and meal ideas...her reviews and nutritional breakdown are helpful:
http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/recipes.html

Lrdoflamancha wrote: »

I guess what each one of us are asking is.... How bad do you want what low carb will get you.... If you want it enough you will find a way to make it work. If you do not you will find excuses... I agree with going all in from the beginning. This killed my sweets craving the fastest. No hunger is a great inducement.

I wish there were a "like" button.

Donnah781 wrote: »

How do you control your carb craving and what snack ideas can you share with me. Thank you in advance for the input.

Like others said, don't eat carbs. Seriously, for most people, the less you eat them, the less you want them. Whether you do it cold turkey or step-down approach is up to you.

Favor fat over carbs. So yes, trading your cream for milk was the wrong direction. That's okay, though. Live and learn. Get your cream back next time.

Start your day with fat. A lot of people here swear by Bulletproof Coffee or some variation of it. It's coffee with butter and coconut oil blended into it (for the base recipe). Some people add other stuff, like cinnamon, cocoa powder, and even eggs (no, it doesn't get eggy tasting, no there's no risk of salmonella as long as your coffee isn't tepid; it makes it custard like). You can also just go with the old standby of bacon (or sausage) and eggs. The common denominator in all of these though is that they're a good hit of fat and maybe some protein. This is far less likely to set you up for hunger and cravings later in the day.

Cheese makes a great snack. As does jerky and beef sticks (watch the ingredients, though). Some would argue on here, though, that the best snack is no snack at all. If you find yourself wanting to snack, make sure you're eating large enough meals. Yes, it's okay if your meal is 800 calories or something that seems really high, especially when it means that you're not snacking between meals.

After the first few weeks, the carb cravings should take care of themselves. If you're finding you're still having them, make sure you're getting sufficient fat, sufficient food in general, and then try lowering your carbs even more. Some people have a carb tolerance that's so low that any significant amount of carbs (and in some cases, carbs from any source) still trigger cravings. Keep working your way down (and, as a result, your fat up) until you find the point where you no longer get those cravings.

In the meantime, don't think about it in terms of what you can't have. Instead, think about all the awesome stuff you can have. For example, I had eggs cooked in butter and topped with cheese and sour cream for breakfast, then cream cheese wrapped in ham slices for lunch. Talk about an AHA follower's nightmare!

Also, think about it in terms of choosing these things, instead of what's "allowed" or "not allowed." I choose to eat this way, because I choose to no eat things that make me bloated or give me a headache. These sorts of things will come as your little ailments -- be they clinical or subclinical -- start fading away, and you learn what it feels like to actually feel healthy.

I've found that cutting back at first is a big help... to go cold turkey and net around 20 seemed impossible, but I am going to agree with some that breads, bagels, mashed potatoes, white rice, cut those suckers out. Fat is our friend, so you might be used to having mashed potatoes with your dinner, go with the ribeye, and then sub a veggie, and if it's a carb-ish veggie like zuchinnni or oh god, I love brussel sprouts!!!! So what. Find those really good foods, with high protien/fat to fill you up more. I used to believe that those were magic words "full" "feel full" and with l-erchf (lower carb, high fat ) really it does.
Beef jerky yum yum.... cheese oh my lord....loooooove!

You got this doll!!!

I was a Carb addict for sure in my case and the only thing that finally worked for me was to quit carbs cold turkey. It was hellish for two then the cravings just faded.

My joint and total body pain was so high I was ready to give into taking Enbrel knowing it could lead to me getting cancer. That was to happen on my Nov 2014 doctor visit. Oct 2014 I decided I was going to be off sugar/most all carbs for 30 days before my appoint to see if with diet I could side step taking Enbrel injections. Within that 30 days the carb craving left and my pain dropped from 7-8 to 2-3 on a 1-10 scale. It actually ticked the Docs off when I said no to Enbrel.

kuranda10 wrote: »

If it's easier for you mentally, cut out anything white for at least two weeks. No flour, sugar, rice, pasta potatos.

I found that is easier for people to adjust to than "OMG, that cup of broccoli is .05 over my carb limit"

and then the rest just seems to follow

Yep; aka "lazy keto" and some people make it work for many months,