Cravings

kathleendanielle47
kathleendanielle47 Posts: 2 Member
edited March 2021 in Health and Weight Loss
Is it just me or in the beginning did you have cravings for certain foods that you used to eat? I have a sweet tooth and it's so hard to shake it at times. What do y'all do when it hits you?

Replies

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,650 Member
    Drink a glass of water. Wait a few minutes. See if the craving has passed. Sometimes, something that simple does it.

    I’ve got a killer sweet tooth. I was almost weeping in line at the Kroger checkout yesterday, looking at all the sweets on display, prodding my husband, and whining,”I remember when I would have bought a bunch of those!”

    What helps me is a sweetened hot drink, whether it’s a chai or coffee (never been a coffee drinker but trying to learn to love). I can make a delicious hot froth-topped drink for about 40 calories (20 without the froth) and it takes a long time to drink. I use Jordan’s Skinny Syrups to sweeten. They have zero calories. The flavors tend to be hit or miss for me. Love the salted caramael and the chocolate mocha. The peppermint bark is a little medicine-y.

    I have budgeted in about 80 calories a day for hot drinks for a couple years now. Coffee in particular is an appetite suppressant for me. We’ll see if it still is as I get more accustomed to it, lol.
  • Sand_TIger
    Sand_TIger Posts: 1,099 Member
    A few things can be done to help with cravings, that haven't been mentioned before - and they have worked for me. :) One is to make sure your diet has all the nutrients you need. Sometimes cravings are a psychological thing and sometimes they are actually your body asking for something it needs.

    Cravings DO get better over time as the microflora in your gut adjust to expect different foods. In time you will start to crave more healthy things.

    I personally have found stevia to be very helpful because I also have a massive sweet tooth, and it has little to no effect on blood sugar. I love liquid stevia with vanilla, a few drops of that turns a dessert flavored tea into a true treat. I know not everyone likes the flavor though.

    Figuring out what you're craving and coming up with something similar but better helps too. For example - what if a person wanted a giant candy bar? A couple squares of dark chocolate eaten slowly and mindfully can scratch that itch. Or have a little of the thing you want (depending on what it is) but weigh and measure so your portion control is good and then budget it into the daily allowance. I've found that some foods just aren't worth it for the tiny portion that I'd get so I'll do something else like yogurt with fruit or a baked apple, or something like that.

    Hope some of this helps!
  • kiwilimeade
    kiwilimeade Posts: 14 Member
    I just find a way to fit them in. I've been craving sushi for a while, so I pre planned when I was going to buy and eat it. Yesterday my boyfriend was eating chips while we watched tv and I could not ignore the yummy cheddar scent of them. I tried to ignore the craving but could tell I felt like I was really depriving myself. I checked my MFP app and figured out how many grams of chips I could fit in my day, then grabbed the scale and a plate from the kitchen to weigh some out.
  • limixn321
    limixn321 Posts: 11 Member
    Just started the Keto diet about a month ago. The HUGE loss of pasta and rice hurt. Also I was getting DAMN good at bread making. Been despertly searching for pasta alternatives. Tried shirataki...no...just no. Right now the closest I can find is zoodles. Not a perfect match but right now it is the closest I have found.
    Rice is another, if I season cauliflower rice enough to hide the cauliflower taste it is passable (btw I love cauliflower just not the taste in certin dishes)
    Sugar is meh, was never a big sugar eater, carbs from rice and pastas was my downfall. Tried a few different kinds got others on order to see what they are like. But if you are looking for a damn good chocolate candy lily's chocolate is the best tasteing I have found so far.
    Sushi is going to be hard, probably going to have to go sashimi to scratch that itch.
  • limixn321
    limixn321 Posts: 11 Member
    @kiwilimeade Take real cheddar and make chips from them or you can look at something like Whisps. That has helped me with that craveing.
  • limixn321
    limixn321 Posts: 11 Member
    @Sand_TIger Lily's chocolate. Was blown away how much it tasted like normal chocolate.
  • Sand_TIger
    Sand_TIger Posts: 1,099 Member
    limixn321 wrote: »
    @Sand_TIger Lily's chocolate. Was blown away how much it tasted like normal chocolate.

    Good one! I will probably try Lily's chocolate next time it's time to break open a new bar. The chocolate I normally eat is so dark that the calorie difference is negligible though.
  • AlexandraFindsHerself1971
    AlexandraFindsHerself1971 Posts: 3,106 Member
    Sometimes a craving shows up at night, and I can look at myself and say sternly, "You don't need anything to eat. You need to go to bed. Go the F to bed!" and...yeah, that's the problem.
  • limixn321
    limixn321 Posts: 11 Member
    Sand_TIger wrote: »
    limixn321 wrote: »
    @Sand_TIger Lily's chocolate. Was blown away how much it tasted like normal chocolate.

    Good one! I will probably try Lily's chocolate next time it's time to break open a new bar. The chocolate I normally eat is so dark that the calorie difference is negligible though.

    Not sure what kind of diet you are on, but if you can have coconut oil than here is a nifty trick, take lily's chocolate chips melt them in a microwave, add some coconut oil to it. At room temp the chocolate sauce does not get hard and remains a sauce. But if you put it on something cold it gets hard. "cheap sugar free magic shell" :)
  • limixn321
    limixn321 Posts: 11 Member
    AlexandraFindsHerself1971 wrote: »
    Sometimes a craving shows up at night, and I can look at myself and say sternly, "You don't need anything to eat. You need to go to bed. Go the F to bed!" and...yeah, that's the problem.

    Have that same issue, how I deal with it is either apple cider vinegar drink mix, or decaf coffee. usualy kills my appitite.
  • eater_78
    eater_78 Posts: 13 Member
    I'm crazy about sweets, many times I'd eat nothing but sweets during the day. I can live on sugar and not miss meat, veggies or carbs. Yet, having decided to go on a diet, I have to be more careful what I eat. Obviously sweets are not a great food choice but I manage to squeeze them in (yes, sometimes at the expense of a meal). Last Friday I got a parcel from my brother with these really gorgeous Belgian chocolates. I did initially plan on eating 1-2 a day but then I just sat down and ate all 250g (that was AFTER having a normal breakfast, dinner and snack). So the next day I ate only 530 kcal to balance it out.

    I normally look for desserts that have good volume for the amount of calories, I've recently discovered high protein puddings in Lidl and Aldi (Ireland). Sometimes I'll have ice cream, not a big fan, but it deals with my sugar craving. Fair play to you who can drink sweet and it helps, I need to chew on something :hushed:
  • tuckerrj
    tuckerrj Posts: 1,453 Member
    sugar/sweet cravings I handle with Wurther's sugar free hard candy. Crunch a couple, and let a couple dissolve will forestall most binging. If not, I make "room" in my calorie count for 1/2 cup of regular ice cream and that does the trick.
  • Sand_TIger
    Sand_TIger Posts: 1,099 Member
    limixn321 wrote: »
    Sand_TIger wrote: »
    limixn321 wrote: »
    @Sand_TIger Lily's chocolate. Was blown away how much it tasted like normal chocolate.

    Good one! I will probably try Lily's chocolate next time it's time to break open a new bar. The chocolate I normally eat is so dark that the calorie difference is negligible though.

    Not sure what kind of diet you are on, but if you can have coconut oil than here is a nifty trick, take lily's chocolate chips melt them in a microwave, add some coconut oil to it. At room temp the chocolate sauce does not get hard and remains a sauce. But if you put it on something cold it gets hard. "cheap sugar free magic shell" :)

    Cool idea, pardon the pun - if I ever need something like that I'll remember the trick. :) I restrict fat to some extent because it just contains so many calories, and being somewhat small and near the end of my weight loss I have to be a bit more careful.

    Another offering on beating cravings: Old but still true. Eating more protein and complex carbs helps a lot to stave off hunger in general. For me in particular the first thing I eat works best if it's lower carb and high protein, that prevents blood sugar spikes that drive hunger/cravings later. I'm personally not particularly low carb, but I am choosy about when I have them.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,879 Member
    kathleendanielle47 wrote: »
    Is it just me or in the beginning did you have cravings for certain foods that you used to eat? I have a sweet tooth and it's so hard to shake it at times. What do y'all do when it hits you?

    I'm going to come at this with a different perspective.

    I don't have cravings like that, because I haven't eliminated any foods from my diet. I still eat the same foods, just different proportions/portions/frequencies.

    I have a thing for salty snacks, so I have some every evening, just a lot smaller portions than before. I eat ice-cream probably once a week (proper Ben& Jerry's) and occasionally some frozen yogurt/smaller ice-cream snacks that don't cost a lot of calories.

    I rarely get cravings (unless it's my TOM) since I haven't eliminated any foods I like from my diet.
  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
    cupcakesandproteinshakes Posts: 1,157 Member
    A craving is a thought right? A thought about food? Or are we taking about a feeling? And if a feeling is it a physical feeling or an emotion?

    I’m just checking what we are speaking of here.

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