Carb/sugar cravings even when full

#1

I am going into my 4th straight month of a zero carb pure carnivore lifestyle, and have started to develop worse and worse carb/sugar cravings the longer I go without them. Even after I eat my steaks to satiety, I tried stuffing myself even more to the point where I feel queasy because I thought it would help with the cravings, but it doesn’t. I find myself constantly thinking about stuff like pizza or cookies or candy, etc. and sometimes the thoughts affects my work performance during the day. Are there any other techniques to curb these cravings? I would really hate to break my 4-month streak…knowing myself I feel like I would go into a depression from failure and just give up entirely.

#2

I just can wonder about things at best as I had no such problems but I gradually lowered my carbs during the last decade (in 3 big jumps) - and I go off all the time anyway though not due to cravings exactly.

Do you eat something else than meat? Maybe those would help to some extent? Probably not but well, some dairy is still more dessert-like than meat, maybe it would mean something…?

I never gave up my desserts unlike I did my strictest days on carnivore, but I usually eat desserts on it. I don’t crave carbs but maybe part of the problem is that you want some dessert-like things. Maybe not. I have my mascarpone filled pancakes. Good stuff (carby sweets are so inferior if you ask me now :D). Some people may should stop eating desserts, some of us should indulge themselves.

To me, coffee is kind of dessert too… At least with a few drops of cream.

I wish you to find what to do…

#3

No, I only eat meat (with the usual olive oil and butter). I used to like mozzarella cheese but I didn’t want to “cheat” even though the one I like has zero carbs. I could try a little bit but not sure how much it will help if I want like chocolate or gummy candies or something.

I used to really love coffee ice cream, even though I haven’t drank coffee in 20 years since I am not a huge fan of caffeine. Are there any decaf brands and cream brands you can suggest for iced coffee?

#4

I make a coffee yoghurt. I just dissolve some instant decaf in a small amount of water and add it to high protein/low fat yoghurt (personal preference) with a bit of sweetener.

#5

Normal.

Many of us went thru this.

Your body has been without sugar. Point blank physical withdrawl handled and you have changed on that level…BUT YOUR MIND is now saying, come on, ‘can’t I have some sugar back?’ and believe me IF YOU are a true sugar addict and you are one who requires zero carb for total wellness and control…do not give in.

But you MIGHT be one who can become keto/paleo/extreme low carb and add back something small and do well…but you are the only person who knows if you can do this. And if you do add back thinking you might be able to leave carnivore and maybe add in a day or 2 of a low carb menu into your life…it might work fine for you.

But this is the big decision. What I did was fight like a dog and change my mindset. I craved like the dickens the first year and into the 2nd year where I ‘had to have sugar’ and I backslid a little but in the end, I NEED zero carb in my life. So what I did was fight against the mind control of it all.

I put everything positive about zero carb and when cravings hit I did ever single ‘how to fight cravings’ technique into play plus I said to myself, you stop this NOW! LOL Yea I had to yell at me LOL and I had to say what do I want and how do I want to live my life and eat for health and I had to talk myself out of cravings time--------and now into year 4----I barely have any cravings at all. Only time I get a tad ‘off’ is when I get a bit jealous on vacay family is trying new foods, or a social thing where the food is crap but everyone is having tons of fun and I get that ‘left out jealous feeling’ but I have now learned to get over that too.

Work in progress on finding and talking to yourself. What do you need from your eating? What are you willing to do for it?

So this is big think time for you. Mindset changes on how you view cravings. I got a craving I got mad at me. I said NO I will not do this to me. Take your darn mind off it and move on with life, some sugar is not controlling this ol’ gal LOL

yea and believe me I still ‘talk to me’ alot now and it works for me.

So best of luck and chat it thru with yourself. You can find yourself to be very very strong and also find you can change your internal conversations with yourself about craving times into a plus to make you stronger actually…kinda worked that way for me.

Hold strong! :slight_smile:

(Laurie) #6

I went through this. I’m not sure how I survived! Just commitment I guess, and riding out the feeling. You’ve done great so far. Maybe you won’t feel this way for much longer.

I eat only animal products plus seasonings, coffee, and herbal tea. But not just meat. With fish, eggs, homemade yogurt dip, etc., I get plenty of variety at each meal. I love Cambozola cheese and have a piece of it after supper every day. For me, that’s my daily treat. Once a month I buy a liter of whipping cream and put that in my coffee until I run out (it lasts just a couple of days).

I’m at the point now where sweet things taste yucky.

Dunno if that helps.

I’d also like to mention that continuing to eat after I’m full just makes me hungry again.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #7

Try cutting out the olive oil and any other plant-based foods you may still be eating. It might help.

#8

Olive oil is the only plant-based thing I consume, which I use to fry my steaks. What alternative should I use for high-heat cooking/searing in a cast-iron skillet?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #9

Butter, tallow, lard, or bacon grease all work.

#10

I use butter for basting when I take everything off the heat, but doesn’t butter burn if you try to cook it at high temperatures?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #11

It does have a lower smoke point, but fewer polyunsaturates to be damaged and converted into bad things. Clarified butter, ghee, has a much higher smoke point, about 90° F higher than olive oil.

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#12

So is it okay to completely replace all my butter with ghee? Or should I just cook with ghee and continue to use butter? (From a purely health perspective, regardless of flavor)

(Laurie) #13

I fry meats in bacon grease. It works well.

(Karen) #14

I used to use olive oil for my steaks but changed to lard and beef dripping, when i have saved some from leftover cooking. Lard now tastes so much better than the olive oil and I don’t think I could go back . I like it when it has cooled on my plates and I can scrape it off with my knife and spread it on the steak!! :slightly_smiling_face:

(Karen) #15

If you cook with butter just add a tiny bit of olive oil and it stops it burning … but lard taste better! :wink:

#16

I use ghee for everything now. I make it out of unsalted butter; the process is very simple.

The high smoke point is excellent, and it tastes great.

(Bob M) #17

Some people think butter burning is a good thing, adds flavor.

For me, I heat my pans up to 600+ F (verified by IR sensor gun), but I take tallow (from suet) and melt it. I spread a thin layer on both sides of the steak. Then sear.

At 600F, anything will burn.

I also have used Ghee for this, but since I have tallow, I use it instead.

(Bob M) #18

Odd that tallow is not on there.

For me, I pretty much just use tallow or ghee. Used to use duck fat, but the last fat I rendered from ducks was liquid at room temp. The lard I bought from the store was also soft at room temp, and the tallow I bought was relatively soft too.

So, now I make tallow from suet. If I have low-PUFA pork from Fire in a Bottle and fat from that pork, I use it. Otherwise, I toss all fat from store-bought pork. The fat from bacon or just ground pork from Fire in a Bottle is hard at room temp. The bacon fat from store-bought bacon is soft…at fridge temp. Not good.

(Diana) #19

Try this as a “dessert” should taste sweet enough. Egg pudding, it’s made of just of just egg and water. To me it tastes sweet even though it has nothing added. She even has a coffee version which you can make with decaf. That may squash the sweet craving and it’s carnivore. https://youtu.be/GXiu7yMGc0Q

(Diana) #20

Seriously when you make it right and it’s slightly jiggly it tastes like creme brûlée :slight_smile: (again only try this when you’ve been sugar free for a long while (including fake sweeteners)).