Getting over carb addiction

(Jennifer Tippie) #1

I’m brand new to Keto as of the beginning of this month. I keep messing up because I can’t seem to kick this carb/sugar addiction! Sometimes it feels like cookies are all I think about! Any advice?

(Raj Seth) #2

When you have cravings, actually beforehand, eat lots of bacon. Till you’re stuffed. Won’t be able to contemplate eating more. Soon you will crave FAT. NIRVANA ACHIEVED :grinning::grinning:

(Ellie) #3

Eat fatty things until you don’t want to think about food. It shouldn’t take long to shake the cravings!
Cheese, butter, cream. Butter on cheese with bacon…anything like that!

(Mike Glasbrener) #4

Know that over time they will diminish or disappear. As others have said eat fatty thing and ignore the craving. Part of it is your body’s blood sugar is low and you’re going for the Pavlovian fix. Add sugar. If you can ignore the craving knowing your body will learn over time to produce its own glucose and manage your BS better it may help. Good Luck.

(Jennifer Tippie) #5

Thanks guys!

(Charlotte) #6

The cravings may or may not ever disappear completely, but they’ll become far more manageable and less extreme the longer you go without indulging them. I’ve found it a lot like quitting smoking—11 years ago when I quit I was white-knucking it, 6 months after that I still had occasional yearnings but nothing dignificant enough to make me cave, and nowadays I very occasionally have a weird, intense desire for a cigarette, but mostly just find it fascinating from a detached perspective and 100% know, with rick-solid certainty, that I’m not going to actually smoke.

6 months into keto, I’m still having the occasional yearnings for carbs, but they’re no longer anything like the white-knuckle cravings of early keto. And I’m confident it’ll just continue getting easier and easier as time goes on.

Sugar is an addictive substance. Quitting addictive substances is incredibly difficult. But you’ll be so glad you did, and you won’t regret it. It’ll get much easier very soon. I promise.

#7

I was/am a total cookie fiend. Oh my gosh, back in my slovenly bachelor days I would easily eat 2/3 of a box of peanut butter Oreos or 8-10 homemade chocolate chip cookies. I’ve been doing lazy-keto since June and I remember about the 2nd or 3rd week a girl brought homemade chocolate chip cookies to our small-group meeting and they set the plate down in front of me. I could smell them. I found myself glancing lustfully at the plate. I was really surprised how it affected my mood and how much I was genuinely craving them. NOW, fast forward 2 months, the same girl brought them in and I promise you, with no effort whatsoever, they had almost no pull on me. Would I have liked to have eaten one? Yep. But it was more of a take-it-or-leave-it kind of feeling. I would like to, sure, but I didn’t really, really, really want to. I wasn’t staring at the plate. I wasn’t focusing on the smell. I was bouncing my knee and tapping my foot (my “tell” that I’m nervous, mad, or anxious about something).

The bottom line is, the “cravings” WILL get better! It will get so much easier! The first 1-2 months is definitely the hardest. Your tastebuds will realign. I always heard people say that but I didn’t really believe it. I figured it was ok because I knew I could willpower my way through a lot, but it did actually get easier.

As far as I can tell, there are two schools of thought on how to get there:

  1. Total abstinence and (like I said) your tastebuds will realign. PRO: it is probably the fastest way. CON: it requires a lot of willpower.
  2. Scheduled “cheats”. This was the path I did. I had a keto cookie dough recipe that I allowed myself to eat only on Friday night and Saturday night as my reward. PRO: it makes it easier because in your mind you’re not saying “I’ll never have cookies again.” Instead you’re saying “I get to earn a cookie if I “pay” for it now by abstaining.” CON: some people say this delays or inhibits that taste-bud reacclimation that I talked about. It also requires some willpower to limit to specific days and to only keto-treats.

From one cookie lover to another: best of luck! You do you and I’m sure you’ll find success if you stay on the/a plan! :smiley:

(Jennifer Tippie) #8

Thank you, thank you! This definitely gives me hope!

(Bunny) #9

A quick tip:

Space your meal widows out until you get less and less hungry inbetween meals!

I hear eating fat helps with feeling satiated between meals!

#10

I found that I had to fight the craving mentally in the beginning. I also had to cut out EVERYTHING sweet. That meant no keto treats and even giving up chewing gum. Anything sweet is a trigger for me. I even had to give up my 90 percent dark chocolate as I was beginning to binge on it because it fit into my carb macro.

It has gotten easier. I do still get tempted of course but I feel and sleep so much better I don’t want to backslide to where I started from.

Good luck!

#11

For me, it was knowing what eating that carby food would do to me later, that helped me fight the cravings.

I used to be a huge ice cream eater (figuratively and literally), but after eating keto for awhile, I gave in one weekend and ate too much ice cream. Later that night, had the worst heartburn I’d had in a long time. That did it!

No flavor of ice cream would ever be tempting enough to make me want to risk that heartburn again.

So eating keto and IF has helped me identify how my body reacts to certain foods. Same thing happened with peanut butter. I started eating it as a substitute for ice cream. Thought I was doing okay, but had a few episodes where I realized the peanut butter was causing indigestion. I usually feel too good to want to deal with the occasional indigestion when I eat some peanut butter, so I said goodbye to that too.

The more I eat keto, the better I feel and the easier it is to say no to the things I know will make me sick. Also, it’s kind of a mental/biological game I play with myself. I think of all the good eating bacon and eggs will do for my body, then I think of all the bad a dessert will do. Is it worth it? No.

Like others have said, the longer you stay away from it, the easier it will be to resist the temptation. And believe me, it’s worth it!

(Jennifer Tippie) #12

Thanks so much for the tip! Desserts and sweets also make me feel sick, I think I eat them anyways because I’m addicted. Getting over the sugar addiction is the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to do, but hearing from all you wonderful people makes me realize I’m not the only one, and that it is possible to come out the other side. Thank you.