Has Keto made me a slave to sugar?


(Allan L) #1

So I’ve never had a sweet tooth, all my life I would choose savoury over sweet any day.

Started keto in June '17 and lost lots of weight, fairly strict with almost zero cheats. Keto was easy for me as I already hardly ate bread, pasta, no sweet tooth, never drank sugary drinks etc.

Then about 3 months ago I fell off the horse and into a full tub of Ben & Jerry’s.

Since then I can’t control my cravings for sugar. Every time I go to the shops I find myself zombie walking to the cake & biscuit aisle or ice cream etc. I can make it for about 2 weeks of keto before getting overtaken by the cravings again. This week its been every other day.

I’ve never had to deal with these cravings in my life before, this is all new to me. I’m binge eating and not really enjoying it. The food is way too sweet for me but still find myself physically craving the sugar rush.

There are these 2 voices in my head arguing with each other, one saying “EAT THE SUGAR” and the other saying “But its too sweet, you’ll not enjoy it, remember last time?” Yet the 1st voice keeps winning. I binge half way through a packet of something then come to my senses and throw it in the bin, 2 hours later I’m tempted to walk to the shops again to get more!

It appears I am having almost the reverse reaction to the keto diet than most others where it has increased my sensitivity to sugar and now a slave to its powers.

I went to the doc yesterday for a checkup and I’d obviously put on weight. In the past this would have motivated me to get back on the horse straight away but last night I found myself stuffing my face with biscuits to console myself. Never in my life have I ate this way!

But just typing this out is helping me realise that the only way to beat this is to recognise it for what it is and address it head on. Its an addiction and I’m letting it control me. I must pull myself together and get control over this madness.

So I need some new rules to live by until I break this pattern

1 - Never go to the shops hungry. Whist this has not been a problem in the past it obviously is now.
2 - Forget about fasting for the moment, keep myself full on keto food until I can start recognising true hunger signals again.

Any other suggestions? :slight_smile:


(Bunny) #2

3 - Think postmortem autopsy photos about obesity!


(Allan L) #3

Getting to the ripe old age of 45 before getting addicted to sugar is a good thing I guess.

Just taking the time to type this post and follow the thought process through logically has helped.

Guess the key takeaway for me here is that things that were previously not bad triggers now are! Sugar is everywhere! :slight_smile:


(Lesley) #4

I’m the same @allan but to lesser extent in that I’ve not tucked into anything non-keto. I’m 45 too and never had a sweet tooth. The last chocolate bar I bought I was around the age of 13 and never ate fruit as it was too sweet for my tastes. Crisps, rice and colslaw were my downfall.

I’ve been keto a year since May 1st. Everything is going great but I am craving sweet stuff too for first time in life. It started with blueberries and cream and I can’t stop eating the blueberries then I had some 90% chocolate and now that’s all I think about and I can’t buy it now as I finish the whole bar at once, and I also find myself fancying cheesecake and such when before I’ve never wanted any sort of cake. The cake thing started after making keto cheesecake for my mother and now I can’t get enough of it, so I just don’t make it. I do find myself yeaning for regular sweets/chocolate/cake now. Walking down the supermarket aisle I’m like oh that looks nice… like WTF. Wouldn’t of even been on my radar previously.

So, I understand what you are going though. Keto has changed my tastes as well. Very strange!


(Tim W) #5

I hesitate to write this BUT…

One thing I’ve used to dominate cravings is long term fasting.

Yes, it’s hell getting past the 72-96 hour window if you’ve been consuming lots of sugars/carbs, but, once you get past that point, and into a couple of days of fasting, the craving usually breaks.

I’ve been where you are. I’ve eaten five donuts in one shop and stopped 8 miles later and ate another 4. I was sugar addicted several years ago but kept my weight in control through vicious amounts of exercise. Long term fasting helped me break the sugar addiction and, eating HIGH FAT meals/days before my fasting periods now (usually 1-3 days a week, maybe a 5 day fast each month) keeps me from craving the carbs post fast.

Other tip I’ve heard is to do shots of glutamine, it’s been argued that it may be a lack of something causing the cravings. Check out this rabbit hole, maybe it will lead somewhere:

Bottom line, if you can break the cycle for 72 hours or longer, eating lots of fat and ignoring calories you might be able to break the cycle. (who knows, your cravings may be due to TOO few calories…)

Best of luck to you!


(Allan L) #6

Agreed. Whole bar or nothing. Very similar approach.

One theory I have is the carbs I used to get from rice, pulses etc were enough to satisfy my ‘craving’ requirements and now they have gone I’m hitting the main line sugar stuff but all was good for 8 months!

Exactly!! I find myself standing there mindlessly. WTF is a thought that has gone through my head many times.

Slight consoling feeling knowing I’m not alone with this change.

Now I fight the fight. I’m fairly good at sorting things out once I understand the problem or realise there now is one.


(Allan L) #7

Thank you for the advise, much appreciated.

Me too. Fasting usually helps keep and get those cravings and hunger signals back in line for me. Unfortunately not this time and has failed spectacularly these past weeks with a very bad outcome of crazy binge eating yesterday.

OOOH! I forgot about glutamine, used to take this regular for stomach issues. Will try add this back and see how things progress.

This is my current plan, fairly similar to my 1st month on keto.

Next 7 days: Eat eat and eat some more but keeping carbs below 20g.
Then will think about adding in a 2-3 day fast.

Now I have clearly identified the issue and aware of my triggers I am fairly good at finding a solution.

'Hi, My name is Allan and I am a sugar addict. :wink:


(icky) #8

Hi Allan,

Despite my Forum name, I’ve never been a sugar addict either. :wink: I was raised eating healthy food as a kid and have also always preferred savory to sweet.

I chose my forum name because even though I don’t crave it, sugar is my downfall in terms of being insulin resistant.

Keto hasn’t made me crave sugar, but I understand what you and KetoWally are describing.

Are you both eating enough fat?

I’m assuming you’re both fully fat-adapted and in ketosis if you’ve been doing Keto for a long time - tho I don’t know how possible “cheating” may have affected this.

It does sound like your body is yelling for carbs - which would make it seem like your body’s not getting enough energy from fat?

Could you try upping your fat-intake for the next 2 - 4 weeks and see what happens to the sugar cravings?

How much fat are you eating per day?

Maybe make sure you eat something very fatty before going shopping.


(Lisa F) #9

The reaction totally makes sense to me! When you went Keto your body started to run low on glycogen and has prompted sugar cravings in an effort to replenish its stores (it’s tricksy that way!). I agree that fasting can help. I was in a slippery slope with dark chocolate in the evenings and fasting has helped immensely with that.

Also - are the craving stronger at certain times if day? Evenings are often toughest when insulin is high. Make non-food plans to keep busy to see if you can sail past those vulnerable moments.

It’s so hard to fight biology!


(Lesley) #10

@allan agree that we both probably got our sugar hit from all the carbs previously. And again, like, you I had no cravings at all for the longest time.

I got my mum onto Keto a couple of months before Xmas and she was saying she had to eat the carbs and sweets at Xmas so I wasn’t having any of that so I looked into making chocolate mug cake and sugar free cheesecake etc. Well I think for me that was the mistake. I ate those for the first time at Xmas and it gave me the taste for sweet that I had never had before. Perhaps it was just having a different taste sensation after being Keto for 8 months. I think it had to do with the artificial sugars making my brain/body think it was getting carbs again. Slippery slope to start eating sweets (artifical or real).

Funnily enough, before I was fat adapted I kept having a recurring dream the end of the first month and partly into the second. I was always trying/failing to break into a biscuit/sweet factory and had things happen like the get-away truck breaking down just after I loaded it up. LOL. Those dreams passed though and I didn’t have the cravings while awake.

@sugar-addict think you are onto something with eating enough fat. That definetly does help. I am eating a lot of food. As I’m at maintance now and just after Xmas I had hard time eating enough as just wasn’t ever hungry, but now my appetite is back with a vengence. It doesn’t matter how much I eat I don’t put any weight back on. Goes like one pound perhaps back and forth. So although I eat a lot in volumn perhaps I should make more of an effort to get more fat in. Back in the early days I use to eat spoonfuls of coconut oil but that went by the wayside after first few months.

@allan sounds like you are on the right track now and wish you well with the cravings. :wink: Got to laugh though at aknowledging you are a sugar addict.


(Allan L) #11

I know I am. 70-80% fat and around 2,000 cal on average in a day.

You could have hit the nail right on the head here. With cheating at least once every 14 days, and not light cheating either, fat adaptation could be at an all time low.

Now I have identified the issue and have a plan, staying clear of the sugar for a month should hopefully get me back into deep fat adaption. After a cheat day / weekend I know that the strong carb cravings will decrease quite significantly around week 2.

So its a case of getting back on this and sticking with it and no longer thinking of sugar as I used to. Re-framing my view on sugar and seeing it as a drug I now have a problem with.

Agreed! But fight it I shall. :wink:

I was @ maintenance but no longer so now have a clear goal in sight.


(Karl) #12

If you plan on fasting in the future, try to get used to the idea that It’s perfectly ok to be a little hungry. That’s the only suggestion I’d make. It seems that people (my kids ESPECIALLY) are so uncomfortable with being “a little hungry” that they’ll do almost anything to squash that feeling. If you plan on fasting, that’s a bit of a hill you’ll have to get over depending on how long you want to do it.


#13

As someone who has been a sugar addict all my life, I feel your pain. Keto/low carb is the only thing that’s ever stopped my constant food-hoovering, so I’m sorry it’s having the opposite effect for you.

A couple of tricks that help me when I am having those occasional sweet cravings (and they still come sometimes, even now, albeit less overwhelmingly than they did on a high-carb diet):

  1. Sugar-free hard-boiled sweets - these have polyols so you can’t eat too many, but just having one in my mouth takes away the urge to eat other things. I particularly like the Werther’s butterscotch ones as they even have fat. :slight_smile: Maybe try having one while shopping (or sugar-free gum if you prefer)

  2. Diet fizzy drinks - I’ve tried to cut down on these since I started keto eight weeks ago, but I will let myself have an occasional glass of Tesco Apple and Raspberry flavoured fizzy water when I need that sweet ‘hit’ - it tastes insanely sweet but is made with sucralose not sugar, so it doesn’t throw me off ketosis; bonus is that it is perfect to hide the taste of ACV, and even tastes a bit like a non-alcoholic fruity cider when used for that purpose

  3. Letting yourself have a dessert after dinner can help, as you bargain with yourself that you’re going to get a treat later. Sometimes I’ll have a couple of strawberries cut up with some thick double cream, sometimes I’ll make an avocado smoothie with blueberries and cream and drink it slowly through the evening, occasionally I’ll even bake at the weekend and portion out what I can have per day (not often, though, because that can backfire if it tastes too good)

  4. Brush your teeth - this sounds like a weird one, I know, but it’s a common recommendation on a lot diets for good reason. It’s hard to fancy eating something sweet when your mouth tastes strongly of mint! :wink:

Suddenly getting cravings later in life is rough because you’ve never had to develop the coping mechanisms that those of us with a lifelong addiction have had to put in place to avoid crashing headfirst into the biscuit aisle every single time we go shopping. It’s hard, believe me - I know! I hope you can work out the best ways for you to keep it under control.


(Allan L) #14

Har! I did this yesterday and it worked. Plus used some horrible mouth wash that kills the taste buds for a few hours.

Agreed. I now sympathise with so many who have battled with this all their life. The first step is admitting there is a problem and I’m there now!


#15

It might be a time period for some people. I was sugar addicted as a skinny kid and young adult (needed to lose about 10 lbs from age 17 - 26, then needed to lose more). That was a long time ago. I was always addicted to pizza and pasta. Went gluten free in 2009. Lost the sugar addiction but could still put away a big box of candy at the movies. I do make fake carb substitues at times, such as fat head pizza but it is such a process that I rarely do it. Knowing I can is enough.

Started Keto April 2017, mostly lost weight through IF and EF. Keto does not help me lose, only maintain. I am about halfway to my goal (another 40 - 60 to lose). I have been stuck since December (no size decrease, no weight decrease since September/October). I had no problems at all during the holidays. Barely cheat. Stopped fasting in January except rarely and when I do fast I do not lose any weight that stays. I did find in January - March that I was craving sweets a lot. Especially at night. I do make keto desserts but rarely and it is process since the only ones I know how to make are cakes. I do sometimes do the whipped cream pudding but only as a last resort. I made a cake a few weeks ago that no one in my non keto house liked except me. I had no problems only having a slice at a time and eventually the cake disappeared, no idea if it fell behind something, a kid ate it or the dog grabbed it but I know I did not eat it unless I have taken to sleep eating. Bottom line it was not a big deal to me so I guess I am over it now! So I would say pull through, maybe rather than abstaining have a keto dessert ready to go every night but stop at one if you can. Whether cake or berries with cream. It may be something that passes in a week or a month.

I do think EF helps me stay in keto since it reminds me that eating anything is better than eating nothing and makes me more consicous of my desire to snack. You may want to explore the gut bacteria. Did anything else change? Did you get sick? Food poisoning? Antibiotics or other medication? All that can change the gut flora and supposedly changing the gut flora changes what we crave. I have a friend who had a fecal transplant in the hospital recently and she was told her food tastes may change. She is not keto so no other information there. If you have not changed anything then maybe look into both prebiotics and probiotics to encourage non sugar craving gut bacteria


(Laura ) #16

I have always been a terrible sugar addict. How you are bingeing now is how I lived my life prior to Keto. Have you tried making some of the sweeter fat bombs for in case a craving hits? Those really helped me in the beginning. They have just enough sweetness that they fulfill the craving and enough fat to make me feel full and satisfied. One day and one step at a time is all any of us can do!


(Bunny) #17

Top 10 Best Food Sources of Glutamine


(Bunny) #18

Something I think that may be occuring is that sensory organs or sensory perceptions become more acute with keto, autophagy and neurogenesis or better health over a period of time and this new found sensitivity could magnify the way things taste because the old sugar habit is going taste even sweeter…lol


(Allan L) #19

Agreed. Have recently started making home fermented kefir. I used to drink it often but stopped about 4-5 months ago. I ferment it nice and sour to convert as much sugar as possible. I need to improve the prebiotics situation. Thanks for the advise!


#20

Actually if that is the case, then I think you are not suitable for keto. Or I should say, keto is not suitable for you.

Try to give up keto and just do as how you did in the past.

maybe you will have no more craving, as it means your body wants carbs, and it is for a good reason, but you deny your body.

Especially since you already lost some weights. Maybe you stop keto first.(Since you don’t have sweet tooths at first, maybe your carb isn’t too high for your own good.)