Hi
I am over weight and have done extensive research on Keto diet. It makes sense. the problem is that I cannot seem to stop eating the bad carbs. All I crave after starting this a month ago is peanut butter sandwiches with tea. I am a South African Indian female so curry is what we were brought up on. I crave curry and rice and breyani’s all the time. I have become obsessed with thinking about food. I even dream about it. I end up talking myself into eating all these things and then I cant stop for that day and the cycle continues everyday. I do not know how to break this cycle. I have seen the positive benefits of the keto lifestyle and I want to be healthy but im afraid that I am not strong enough to do this. why am I so weak in my self control towards food but I can achieve anything else I put my mind to?!
It looks so easy for everyone but it feels impossible to me. I know people will judge me for my weakness but I don’t know what else to do.
Struggling with Food Obsession
Carbs are literally addictive. You are facing a psychological and maybe even physiological addiction. I was similarly addicted to my carbs which were 75% of my diet.
In your place I did a few things to get my mind in the right place.
- Fear - I realized that I was killing myself with my diet, sooner rather than later and if I didn’t make some hard choices now, it might get too late
- Stepping down - I didn’t dive straight in. I took the things I was ‘addicted to’ e.g. Diet Coke, croutons in my salad, candy, pizza, etc. and made a plan for each one. I went from 4 to 2 to 1 diet cokes a day, halved the croutons, then halved them again, rationed the candy to 2 meals only, cut out the pizza.
- Adding in - find awesome keto things I loved to take the place of carbs e.g. bacon, nuts, cheese, pork rinds
- had snacks - while I was adapting, to avoid hunger (which would make me more likely to relapse)
- cleared out the carbage so I couldn’t just dip into it
For you, you need to find your reason to do this. If it is just some weight loss, it might not be enough but maybe combined with the other strategies it may be enough.
Make a stepping down strategy vs. your killer carbs. Swap rice for cauliflower rice. Look at the curry recipe and cut down any carbs in the sauce. Ration sweets and step down the rations over time. I went from 4 pieces of milk chocolate to 3 to 2 of dark chocolate etc. over a couple of weeks.
Find keto things you love and use them to replace the cravings. My go to was nuts - started with cashews (worst nuts) and then moved onto almonds, macadamias etc. Peanut butter (the lower carb varieties) can be a middle ground between savory and sweet. Use them for snacks to keep off the carbs between meals.
Throw out or give away the carbage… your trash can be some poor sap’s treasure!
My first 4 weeks of keto carbs were 75g, 60g, 50g, 35g per day so I avoided the keto flu and could get to grips with these ideas. It’s been plain sailing ever since.
I agree with you, from what you said I am addicted to carbs! thank you for this. No time like the present to get back on the horse! Going to take it 1 day at a time.
Supplementation with L-glutamine is an old standby for helping reduce carb cravings. I believe it’s 500mg 3x/day. More effective with sweets cravings, IIRC.
I’ve been lucky with not craving sugary stuff because I’ve used sweetner last 15 yrs.I am good all day n evening until 8 to 11pm.I finally figured out why I struggled with wanting to eat…because that’s when I was sexually abused by stepgrandfather when my mom n grandmother were at bingo.I’ve always been a emotional eater.plus I also know I ate to keep myself fat so I could avoid any attention from men. When I got weighed n measured…I was happy n scared I battle with myself almost everyday but I’m gonna do this.u have to decide what’s more important…rice or u health n being happy. Like me n fruit…yes I miss bananas BUT I have my cheese n veggies😊
Thank you Lisa for the support and advice, yes you are right I do have to make a decision on my priorities.
Sorry about what happened to you when you were young.
Martinique, Many of us, if not most of us have been addicted to carbs. It doesn’t seem to matter where you grow up because carbs are everyone’s favorite food. Don’t EVER give up on yourself. I have had your same feelings and failures many, many times. Just keep working toward your goal of lowering your carbs. Whenever I want to get down on myself, I look back and think how badly I used to eat 5 years ago. Start now, and make wise food and drink choices as much as you are able each day. Write down your feelings and food choices, if that helps you.
Listen to @Capnbob gentle yourself into this. I had already been living a wheat free life so a shift to keto was not too rough. Reduce carbs slowly, increase fat slowly, watch your electrolytes.
K
It is genetic. Some people have genes that make them more addicted to carbs than others.
When I first started I just had more of the keto “sometimes foods” whenever I was craving. You could try having sugarfree sweets or protein bars, peanut butter, cream with cacao or berries until your cravings subside. The cravings won’t ever go away if you can’t completely cut them out for at least a week. You need to believe the unbelievable which is that you will soon be able to walk past them without thinking twice. Once you make carbs your bitch they will no longer rule you.
Also remember you aren’t banned for life. This is your lifestyle, you have the freedom to cheat when you want, but eventually you won’t bother because fat and salt will taste better and make you feel better than sugar and carbs
Past is past just a few triggers here n there but I get thru them.I also chew gum.that helps with not eating.
You can do this…just sorta wean urself into it. If I can do it you can do it
This was SO important to me in my first week. I very nearly got down on myself for only being able to cut my carbs down to 40-100g on some days and was tempted to listen to the negative voice that says "Shit, if you can’t even keep it together for the first week, how are you supposed to manage this long term but logically I knew it was carbs still being in my system and screaming out for attention. In the days before starting keto, the idea of fasting seemed like a goal that was for other people with better discipline than me but now I frequently go 16 hours without issue.
You got this. Baby steps to Beast steps.
Thanks Eva, so much. I’ve been keto since January, 2017. I’m a wise eater, most of the time. I love eating foods that keep me healthy. I will stay on this way of eating forever. I only mention my slip-ups down junk food alley because they have happened, even though I am committed to LCHF foods. Being committed to this wonderful, wise way of eating does not mean I’m perfect. MOST of the time, I can drive by junk food billboards, watch TV commercials, see cupcakes at a birthday, and walk by bright, eye-catching candies in every store without feeling even the slightest urge to eat any of it. Sometimes I even find myself saying “yuk” out loud as I imagine eating them. Fortunately the slip-ups are rare, but sometimes they are a major slide away from the progress I have made.
I have great hope that some day I will have no desire for this stuff anymore, but I am not optimistic. The junk food drugs are cheap, highly advertised, and pushed on us everywhere, every day.
As for fasting, like you I go 16 hours without issue. Many days I only eat once, so I see that I have fasted 24 hours on those days. I actually feel fed most of the time; not even slightly hungry. Food doesn’t interest me at all. That said, my recent slide down junk food alley happened after I repeatedly attempted to fast for several days. The last EF lasted about 4 days. I felt deprived the entire time, then I started binging and just didn’t stop for several weeks. I have learned the hard way that my mind is not in a good place to do “scheduled” fasting. As long as I know I can eat when I’m hungry, any day, every day; I can go hours and hours fasted with no difficulty or any feelings of deprivation, and no need to binge afterward. If I schedule a time when I am not allowed to eat, that’s when the trouble starts. Oh well, I chalk this up to the words “know thyself”.
I just want to chime in here and say that no one here thinks you are weak, and no one is judging 
We all come to this from various backgrounds or walks of life… but with a common goal to feel better. For many of us (myself included), this meant learning how to break that carb/sugar addiction.
I have a friend who has been an addict of some sort for decades. He has used “substitution” to manage his addictions (with medical support)- moving from heroin to cocaine to alcohol to marijuana to cigarettes to sugar… and no joke, he says that sugar is the MOST difficult thing he has ever tried to give up.
Be kind to yourself @Capnbob has amazing advice, as always. This forum is filled with supportive and encouraging people, and amazing resources. Hang in there!
You are very strong for wanting to change your life. This will get easier once you get used to it.
For me personally, I wasn’t able to take baby steps. If I had any sugar or high carby food in my system, it brought on worse cravings. I am not the type to eat one cookie, as long as there’s a whole batch sitting on the counter, I will keep going back for more. I’d have as much as I could eat before someone noticed or I felt sick. I totally understand your food obsession.
I still have a food obsession but I forced it to shift to other types of food that are better for me. Cheese, bacon, walnuts roasted in garlic and bacon nectar, and eggs.
Trick is to experiment in the kitchen and make food so good it makes the crappy carb stuff seem like your missing out if you opt for them instead of when your having your own home cooked amazing food . Cook the foods you enjoy but just change the recipy to adapt to keto… Colliflour rice, a bit of curry goat with veg. Sounds yummy to me
Wow, this makes so much sense to me! I have to find a way to eat where I don’t feel deprived. Although I manage to eat MOSTLY Keto, when I feel deprived, I will “allow” myself a “reward”. Its how my mind works without me even realizing it sometimes. I cannot do scheduled fasting.
Thanks for helping me understand I am not alone here. I also have to proceed knowing I can eat when I feel hungry and let my body ease into going longer each day without food. In my case, I have to because I have some serious high blood sugar.