OMG the cravings!!!!

[kellysue24]

Seriously end of day 2 and I could mainline a twinkie if they still made them.

How do I get past the cravings!?

I don't remember it being THIS bad!

[Dottie]

Cup of tea?
One thing i find helps is hot beef broth with a little vinegar and tabasco sauce in it.

[svenskamae]

Read Julia Ross's "The Diet Cure" and add some supplements like L-Tryptophin (sp?).

Sometimes you need to just ride it out; the cravings will get less strong if you don't give in to them.

What are you craving? Sweets? Bready things? Salty snacks? If you post what you are missing, others may be able to suggest some helpful on-plan substitutes.

Good luck.

[adiasmc1]

I second the hot beef or chicken broth with a little extra salt sprinkled in. Really helped me the other night.

Or something salty like pickles or green olives.

[kellysue24]

Definitely craving sweets. I also can't tell if I am hungry. As a chronic overeater, I don't even know what true hunger feels like

[kayellr]

Eat something fatty. Seriously. Creamy and fatty - a slice of brie, some bacon, an avocado. The broth is a big, big help too.

[svenskamae]

You might find some of the books about intuitive eating--with exercises to practice--helpful. I was irritated that the one I read was critical of limiting carbs, but you could ignore that and still work through the exercises.

If you feel you must eat something sweet, eat something with lots of fat along with the sweetener. A low carb cheesecake with lots of cream cheese might be a good choice. But it would be way better to make it through two weeks of induction on simple foods like meat, non-starchy vegetables, eggs, and limited amounts of cheese and cream (but plenty of fat, such as butter on veggies, avocado, and full-fat salad dressing). Promise yourself that you can have some lowcarb sweets eventually--and when the two weeks are over, you may not even long for the sweets so much.

Something else to consider is trying to eat within limited time windows and/or ONLY at meals (no snacks). That may help you get more familiar with feelings of true hunger and satiety. Try to keep your food consumption within a 12 hour window, at meals only, for a start.

[kellysue24]

Great advice. I am totally going to try some olives. Dang I wish my avacados were ripe!!!

[rubidoux]

I like a couple of ounces of cream cheese (or mascarpone if you have some) with little extract or flavoring or squeeze of lemon and some truvia or liquid Splenda.

[Avy]

I agree with this. L-Glutamine is fantastic. I have the book, loan it out. There are some other supplements I take, but that one is the main for me for cravings.

Originally Posted by svenskamae

Read Julia Ross's "The Diet Cure" and add some supplements like L-Tryptophin (sp?).

Sometimes you need to just ride it out; the cravings will get less strong if you don't give in to them.

What are you craving? Sweets? Bready things? Salty snacks? If you post what you are missing, others may be able to suggest some helpful on-plan substitutes.

Good luck.

[nspeedracer]

hot cocoa w cream, water and splenda, that always zapped my sweet/hungry tooth, esprcially at night

[Casey]

After reading "the diet cure" I've been trying L-glutamine, 5htp and GABA for cravings and feel much calmer and not anxious.

[emel]

Fat. Or pickles.
We ate dinner super-early last night, and later I had a big craving for sweets. I ate 1/3 avocado with a piece of muenster and some homemade mayo on it. Settled it right down. And I was stuffed lol.

[Krissy2010]

Ok you're gonna think I'm nuts but glutamine works wonders! If I'm having really bad cravings or I just won't quit eating when I'm not hungry I take a tsp of glutamine with a splash of heavy whip cream... I know that sounds awful and it doesn't taste the best but I swear oh quit eating and lose the cravings. I read that adding the fat helps but you can take it with water. Read the diet cure, it's really good for explaining some of this and what aminos to take!

[flagman1776]

Congradulations... you are burning up the sugars (and carbs that easily turn to sugars). Day 2 is about right & is the worst of it. This will pass. Day 3 will be less & day 4 almost gone. In these first few days, the instructions are to stay strong but EAT... anything on the approved list. As much as you need to not be hungry. You'll not be able to separate hunger from craving yet but soon you will. Anything which causes cravings has hidden carbs which you must avoid.
I just went through this (again) a few days ago. I had a bun-less burger. i think a bit of fat helps.

[Knittering]

Day two is the worst, absolutely. Stay strong and this will pass and soon you will be FREE of those cravings!

I agree with kayellr -- creamy + fat. Mash up an avocado (nature's most perfect food!), fry up some bacon, and use your bacon as chips to eat the avocado.

You can do this!

[Meli-Mel]

I find that either a dill pickle or a teaspoon of peanut butter will either take away (pickle) or satisfy (pb) an intense sugar craving.

[Bamboozled]

Stick it out another week or so, you'll be fine!

Try to drink tons of water when you get cravings. Eat some eggs or cheese, guacamole, something filling. Your body is used to the poisonous sugar you've been feeding it (which includes carbs which turn to sugar in the body) so just remember that! You are detoxing!

[creseis]

Eat fatty things--bacon, cheese. Pickles can get high carb fast, 1/2 pickle has 1g carb and they do not fill you up. Eat as much cheese as you like for the first week or so, until the cravings subside. Soon enough, you won't feel like eating much at all!

[sillykimmie]

L-glutamine has been my saving grace on induction. No cravings at all.

[DiamondDeb]

L-glutamine between meals and GTF chromium with meals help many. One, the other or both.

Check out the thread Bad Cravings? Try this!

[Julie1972]

When I have sweet cravings I enjoy an oopsie roll with cinnamon cream cheese spread on it (mix cinnamon and Splenda in the cream cheese). That is one of my favorite treats.

[junip3r]

It will pass... stay strong mama!

When I have major cravings (usually later in the evening after dinner) I want everything sweet, carby and crunchy! There have been times when it was so bad I thought I would be willing to sell my soul or at least pay a large sum of money for a pint of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey!

After several DEEP breaths, and a little pep talk...I like to calculate the weight I have lost so far. This keeps my goals in perspective. That Darn Chunky Monkey will take me 10 minutes to eat, and 10 days to get back on track!! No thank you!!

...my solution has been to simply go to sleep.

Probably not the way Dr. OZ would do it, but it works for me.

[Jigsaw]

Eat some fat, cheese, yummy cheese and salami (since you don't have avocado, or even if you do, lol). Then take a walk, and go to bed early, you'll be done with day 2 before you know it!

[kellysue24]

I made it through day 3! The cravings weren't as bad today thank God!

[svenskamae]

Congratulations! Keep up the good work, look forward to this getting easier, and let us know tomorrow that you made it through another induction day.

What advice from the above posts did you follow and find helpful (if you don't mind sharing)?

[kellysue24]

I went to bed and made sure I ate more fat today. I had a pretty gnarly headache today, but it was ok.

[LiterateGriffin]

Good work!

You can do this!

[kellysue24]

Day 4 and have a pretty bad headache, but the cravings aren't unbearable at all. I do need to um, get things going. I've been eating flax muffins (no nuts) for a few days and it's not helping

[junip3r]

eat a spoonful of CO .... Whooosh!