Latley I have been craving a lot of sweets. I find if I cave into temptation I find it hard to stop. Do any of you know what I can do to stop these cravings. Although I am not losing any weigt I am not gaining either but I would like to get at least 20 more pounds off. Sweets have always been a problem for me and right now I am having a hard time of it. Any suggestions would be helpful

Hugs
Nancy

Good Morning - I'm sure someone will pop in and give you a more thorough answer than mine, but if you look in the Atkins book, in the supplements section, he addresses 'sugar' cravings. There are supplements that will help with the cravings.

Every once in a while I get a sugar hit (gotta have it!, gotta have it!) and I try to drink as MUCH water as I can... for some reason just the 'full' feeling seems to help. I'm into a major exercise kick, so I'll also get on my eliptical machine and pop in a DVD and watch a movie while I walk the urge off...

Good Luck!

__________________
Started: 261
Currently: 182

Must be a spring thing! I usually DON'T have sweet cravings, and I've been having them like crazy lately.

I've been hitting the sugar-free Jell-O pretty heavy. I also like frozen mixed berries--eat them one at a time and they're cold, sweet, and crunchy. If you like yogurt and can handle the carbs, Yoplait Ultra or Blue Bunny make low-carb versions that aren't bad.

__________________
Barb L.
Atkins since Jan 2003
Maintenance as of 4/05


My Fitday Journal

I often struggle with sweets cravings, too; more so when I'm on maintenance and tend to eat more widely.

I just reread that section of DANR; it suggests chromium picolinate or chromium polynicotinate 3x daily for 2 days, L-glutamine 3x daily, and one dose of vitamin B complex. Iif you don't happen to have all that (;-) handy; you might try some mustard. Andrea once suggested eating a spoonful of mustard to curb cravings . I've tried it several times and it seems to help.

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~~~Teelbee
Back to GOAL!!!
start weight: 176/goal range: 137-134/now: 138
Reached goal in Aug. 2003 - 4rd year of maintenance.

I will put some of those Crest white strips on my teeth when I have a horrible craving for something. They stay on for 30 minutes...by which time my craving is usually gone!

__________________
Started Atkins-1/2/04
174 lbs at heaviest



5'0 154/136.5/130

I've been wanting something sweet too! What I've been doing and it's working for me, Altoids chewing gum. Its strong many different flavors and 1 gram per piece.

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Jackie
Nobody can make you feel inferior
without your permission. -Eleanor Roosevelt-

Some people (like me) find that just the taste of something sweet, even if it's sugar-free or "natural", can trigger cravings for more. Although there are some good suggestions above, you might also try eliminating everything sweet-tasting (diet sodas, SF desserts, fruit) for a couple days and see if that helps. And I think this is probably just an individual quirk, but I find that bacon and sausage give me a hankerin' for sweets - nitrates maybe, or perhaps a mental association with maple syrup, but it happens every time.

I think if you can figure out what's triggering your sweet cravings, you'll be better off in the long run than if you keep trying to satisfy them. This advice comes from someone who, more than once, has eaten a whole box of sugar-free popsicles in two days, trying to satisfy a sweet craving that I now realize was caused by the popsicles.

Perhaps sticking to induction-list foods (although not limited to 20 carbs) for a few days would set things right again? It might also help to keep a food log and make a note when the sweet gotta-have-it feelings hit ~ maybe you can make a correlation that way. One other thought is that sometimes such cravings are cyclical - keeping a log can help you spot that connection as well.

In any event, kudos to you for taking control of this before it gets out of hand ~ sugar is indeed addictive, and once it gets its sticky fingers on us, will be happy to lead right back up the path to where we started. Don't go along for the ride!

Sky
Atkins since 8/02
196/144/under 150

Sky, come to think of it, you have a better idea. Trying to satisfy a sweet craving (with anything) might be counterproductive.

I sorta like the Crest WhiteStrips idea.:great: That would be doing two good things at once.

__________________
Barb L.
Atkins since Jan 2003
Maintenance as of 4/05


My Fitday Journal

Hello Nancy,
When I started the Atkins diet, I had to cut out sugar...which isn't great for us anyway. It was very hard. I started with herbal teas that were naturally sweet and used splenda. I found that I did not harmonize well with splenda because it gave me headaches and nausea. So I tried Stevia Plus which was recommended by one of the wonderful people here in the forum. I use it in almost everything when I want something extra sweet. So I would suggest if you will, to try stevia plus. You can pick up a box at Wholefoods for about $5.00.
I hope this helps you out too.
Cheers,
Colette

__________________
1/25/05::Atkins Plan
Starting Weight: 184.0
Current Weight: 174.0 (5/6/05)
Goal Weight: 160.0
10/8/05: Back to 184.0
On the Road Again: 10/17/05
I will not give up! I will not give up!

I think the best thing to do is to eat something low-carb. Get that little primitive part of your brain that expects treats to associate sweet-cravings with low-carb food. Yank out that frying pan and fry up some scrambled eggs. Yeah, that's not what you really want right now, but do it anyway.

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**************
"And so, in my State of the—my State of the Union—or state—my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it, speech to the nation—I asked Americans to give 4,000 years—4,000 hours over the next—the rest of your life—of service to America. That's what I asked—4,000 hours."

Doctor's trick is a good one - I use that myself. I also munch the frozen berries, what a treat! But my favorite treat when I'm sticking-out-my-bottom-lip self indulgent is a short squirt of sugar free chocolate syrup in a cup of coffee. Coffee, whoohoo!

Stacie
222/132/130-35

Sugar free chewing gum helps me alot.

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%%%%%

HW /SW /CW /GW
230/173/159/140

Thanks gang for all your great advice. The cravings are getting out of control and unfortunately I have been caving into them. Alot of the things you suggested makes sense and I am willing to give anything a try at this point. Thanks again and I hope you all had a great day

Hugs
Nancy

I make sugar free pudding, using 2-1/2 cups of milk, and then divide it into
6 containers (so i am not getting as much as I would if I just made it with
2 cups and divided by 4).
seems to help some...
whip up a little cream, add some splenda and cocoa powder.... mmmm almost
like choc moose....
try going the opposite direction - sour or bitter - pickles, wrap them in some ham and put a little cream cheese in there roll up ....mmmm
c

__________________
http://www.youravon.com/cnorulak
carolyn in texas
started 8/11/03 327/268/177
5/20/08/ - 348
onward thru the fog

DaVinci syrup and cream in my coffee usually fixes me up.

Aderyn