Ideas to kill the cravings

[The_Girl]

so what do all you guys do when the carb cravings hit? Unfortunatly I tend to turn to ciggys (yes I know bad on atkins) but other things I do are...

Go here and post post post.
Have a lc coffee
Play with my niece
sit outside and relax (wont be good when my mango tree start getting fruit)
excercise :)

i'd really love to hear your ideas

[DrH]

I feel very fortunate as I do not have carb cravings; however, I often crave something sweet, which is satisfied by drinking a can of Diet Rite.



so what do all you guys do when the carb cravings hit? Unfortunatly I tend to turn to ciggys (yes I know bad on atkins) but other things I do are...

Go here and post post post.
Have a lc coffee
Play with my niece
sit outside and relax (wont be good when my mango tree start getting fruit)
excercise :)

i'd really love to hear your ideas

[Anthony123]

i drink water

[NewRuth]

Unsweetened flaked coconut. It takes forever to chew and is slightly sweet.

[patriciakr]

If I'm eating on plan, I don't get carb cravings, so that's a blessing for this woe!

If I am not on plan correctly or eat out and something triggers me (unbalanced aka overcarbed reward mal), I use "protein bullets" ..things such as a piece of cheese, cup of plain tea, cup of plain chicken broth, homemade salmon patties, every 90 minutes if the cravings are bad. Usually this doesnt' happen to me, but this is what works if it does.

ps okay, so the tea isn't a protein bullet...but it also helps.

[potatofree]

There seem to be two schools of thought... one is finding a low-carb substitute for what you crave(which for some people, the sweet taste actually makes the carb cravings MORe intense), and the other is to cut out all sweets and try to feed your body things like eggs or meat to kill the cravings.

I find they both work for me at different times. Sometimes, I'll make a batch of devilled eggs or tuna salad... then go for a walk.

Other times, a can of diet root beer with heavy cream over ice satisfies my sweet urges.

Sometimes... I just go for a walk or crochet to keep myself snack-free until the urge passes.

[LCCamper]

If I am REALLY craving something but cannot figure out if it is sweet/savory I turn to hard cheese or something in the protein family. I wait about 10 to 15 minutes and it usually goes away. However, if I am craving something sweet I grab a s/f jello and that helps.
I have found that for so long my body had been screaming for more water and I have been reading those cues wrong thinking it was hunger. So, if the snack(s) mentioned above fail me I (YUK) drink more water or flavored sparkling water (0 carbs - 0 sodium). And finally, if all the above doesn't work I go back over what I have eaten in last 24 hours to see if more carbs than on my WOE slipped in that could be causing this and then (Grrrrrrr) wait it out to my next scheduled meal that I make sure has ZERO carbs to get my system back in sync.
What is so cool about this WOE is that you can make those changes quickly once you identify the problem and your body responds really well.
Hope this helps............Linda

[cutiefrog]

I drink water
Write in my journal at home
do some homework
clean around the house
anything to keep my mind off of it until it passes.

If it's REALLY bad.for something sweet I'll have some SF Jello with WhippedCream
something salty... I'll have a couple of pickle spears or some olives.

[LET_ME_BE]

I'll have a few spoons of whipped cream!

[pennink]

Like many, the sweet cravings don't hit me much anymore. I find that I want them after dinner as I don't have a craving, but a habit. I have had dessert after dinner for so many years. I do have strawberries (one or two) sliced on SF jello then.

If I get them during the day, I either ignore them or have celery, a pickle, or a bottle of water. Usually I just ignore them.

[IrishShrty]

Sugar free Jello works wonders for me!

[MicheleK]

I drink coffee, works every time for me. (I also smoke..that's another subject I'll be addressing soon, lol)

[lanag]

I like cool whip with cocoa powder. YUMMY

[perfectfit]

ps okay, so the tea isn't a protein bullet...but it also helps.

It fills you up....works for me. :)

[kyrasdad]

In general, I get cravings when I'm idle. If I go do something I can forget about the cravings. If I'm on plan, cravings are almost always mental not physical, which means that if I ignore them a bit, they go away. But if I can't...

...A spoon of natural peanut butter is very good - and filling. Any fatty food works, though.

...I crave crunch when I crave carbs. I can satiate that with french fried onions, as well.

...Fatty meat is always a good choice to satiate cravings. Keep some cold chicken around.

...Almonds cause me more cravings than they solve. In general, nuts are filling, but they chain into overeating for me. I never buy them in bulk, but I've been known to run to a convenience store to get a single size serving during a hectic workday.

[lanag]

I love that quote. It's easier to diet than be fat. I never thought of it like that before but if you think about it, How true that really is.

[Kandra]

I just found this and am bumping it up. Great ideas, wish I'd seen these before last week.

[angiemama]

If I am really hungry, I have something really fatty. If I am just munchy, wanting to eat to occupy time, I swish with listerine.

[cochise]

I work evenings. When I come home at midnight I want to have something to eat. I have tried smokehouse almonds, celery with bluecheese dressing, diet soda, etc. But like last night I ate some sausage and an egg as well as the above and lots of it. For me a binge has largely consisted of too many low carbs at one sitting standing walking episode. What makes it even more frustrating is the fact that I weigh myself 7 hours later in the am and much of that bulk is still in me. I am happy that this thread exists because this is an ongoing problem with me and I am trying to learn and practice. By the way this nightly eating and then sleeping is what I call the Sumo wrestling Diet and that is in part how I got to be so heavy. I could also mention the binging that I used to help quit smoking cigarettes...but I won't.

[MizKitty]

My biggest craving, still after all this carb-free time, is sweet-crunchy. Something I would have satisfied "in the old days" with half a box of Frosted Flakes or Fruit Loops.

I really haven't found a suitably satisfying Low carb answer to sweet-crunchy cravings. A piece of cheese or a hard-boiled egg doesn't appeal at all when those hit, so I usually just try to ignore them. My biggest time to crave is watching TV in the living room, so getting up and going to do something else, even if it's just sitting at my PC in the office, usually helps. (Thank goodness for Tivo. Now that I think about it, Tivo is actually a good diet aid, as without it, I wouldn't want to leave the livingroom and miss the end of a show I'm caught up in, which would probably lead to giving in to more cravings.)

90% of the time, that works, but for when that's not working, I might try some walnuts sprinkled with splenda and cinnamon. Or heated in the microwave with butter, splenda and cinnamon.

For other times I'm craving "something", I might brew a pot of strong flavored decaf, and sip that with cream and splenda.
Hubs doesn't like strong or flavored coffee, so that pot's a "just for me" treat.

I also do the SF sodas with cream - root beer or orange. I'll probably do more of that with warm weather setting in. I lose interest in coffee in hot weather.

I'm not sure how well I'd do without the Russell Stover Net Carb candies or the Blue Bunny Sweet Freedom Ice Cream bars. I treat myself to 1 piece of candy a day and maybe 2-3 ice cream bars a week. I feel that's a reasonable strategy for me.
Telling myself "you can have your piece of candy after dinner", to postpone a craving, or "have your piece of candy now if you really need something", well, it seems to be working for me.

[Huskerchic]

I have a diet pepsi or two...

[OtherCher2]

When I really need something to kill a craving, I mix a box of sugar-free jello only instead of using half boiling and half cold water, I use all boiling water and then pour in about 1/4 cup of whipping cream and drink it hot in my big mug. Very satisfying, comforting, and totally LC. :wave:

[sxb]

i've got a craving challenge for y'all ...
recently i have been craving something "cruchy"
...i'm weird like that... but hopefully some of you have had the same feeling...
so.... when i feel like that... i crave for mix munchies packet or spicy chips... but i can't havvve thatttttttttt!

what should i do????

[droppin]

get some sugar free jello or some crysttal lite it works wonders good luck

[OtherCher2]

Make your own cheese chips in the microwave! Put a cup of shredded cheddar cheese in a round pie plate and microwave for about 3 minutes. Then let it set til cool and break it up into cheese chips. One of my favorite Saturday night LC treats. :agree:

[cochise]

Cravings continue to spoil my diet. They hit, the mind brute rationalizes, becomes defeatest, then the bing gets legs...I can keep it to low carbs but the calorie count goes up. The reason Im here in the first place is that I didnt develope the habit of plannin my food menu. Hence while these receipies look great it is difficult to fathom making them. I know some look easy...but I learned to eat fast food...they dont look so fast... so what I am saying is what sort of help in the form of discipline can anyone offer. What mind game can I learn that will help me develope that behavior that my thin friends have always known and practiced? Perhaps this should be in a binge thread. Help!

[angiemama]

Cochise, one of the best things that you can do to get you started on this way of life is to do a squeaky clean induction. Any time I start having cravings, i go back to induction, and start back up the ladder. Another thing is you have to quit letting yourself fall back on excuses. If you want this, you have to make a plan. You have to cook, you have to have legal foods in your reach. You have to make up your mind that even if you have a craving, you will not give in to it. Half no 90% of success is mindset. If you don't have it, you won't do it.

I want to see you succeed. One of my favorite quotes...
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are right.
Here is to your sucess and mine...

[cochise]

Angiemama, thank you for your advice. esp. the one about excuses. I have used exercise at night when I come home to help stop the cravings. Celery is my choice for during the day with some Marie's Blue cheese dressing. I will be trying the flax hot cereal for breakfast...just got it yesterday. I will also start writing down some receipies from this site. Im in it for the long haul... I will look at your post periodically for support. Once again thank you.