Originally Posted by khrussva

Spending years and years in a glucose metabolism the foods that I grew to love most where the foods that would quickly get my blood sugar back up. Cravings were driven by blood sugar swings. Hunger is an indescribable state of existence. Most all of my favorite foods became those things that would provide quick relieve - making me feel better (for a while, anyway). That, for me, made my favorite foods very addictive over time. I put in the time. I ate the good stuff regularly.

So - answer your question - I see the issue of cravings as two fold. Eating low carb stabilizes your blood sugar. That immediate need to feed regularly fades away quickly. You learn to sense real hunger. You find that you can have long periods of satiety between meals. In other words, the near consent hunger goes away. You will find that the desire to munch on something regularly is now more of a habit than a need. In time most of us take on the task of curbing that habit and eventually end up eating much less often than we use to.

However, the longing for those old carb and sugar loaded favorites is a real experience and I think it is more intense for some of us than in is for others. For me this was the biggest road-block to success. This type of craving actually intensified over time. I'd be fine for the first few weeks of the diet, but then I'd just start feeling more and more deprived. Low carb food does not provide that same WOW FACTOR that my old go-to treats did. My brain missed that in my food and steered me towards them with increasing intensity as the weeks went by. That, my dear, is the addictive nature of those foods. In the past I would always cheat and give in to these cravings eventually. I didn't do that this time and I found that these cravings too will pass. It just takes a little longer. For me it was a few months, but I imagine that this varies from one person to another. After 4 or 5 months of stick exclusively to on-plan food, I was overjoyed to learn that the pull and power that those junky foods had over me was fading away. I felt less deprived. I could be in sight, in arms reach of candy, donuts, bread, French fries, and fresh, hot pizza and not feel that intense desire to dive in and get my share. I hadn't forgotten that those foods taste good. I just didn't feel a need for them anymore and I knew that indulging in them would just resurrect that need. So I stayed out of them. They have become foods that I don't eat. It was awesome to finally be free from them. That freedom is what made it possible for me to finally reach my goal.

Originally Posted by Phantomess

What are franken-foods?

Originally Posted by rpavich

Anything artificial that folks eat that aren't in the original Atkins guidelines; you know, stuff like protein shakes, meal replacement shakes, meal replacement bars, low carb pasta, low carb this low carb that...

I found that those things caused cravings no matter what. The more I ate of them the worse it got, they didn't make things better for me.

Cravings pass, that's a fact.