How long did it take until you completely stopped craving foods and longing for foods?

how long have you been craving foods?

For as long as I can remember.

Yep,love food,love to cook, love to eat....

do you get pleasure from the thinking about eating these foods?

what kind of foods are you craving.

sometimes a nutritional deficit sets up certain cravings. ie chocolate craving=need more magnesium

chromium helps with junk food and sugar cravings.

more:
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=386431

I'm not sure. Maybe for a moment, but then it turns to disappointment and I feel like I'm mourning foods.

Thanks for the link. I am mainly craving sweets like soft ice cream, donuts, cake, etc.

Perhaps you can try this; after the thought is born, look at the pleasure it gives you, no investigation, just look, then as your thoughts turn to disappointment, watch that too. Watch how you mind moves from pleasure to disappointment to mourning. Not "why" it does but "how" it does. One thing leads to another.

The last thing that may happen is that you'll find yourself over the "mourning" you may realize this mental proliferation has disappeared without you noticing it. Watch as the thoughts arise again, and disappear again.

This is a long way of saying what is happening to you is natural and you have little control over it. Knowing that these thoughts will pass can be helpful. When you can begin to recognize this you can begin to ignore the thoughts and I think they'll hold less and less control of you.

I'm not a psyc doctor tho, I just play one on the internets

Keep Going, You are doing well.

For me, pure physical cravings last about 48 hours. If I can make it for 48 hours staying true to LC then I am good.

Once I slip up the cravings start all over again. I just had champaign on Sunday and Monday I woke up starving and I wanted to eat ALL day! I gave in to the cravings last night and so now it just resets the clock for me.

So today I am bound and determined to not give in-no matter what!

After I get through the period of physical cravings- occasional I will mentally want to eat something I shouldn't... but it is mental not physical.

Also- If I eat to much cheese I will start physically craving sugar. Now I only allow myself 1/2 an ounce of cheese a day-

I think this is different for everyone. The longer you do Atkins it seems the more you will know your body and what works and what doesn't- some acceptable foods may set off cravings for you....

In my experience, eating things that might be questionable set up cravings.

The question is: how clean are you eating?

Do you include franken-foods?

Do you exceed a certain carb limit that maybe you shouldn't?

Maybe think along those lines

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.

This is so helpful. Thank you.

Cravings are terrible! Thank you for sharing your experience.

What are franken-foods?